Command-line cheatsheet
This is meant to be a quick list of commands that are useful as you’re getting started with the Unix/Linux command-line and various other tools.
In these examples, items in CAPITAL ITALIC
represent items that should be replaced, usually with a file or directory name.
Moving around
cd DIR
change to a directory
pwd
Print the present working directory (i.e., where you are)
ls
list the contents of the current directory
Files and directories
touch FILE
creates FILE, or updates its modification time if it already exists
rm FILE
removes FILE
mkdir DIR
creates the directory DIR
rmdir DIR
removes the directory DIR
cp SRC DST
copies the file SRC to DST
cp /ee/200/public_html/homework/homework_01.txt ./
copies the homework_01.txt
file to the current working directory (aka ./
).
Provide
provide ee200 ASSIGNMENT FILE
submits FILE for grading.
Getting started with vim
Run vimtutor
from a command prompt, and work through lesson 1.
Moving files between remote computers
scp FILE USER@SERVER:REMOTEFILE
copies FILE from your computer to a server.
scp homework_01.txt sbell03@piano.eecs.tufts.edu:homework_01.txt
copies the homework_01.txt
file to the remote server piano.eecs.tufts.edu
, logging in as the user sbell03
.
A more useful prompt
The default prompt ( e.g, sunfire62{sbell03}33}
) isn’t very helpful.
You can get a better one by editing the file ~/.cshrc
, and putting the following lines at the end:
# Use a nice prompt
# %n is your current username
# %m is the hostname
# %~ shows the current directory, and uses ~ for home
set prompt="%n@%m\:%~> "
For a fancier color version, use this:
# Color prompt
# You can change the last number in each 38;5;## triad to try different colors
# The first two numbers control background and bold
set prompt="%{\e[38;5;9m%}%n%{\e[38;5;15m%}@%{\e[38;5;3m%}%m%{\e[38;5;7m%}\:%{\e[38;5;6m%}%~%{\e[0m%}> "
Git & submission workflow
git clone REPO
creates a local copy of a remote repository
git checkout BRANCH
switches from one branch to another (e.g., git checkout work
switches to work
branch)
git add FILE
adds FILE to the “staging area”
git commit
creates a new commit with the files you’ve added to the staging area
git push
pushes new local commits to the remote repository