Basic Linux Command Line

Most of what we will do in this course can easily be done with a command- line window, sometimes called a shell window. The command-line window lets us type commands to run programs.

By default, command-line windows in Ubuntu uses the BASH command-line, and when you first launch it you will see a prompt something like this:

tjd@ubuntu-desktop:~/cmpt$

The key part of this prompt is the $. Everything before the $ is information about what computer you are using and what directory you are in. Everything after the $ is what you, the user, type.

The shell includes a complete programming language and dozens of commands. Here is a brief summary of basic commands you should know:

Sample Command	Summary
pwd	prints the present working directory
ls	lists the files and folders in the current directory
cd a2	change to directory a2
rm old.cpp	delete the file old.cpp
cp a1.cpp a1	copy file a1.cpp to the folder a1
man g++	display the manual page for the g++ command
less a1.cpp	display contents of a file (paged)
cat a1.cpp	display contents of a file (unpaged)

There are many tutorials and help pages available on the web for learning Linux command-line. For xample, this tutorial list discusses many basic Linux commands, with helpful examples.

It is also common to manipulate files and folders interactively in the GUI. Just open the folder you want to change, and use the typical drag-and-drop actions to move, copy, rename, etc. files and folders.