*precede arguments with a '-' as in 'ls -al'
COMMAND PURPOSE/EXAMPLE ARGUMENTS ARG DEFINITION
ls list directory contents a include . files
l long listing
[file(s)] list a file (*=wildcard)
[dir(s)] list sub-directory contents
cd change directory (use forward slashes) [dir]
'cd /home/croger'
pwd print the working directory
'pwd'
mkdir make a new directory [dir]
'mkdir mydir'
rmdir remove a directory [dir]
'rmdir mydir'
cat display a file [file]
'cat myfile'
more display a file, 1 page at a time d include help line
'more myfile' [file] file to display
cp copy a file [sfile] source path/file
'cp sfile dfile' [dfile/dir] destination path/file
mv move a file/directory [sfile/dir] source path/file/dir
'mv sfile /tmp/dfile' [dfile/dir] destination path/dir
rm remove a file (if you have permission) r recursive down directories
'rm myfile' [file(s)] file(s) to remove
man display a manual page [command]
'man rm'
wc count character, words, lines in a file [file]
'wc -l myfile' l count lines only
w count words only
c count chars only
grep search files for a string v ignore matching lines
'grep "unix" myfile' [string] string to search for
[file] file to search
SYMBOL PURPOSE EXAMPLES
> redirect output of command to a file, cat myfile > myfile2
overwriting or creating the destination file cat a b c > d
>> redirect output of command to end of a file, cat myfile >> myfile2
appending-to or creating the destination file
| pipe output of command to input of command cat myfile | grep "unix"
cat myfile | grep "unix" | wc -l
ls -al | more
cat myfile | grep "unix" > resfile