This is the archived website of SI 204 from the Spring 2017 semester. Feel free to browse around; you may also find more recent offerings at my teaching page.

Unix Commands Quick Reference

File/Directory Basics
ls	List files
pwd	Print current working directory
cd	Change directories
cp	Copy files
mv	Move/Rename files
rm	Delete files
mkdir	Create directory
rmdir	Delete directory
File Viewing
cat	View file contents
less	Page through files
head	View file beginning
tail	View file ending
nl	View file with line numbers
File Creation and Editing
emacs	Text editor
vi	Text editor
gedit	Text editor
File Properties
stat	Display file attributes
wc	Count bytes/words/lines
file	Identify file types
chown	Change file owner
chgrp	Change file group
chmod	Change file permissions
Programming
g++	Compile a C++ program
gdb	Starts the debugger

Usage Examples
$ ls	lists files of your current working directory.
$ cd /home/mids/m012345/	change your working directory to your home directory using a full, or absolute, pathname
$ cd	change your working directory to your home directory using a shortcut
$ mkdir lab	creates a lab subdirectory in your current working directory
$ cd lab	change your working directory to the lab directory in your home directory in this case
$ cd ..	change your working directory to the parent directory, which is your home directory
$ gedit main.cpp	creates the file main.cpp, if it doesn't already exist, and opens it in the gedit editing window
[1. OBSERVE that after this command the 'cursor' is not active, until you quit gedit.]
[2. Now, ENTER a simple C++ program inside the gedit window.]
[3. Finally, SAVE your program, then QUIT gedit]
$ gedit main.cpp &	opens main.cpp for editing, in the "background"
[OBSERVE that after this command the 'cursor' is active, because of the ampersand at end of command]
[After observing this, you can quit gedit again.]
$ cp main.cpp lab/	copies the file main.cpp to the lab directory
$ mv main.cpp test.cpp	renames main.cpp to test.cpp
$ mv test.cpp lab/lab1.cpp	moves main.cpp to the lab directory under the new name of lab1.cpp
$ ls -l lab	lists files in the lab directory in more detail
$ cat lab/main.cpp	shows file contents of main.cpp, which is located in the lab directory
$ cd lab	change working directory to 'lab'
$ g++ -Wall main.cpp	compiles and links main.cpp (with warnings enabled) and creates an executable file called a.out
$ g++ -Wall -o proj main.cpp	compiles and links main.cpp, and creates executable file called proj
$ rm main.cpp	deletes main.cpp from the working directory. You may need to confirm by entering 'y' then [ENTER]
$ cd ..	change your working directory to the parent directory, which is your home directory in this case
$ rm lab/lab1.cpp	deletes lab1.cpp from the lab directory
$ rm lab/*	deletes all files from the lab directory. * is a 'wildcard'
$ rmdir /home/m012345/lab	deletes the lab directory using its absolute pathname.

This reference originally created by LT J Schultz, later modified by Assoc Prof Luke McDowell.

SI 204 Spring 2017 / Resources