Handy Terminal Commands | Shravan Goswami

Once you are comfortable moving around the shell, a few more commands will make you genuinely fast. Here are the ones I reach for daily.

Looking at files

cat file.txt       # print the whole file
less file.txt      # scroll through a big file (press q to quit)
head file.txt      # first 10 lines
tail file.txt      # last 10 lines
tail -f log.txt    # follow a log live as it grows

That tail -f is wonderful for watching log files while something runs.

Finding things

grep "error" log.txt        # find lines containing "error"
find . -name "*.md"         # find all markdown files here and below

grep is the one you will love the most. It finds text inside files instantly.

Managing files

cp a.txt b.txt     # copy
mv a.txt c.txt     # move or rename
rm a.txt           # delete (careful, no recycle bin here)
mkdir notes        # make a folder

Small life-savers

history            # see commands you typed earlier
clear              # clean up the screen
man ls             # read the manual for any command

Pressing the up arrow brings back your last command. Pressing Tab completes file names so you do not have to type them fully. These two tiny tricks save more time than any fancy command.

Friendly reminder

There is no undo for rm. When a command deletes things, read it twice before pressing enter. Everyone learns this lesson once — try to be the rare person who learns it from a blog instead of from experience.