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Field Guide

Commands to use

You can run many commands and programs at the terminal, but there are only a few you really need to get started. The best thing to remember is that you can get help from each command using the --help argument.

  • ls: Use the ls command to list files in a folder. Pass it arguments for the name of the folder to list, if you do not want the listing of the current folder. You can also pass it options for how to format the list -lha are good options to start with.
  • cd: Use cd to move the shell to a new folder (directory). Pass it one argument, the path to the folder you want to move to.
  • cp: The cp command lets you copy files. Pass it arguments for the source (what to copy) and the destination (where to put it).
  • rm: Is used to remove aka delete a file or folder. To delete folders you need to pass in the -r option. Beware, there is no “recycle bin” here. When you remove a file, it is gone.
  • mkdir: Can be used to create folders.

Example of cp --help

Example

Terminal window
# move into the /c/Users/andrew/Documents/ folder
cd /c/Users/andrew/Documents


# Now we are in the Documents folder...
# move into the /c/Users/andrew/Documents/Code folder
cd Code


# We can make a folder for a project called HelloWorld
# Notice no space between Hello and World
mkdir HelloWorld


# Move into the new folder
cd ./HelloWorld


# Print out the location in the terminal
pwd


# Create some empty files
touch test.cpp
touch test.h


# List the files
ls -lha


# Move to your code folder (mac or Linux - Windows needs /c/Users/...)
cd ~/Documents/Code


# Explore further to do things like...


# Get a word count of all of your C++ code
find . -name *.cpp -exec cat {} \; | wc -w


# Download and interact with files
curl https://programmers.guide/book/part-0-getting-started/00-0-introduction/ > intro.html