Mastering the CLI

Question 1

What are the advantages of a CLI when compared to a GUI?

Answer 1

• Faster
• Uses less system resources
• Is more consistent and predictable update-to-update than a GUI
• Flexible and Powerful

Question 2

What is the Anatomy of a CLI line?

Answer 2

• Prompt: Shows current directory or Branch Name
• Command: Instructions
• Option/Flag: Indicated by a -; optional and they customize the output/operation of the command
• Argument: A data set that the command works on/with; some commands support multiple arguments, seperated by a space
• Cursor: Shows current position of user interaction

Question 3

What does the command echo do?

Answer 3

prints argument to the screen

Question 4

What does the shortcut CTLR+c do?

Answer 4

Kills any command that is currently running, and starts a new line

Question 5

What does the shortcut CTLR+a do?

Answer 5

Moves cursor to the beginning of the line

Question 6

What does the shortcut CTLR+e do?

Answer 6

Moves cursor to the end of the line

Question 7

What does the shortcut CTLR+u do?

Answer 7

Clears the current line

Question 8

What does the shortcut CTLR+l do?

Answer 8

Clears the terminal window (but does not clear history)

Question 9

What does the shortcut Up Arrow do?

Answer 9

Copies the previous command to the line

Question 10

What does the shortcut Down Arrow do?

Answer 10

Copies the next command to the line

Question 11

What does the command ls do?

Answer 11

Lists the contents of the working directory

Question 12

What does the command ls -a do?

Answer 12

Lists the contents of the working directory w/ hidden files

Question 13

What is the argument in ls ?

Answer 13

A path

Question 14

What does the command man do?

Answer 14

Opens a ‘manual’ for the argument, which is a command

Question 15

What directory (in a UNIX filesystem) contains basic commands and programs needed to achieve minimal working environment?

Answer 15

/bin (/sbin)

Question 16

What does the command cd do?

Answer 16

changes the directory to the path given in the argument

Question 17

What does the command cd do (Specifically with no argument)?

Answer 17

changes the directory to the home directory

Question 18

What does the command mkdir do?

Answer 18

Makes a directory with the directory name given as arguments, can make multiple directories in one call

Question 19

What does the command touch do?

Answer 19

Makes a file with the file name given as arguments, can make multiple files in one call

Question 20

What does the command mv do?

Answer 20

Moves a file (the first argument as a filepath) into a given directory (the second argument)

Question 21

What is a shell?

Answer 21

A command-line interpreter, responsible for sending commands to the OS/Kernel, and responses to those commands back to the CLI