cd (change directory) | |
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cd myfolder | Changes the current working directory to "myfolder" |
cd.. | Go up one level to the current working directory. |
cd../.. | Go up two levels to the current working directory. |
cd / | Changes the current working directory to the root directory. |
cd ~ | Changes the current working directory to your home directory. |
mkdir (Make directory) | |
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mkdir Photos | Create a new folder called "Photos" in the current directory. |
mkdir /Photos | Create a new folder called "Photos" in the root directory. |
mkdir ~/Photos | Create a new folder called "Photos" in your home directory. |
ls (list) | |
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ls | list the file names in the current working directory. |
ls -l | list the file names with "long" description/information (size, privilages, etc) |
ls -a | list "all" file names in the current working directory including the hidden files. |
lls -l *.jpg | list the file names ending in ".jpg" and display it in "long" description format(-l) |
cp (copy) | |
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cp letter.txt newletter.txt | Copy the file called "letter.txt" and name it "newletter.txt" in the current directory |
cp my.cnf /etc/my.cnf | Copy the file "my.cnf" and put it inside the root -> etc folder. |
cp tax05.db ~/Taxes | Copy the file name "tax05.db" and put it inside my home directory -> Taxes folder |
cp ".jpg ~/Photos | Copy all the files with ".jpg" extention and put them inside my home directory -> Photos folder |
cp -R ~/Docs /backups/'Docs Backup' | Copy the entire "Docs" directory from my home page and put it inside the root -> backups and call it "Docs backup" (use quotes if you use folder names with space. example: 'Docs Backup' (-R stands for "Recursive") |
sudo cp -Rp /Users /UsersBackup | Copy the entire "Users" folder including subfolders and files, preserve owner, group, permissions, and timestamps and save the new folder in the root -> UsersBackup location. "-Rp" stands for Recursive Preserve: Recursive: Copy include subfolders and files. Preserve: Preserve owner, group, permissions, and timestamps information. (use "sudo" to get root access temporarily.) |
mv (Move or Rename) | |
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mv /letter.txt ~/letter.txt | Move the file "letter.txt" from the root directory to the home directory. |
mv badletter.txt niceletter.txt | Rename the file "badletter.txt" to "niceletter.txt" in the current directory. |
mv Pictures Photos | Rename the folder "Pictures" to "Photos" in the current directory. |
mv *.jpg ~/Photos | Move all the files with ".jpg" extention and put them inside my home directory -> Photos folder |
rm (Remove) | |
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rm letter.txt | Delete the file "letter.txt" from the current directory. |
rm ~/BadPhotos/*.jpg | Delete all the files with the '.jpg' extention inside your home directory -> "BadPhotos" folder. |
rm -R Temp | Delete the "Temp" directory and all of its contents in the current directory (-R stands for "Recursive") |
rm -fr Temp | Delete the "Temp" directory and all of its contents including write-protected files without prompting in the current directory (-f stands for "force" -r stands for "recursive") |
find (files and folders) | |
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find ~ -name myletter.doc -print | Search for the file names "myletter.doc" inside my home directory and print the result to the screen |
sudo find / -name mysql -print | Search for the file and folder names "mysql*" starting from the root directory and everywhere within it and print the result to the screen. (use "sudo" to get root access temporarily.) |
find . -name myletter.doc -print | Search for the file names "myletter.doc" inside the current directory and print the result to the screen |
find . -name 'myletter*' -print | Search for the file names starting "myletter" inside the current directory and print the result to the screen |
locate (similar to find) | |
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locate ~ -name myletter.doc | Search for the file names "myletter.doc" inside my home directory and print the result to the screen |
pwd (print working directory) | |
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pwd | Displays the pathname of the current working directory. |
who (who logged in) | |
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who | Displays who is logged into the system. |
who am i | Displays my user name. |
who -uH | Displays who is logged into the system including heading "H" and idle time information. |
su (set user) - type exit to switch back to your own identity | |
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su | Temporarily become the root user. (this will give you root access privilages and the most control over the OS) - it will prompt you for the administrator password. |
su username | Temporarily become another user called "username" (replace "username" with the user that you wish to use as your new identity - this will give you access privilages for the "username") - it will prompt you for the that user's password. |
sudo (set user and do . . . . . . ) - similar to su except 'su' will give you prompt but 'sudo' you can start typing commands right after the 'sudo' command. | |
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sudo find / -name mysql -print | Temporarily changes your identity to the root user so you can search for all the files including the once that require root access privilage. It prompts you for administrator/root password |
sudo Bobuser rm /Users/Bobuser/Photos/myphoto.jpg | Temporarily changes your identity to the "Bobuser" identity so you can delete a photo named "myphoto.jpg" from the home directory -> Photos folder belonging to Bobuser - It prompts you for "Bobuser"'s password. |
ps (running processes) | |
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ps -ax | List all running processes |
ps -aux | List detailed information on all running processes. |
top (CPU-intensive processes currently running) - press the "q" key to quit the "top" utility | |
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top | List all running processes sorted by process id - descending and updating every second - don't forget to press the "q" key to quit, otherwise it will run continuously. |
top -us10 | List all running processes sorted by CPU usage - descending and updating every 10 seconds - don't forget to press the "q" key to quit, otherwise it will run continuously. |
kill | |
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kill 160 | Tell the process ID #160 to terminate. |
kill -9 160 | Terminate the process ID # 160 at once without any hesitation. |