Basic Bash Commands

touch filename

Create an empty file with the specified name.

sudo

DANGER! become super user root DANGER!

vim .bash_profile

Edit the bash profile

cd ..

Go back one dir

cd -

Go to previous dir

cd /

Go to root dir

cd ~ or cd

Go to your home dir

mkdir -p dir1/dir2/dir3

Make intermediate directories as required (make multiple folders at once instead of one at a time)

source .bash_profile

Read the bash profile again (useful after editing because it only reads it once at the beginning of the session)

Bash

The Bourne again shell (Bash) is a common application to offer a shell command line; other common shell applications are the C shell, the Bourne shell, and the Kern shell.

cd

change directory

cp

copy a file or directory

xargs

execute arguments

exit

exit the shell

export

export/set a new environment variable

find

find files

grep

find things inside files

apropos

find what man page is appropriate

ls /dir

list contents of dir, located in the root dir (leading /)

ls

list directory

ls -lR

list directory, long format, recursively through subfolders

env

look at your environment

mkdir

make directory

mv

move a file or directory

hostname

my computer's network name

less

page through a file

popd

pop directory

echo

print some arguments

cat

print the whole file

pwd

print working directory

pushd

push directory

man

read a manual page

rmdir

remove directory