linux terminal commands for beginner level

NAVIGATION

• ls - list directory contents
• pwd - print name of current/working directory
• cd - change working directory
• pushd/popd - put working directory on a stack
• file - determine file type
• locate - find files by name
• updatedb - update database for locate
• which - locate a command
• history - display bash command history

GETTING HELP

• whatis - display the on-line manual descriptions
• apropos - search the manual page names and descriptions
• man - an interface to the on-line reference manuals

WORKING WITH FILES

• mkdir - create a directory/make directories
• touch - change file timestamps/create empty files
• cp - copy files and directories
• mv - move (rename) files
• rm - remove files or directories
• rmdir - remove empty directories

TEXT FILES

• cat - concatenate files and print on the standard output
• more/less - page view
• nano - command line text editor

USERS

• sudo - execute a command as superuser
• su - change user ID or become another user
• users - print the user names of users currently logged in
• id - print real and effective user and group IDs

CHANGING FILE PERMISSIONS

• chmod - change permissions of a file

KILLING PROGRAMS AND LOGGING OUT

• Ctrl+C - kill a running command
• killall - kill processes by name
• exit - log out of bash