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Command reference and Practice

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Command Reference

Command Description
pwd Prints the current working directory
ls Lists the contents of a directory
cd Changes the current working directory
man Shows the manual page for the specified program
mkdir Makes directories
nano Opens the nano command-line editor
vim Opens the vim command-line editor
mv Moves or renames files and directories
cp Copies files and directories
rm PERMANENTLY deletes files and directories

Practice

Tip: If you get stuck, use man <command> or --help to explore command options.

Exercise 1

1) Open a terminal and make a directory on your Desktop called "practice1"

solution 
[~]$ mkdir ~/Desktop/practice1

2) Change your directory to practice1, and print your directory.

solution 
[~]$ cd ~/Desktop/practice1
[~/Desktop/practice1]$ pwd
/home/username/Desktop/practice1

3) Create a file called test1.txt in the practice1 containing the text "This is super important!" using vim or nano

solution 
[~/Desktop/practice1]$ vim test1.txt
  • a to enter insert mode
  • This is super important!
  • esc to exit insert mode
  • :wq + enter to write and quit

4) Create another file called test2.txt with the text "This is not important" in the practice1 folder.

solution 
[~/Desktop/practice1]$ vim test2.txt
  • a to enter insert mode
  • This is not important
  • esc to exit insert mode
  • :wq + enter to write and quit

5) Without changing directories, make a different folder on your desktop called practice2, and copy both of your text files into that folder.

solution 
[~/Desktop/practice1]$ mkdir ../practice2
[~/Desktop/practice1]$ cp *.txt ../practice2

6) Now change directories into practice2, and rename test1.txt to a file called .hidden.

solution 
[~/Desktop/practice1]$ cd ../practice2
[~/Desktop/practice2]$ mv test1.txt .hidden

7) List all of the files in this folder, and show their permissions

solution 
[~/Desktop/practice2]$ ls -la
drwxrwxr-x 2 username groupname 4096 Jan 29 14:23 .
drwxr-xr-x 7 username groupname 4096 Jan 29 14:21 ..
-rw-rw-r-- 1 username groupname   25 Jan 29 14:23 .hidden
-rw-rw-r-- 1 username groupname   22 Jan 29 14:23 test2.txt

7) Switch back to practice1 using the shortcut for "previous working directory"

solution 
[~/Desktop/practice2]$ cd -

8) In a single command, move the entire practice2 directory into practice1

solution 
[~/Desktop/practice1]$ mv ../practice2 .

9) move back to your desktop using the notation for "parent directory"

solution 
[~/Desktop/practice1]$ cd ..
[~/Desktop]$

10) remove the practice1 directory, and show the files thar are being removed.

solution 
[~/Desktop]$ rm -r --verbose ./practice1

Continue to Week 2