Linux 101

Very basic introduction to the Linux command line

This is a modified version of the course presentation for HPC0: Introduction to Linux for HPC, if you’re very unfamiliar with the material shown here, there’s some additional homework for you between courses.

You can follow along with the presentation notes here:

Launch fullscreen presentation ⤢

Launch your virtual machine to test out these notes here:

Launch codespaces virtual machine ⇗

Frequently used commands: cheat sheet

Command	Description
cd	Change directory to home
cd dir-name	Change directory to dir-name
pwd	Print the current working directory - where am I?
name --help	Load the manual for name - on Codespaces
man name	Load the manual for name - on Aire/ARC
ls	List the contents of a directory
cat file-name	Print out the contents of a file called file-name
mkdir dir-name	Make a new directory called dir-name
touch file-name	Make a new file/update the last-edited date of a file called file-name

Some more cd commands:

Command	Description
cd ..	Go up a level to the parent directory
cd -	Go back to the previous directory
cd ~/dir-name	Go to dir-name, a directory in the home directory

Some more ls commands:

Command	Description
ls -F	List the contents of a dir, with symbols for content type
ls -a	List all contents, including hidden files and directories
ls -l	List contents, including permissions, the owner and their “group”, and when the content was edited

Commands for working with files and directories:

Command	Description
cp
mv
rm
mkdir -p dir-name	Make a new directory call dir-name if it doesn’t already exist