This page lists the commands that you should be practicing. I will do my best to keep this list updated as we go through things in class.

Connecting

• ssh - connect to remove server
  • ssh username@server_address
  • E.g., ssh yourusername@eos01.cis.gvsu.edu

Getting files/directories

• wget <URL> - gets a file from a remote URL
• git clone <REPO> - clones a git repository
  • Note - typically you’ll want to use the SSH version for repositories YOU’ll be updating and the HTTP version for repositories you just want to play with

Special file paths

• . - current working directory
• .. - parent directory (go up a level)
• ~ - shortcut to your home directory
• / - root of file system
  • /home/yourusername - your home directory

File systems

• ls - List files
  • E.g., ls ~, ls ., ls CIS241
• cd - Change directory
  • E.g., cd ~, cd .., cd /WEB_STUDENT/yourusername

• touch filename - Create empty file

• rm - Remove – BE CAREFUL - THERE IS NO RECYCLE BIN AND ANYTHING DELETED CANNOT BE RECOVERED
  • E.g., rm filename - deletes filename
  • rm -rf directory - removes the directory AND everything inside of it
• rmdir - Remove directory
  • E.g., rmdir directory - note, directory must be empty for this to work (the rm -rf command takes care of the deletion if not)
• mv f1 f2 - Cut and paste or rename - f1 is the original file/directory and f2 is the new name of the file/directory
  • Examples (assuming we have ~/file1, ~/file2, ~/dir1, ~/dir1/dir2
    • mv file1 file2 (renames file1 to file2)
    • mv ~/file1 ~/dir1/my_new_file (moves and renames file1 to be my_new_file within dir1)
    • mv dir1 my_new_dir (renames dir1 to be my_new_dir)
• cp f1 f2 - Copy and paste (same concept as mv, but creates a copy)
  • Examples (assuming we have ~/file1, ~/file2, ~/dir1, ~/dir1/dir2
    • cp file1 new_file (copies file1 to new_file)
    • cp -r dir1 newdir (recursively copies dir1 to newdir - meaning all the contents of dir1 are also now in newdir)
• tree - shows a tree-based graphical representation of your current working directory and its children
  • tree <path> - same, but for the <path> provided
• pwd - tells you where you are at in the filesystem

Viewing Files

• cat <filename> - dumps contents of file to terminal

Editing

• nano <filename> - edit a file with the nano editor
  • ^ in the bottom menu represents Ctrl (or Cmd if you’re on Mac)

Piping and Redirecting

• command1 | command2
  • Send output of command1 into command2
• command1 > file
  • Send output of command into a new file: file
• command1 > file 2> file.err
  • Send output of command into a new file (file) and error into a new file (file.err)

File Manipulation

Worth checking the man pages for parameters!

• wc
  • Count lines, words, and bytes in a file
• cut
  • Get columns in a delimited file or character offsets per line
• tr
  • Replaces characters with a specified pattern
• diff
  • Compares two files