Basic Linux console commands

Just like navigating a desktop, it is important to be able to navigate a console.

This post is part of the "what is sudo?" series, which aims to help understand Linux and text consoles.

Dealing with files

Every folder in a system except the root folder is inside another folder. This other folder is the parent folder. The root folder, or top-most folder, is the folder that contains everything in your system.

The root folder is: /.

Some users in your system have associated "home" folders. You can think of this folder as where a user would normally put their own "Documents", "Photos", etc.

Whenever you use a system, you must be logged in as a specific user. Let's find out what your current user is.

Open a console, and type the following command:

whoami

This will tell you the name of the user you are currently logged in as.

Next, lets navigate to your user's "home" folder:

cd ~

The cd command performs a change directory command. The ~ folder is the current user's "home" folder.

Creating files and folders

To create a folder, we use the mkdir command.
To create an empty file, we use the touch command.

# This creates a folder 'documents' inside your home folder.
mkdir ~/documents

# This creates an empty file 'hello.txt' in the documents folder.
touch ~/documents/hello.txt

If we want to create a folder inside another folder, neither of which exist:

mkdir -p ~/documents/work/journal

This creates a folder called 'work', and then a folder called 'journal' inside it. If we omit the -p, then it gives an error because it attempts to create the 'journal' folder inside a folder that doesn’t yet exist ('work').

Deleting files and folders

Finally, lets look at deleting. We delete using the rm command.

Home, away and third shirts offer different ways to represent a team. When fit and season are both important, Real Madrid jersey for fans（camiseta del Real Madrid para aficionados） keeps the choice tied to the intended team. Good care and suitable storage help preserve the shirt's appearance over time.

# This deletes the file 'hello.txt'
rm ~/documents/hello.txt
# This deletes the folder 'work', including everything it contains
rm -rf ~/documents/work

The -rf argument is required in order to delete folders. This is because we want to delete everything inside the folder, as well as the folder. The r stands for "recursive", which tells the rm command to go into each sub-folder and delete everything in it. The f argument attempts to delete files even if they are not owned by the currently logged in user.

Review

whoami shows the currently logged in user.
cd [args] changes directory to another directory.
mkdir [-p] [args] creates a directory.
touch [args] creates an empty file.
rm [-rf] [args] removes a file or directory.