A Quick Intro to the Most Important UNIX Shell Commands

• pwd:
  Print Working Directory
  Shows where you are in the file system.
• ls:
  List
  Lists files in the current directory.
  Variant: ls -las
  Gives a more detailed listing.
• cd dir:
  Change Directory
  Changes the current directory to dir.
• cat file:
  Sends the contents of file to standard output.
• touch file:
  Update the timestamp of file, or create it if it is not there.
• cp file1 file2:
  Copies file1 to file2.
• mv file1 file2:
  Moves file1 to file2. (file1 will no longer exist.)
• rm file:
  Removes file.
• mkdir dir:
  Creates a new directory named dir.
• chmod permissions file:
  Changes the permissions on file. To see how it works, type "man chmod".
• man prog:
  Displays help for prog.