Command Line Interface (CLI)

The Command Line Interface (CLI) is a constant companion for the vast majority of developers. It allows you to interact with applications in ways that are oftentimes more complex and powerful than those available through a Graphical User Interface (GUI).

In this document we’ll attempt to summarize some of the most important CLI commands. These commands should work on most *nix systems (Linux, MacOS, WSL).

Files and Folders

• ls – List the files and folders in the current directory.
  • -l – This option shows the results in a list format.
• cd – Move between directories, e.g. cd mysubdirectory.
  • Using without any directory name will move one to the root of the file system (on Windows, use cd \).
  • Using with .. will move you up to the parent directory.
• mkdir – Create a new directory, e.g. mkdir somedirectoryname.
• touch – Create a new file, e.g. touch myfile.txt.
• pwd – Display the full path to the current directory (pwd = print working directory).
• Tab Completion – Begin writing a path and use tab to have the terminal auto-fill it in, e.g. Doc[tab].
• . – Can be used with some apps (git, vscode) to interact with all files within a certain directory (and it’s children).
• rm – Can be used to remove a file, e.g. rm file.txt.
  • -r – This option causes rm to recursively delete folders and files.
• mv – To rename a directory or file, e.g. mv myfile.txt yourfile.txt would rename myfile.txt to yourfile.txt.