Basic Commands

Question 1

rm

Answer 1

remove (delete) a file

• -r is used for recursive (use rm -r to remove a directory)

Question 2

rmdir

Answer 2

remove (delete) a directory (use rm -r if the directory contains files)

Question 3

cd

Answer 3

change directory to move around the file structure

Question 4

. (dot)

Answer 4

current directory

Question 5

.. (dot dot)

Answer 5

parent directory

Question 6

ls

Answer 6

list the contents of a directory

• -l (prints long form of the file list)
• -a (show all files, including hidden files)

Question 7

touch

Answer 7

create a new file

Question 8

less

Answer 8

read the contents from a file

Question 9

nano

Answer 9

a command line text editor

Question 10

ln

Answer 10

link a file

• -s (creates a softlink)

Question 11

cp

Answer 11

copy a file

Syntax: (cp file1 file2)

Question 12

mkdir

Answer 12

make a new directory

Question 13

clear

Answer 13

Clears the terminal prompt screen

Question 14

pwd

Answer 14

print working directory (displays where you are in the filesystem)

Question 15

cat

Answer 15

concatenate and print files

Question 16

find

Answer 16

finds a file based on some criteria

Syntax: find [which directory] [-argument]

• -type
• -name
• -size
• -mtime (modified time)
• -atime (accessed time)
• -ctime (created time)

Question 17

grep

Answer 17

searches contents in a file based on a specified pattern

Syntax: grep [pattern] [filename]

• -i (option for case-insensitive)