Graphical user interfaces are super friendly to computer users. They were introduced in reaction to the perceived steep learning curve of command-line interfaces (CLIs).
However, they often require more resources, are less powerful and hard to automate via scripting.
As a computer expert, we want to be more efficient and do our jobs better. We know that command words may not be easily discoverable or mnemonic, so we try to list some common tasks that you might be tempted to do in GUI.
Quick links #
- copy a file
- duplicate a file
- copy a directory
- duplicate a directory
- move a file
- rename a file
- move a directory
- rename a directory
- merge directories
- create a new file
- create a new directory
- show file/directory size
- show file/directory info
- open a file with the default program
- open a file in any application
- zip a directory
- unzip a directory
- peek files in a zip file
- remove a file
- remove a directory
- remove all files of certain criteria
- list directory contents
- tree view a directory and its subdirectories
- find a stale file
- show a calendar
- find a future date
- use a calculator
- force quit a program
- check server response
- view content of a file
- search for a text in a file
- search in all files in current working directory, quickly (entire disk in less than 15 minutes)
- view an image
- show disk size
- check cpu usage, processes and RAM
- know whether your computer is under load, and whether it's due to memory or CPU
- poweroff or reboot your computer
- locate USB drives
- unmount USB drives
- format USB drives
- check USB format
- run command on all files of a directory
- check network connectivity to a remote address and port
- check DNS config of a domain
- check the ownership and registration of a domain
- Quick tips
- Hotkeys
- I can't remember these cryptic commands
copy a file #
STOP DRAG AND DROPPING A FILE, OR CMD/CTRL + C, CMD/CTRL + V A FILE :-1:
Copy readme.txt to the documents directory
1$ cp readme.txt documents/
duplicate a file #
STOP RIGHT CLICKING AND DUPLICATE A FILE :-1:
1$ cp readme.txt readme.bak.txt
More advanced:
1$ cp readme{,.bak}.txt
2# Note: learn how the {} works with touch foo{1,2,3}.txt and see what happens.
copy a directory #
STOP DRAG AND DROPPING A DIRECTORY, OR CMD/CTRL + C, CMD/CTRL + V A DIRECTORY :-1:
Copy myMusic directory to the myMedia directory
1$ cp -a myMusic myMedia/
2# or
3$ cp -a myMusic/ myMedia/myMusic/
duplicate a directory #
STOP RIGHT CLICKING AND DUPLICATE A DIRECTORY :-1:
1$ cp -a myMusic/ myMedia/
2# or if `myMedia` folder doesn't exist
3$ cp -a myMusic myMedia/
move a file #
STOP DRAG AND DROPPING A FILE, OR CMD/CTRL + X, CMD/CTRL + V A FILE :-1:
1$ mv readme.txt documents/
Always use a trailing slash when moving files, for this reason.
rename a file #
STOP RIGHT CLICKING AND RENAME A FILE :-1:
1$ mv readme.txt README.md
move a directory #
STOP DRAG AND DROPPING A DIRECTORY, OR CMD/CTRL + X, CMD/CTRL + V A DIRECTORY :-1:
1$ mv myMedia myMusic/
2# or
3$ mv myMedia/ myMusic/myMedia
rename a directory #
STOP RIGHT CLICKING AND RENAME A DIRECTORY :-1:
1$ mv myMedia/ myMusic/
merge directories #
STOP DRAG AND DROPPING TO MERGE DIRECTORIES :-1:
1$ rsync -a /images/ /images2/ # note: may over-write files with the same name, so be careful!
create a new file #
STOP RIGHT CLICKING AND CREATE A NEW FILE :-1:
1$ touch 'new file' # updates the file's access and modification timestamp if it already exists
2# or
3$ > 'new file' # note: erases the content if it already exists
create a new directory #
STOP RIGHT CLICKING AND CREATE A NEW DIRECTORY :-1:
1$ mkdir 'untitled folder'
2# or
3$ mkdir -p 'path/may/not/exist/untitled folder'
show file/directory size #
STOP RIGHT CLICKING AND SHOW FILE/directory INFO :-1:
1$ du -sh node_modules/
show file/directory info #
STOP RIGHT CLICKING AND SHOW FILE/DIRECTORY INFO :-1:
1$ stat -x readme.md # on macOS
2$ stat readme.md # on Linux
open a file with the default program #
STOP DOUBLE CLICKING ON A FILE :-1:
1$ xdg-open file # on Linux
2$ open file # on MacOS
3$ start file # on Windows
open a file in any application #
STOP RIGHT CLICKING AND OPEN WITH :-1:
1$ open -a appName file
zip a directory #
STOP RIGHT CLICKING AND COMPRESS DIRECTORY :-1:
1$ zip -r archive_name.zip folder_to_compress
unzip a directory #
STOP RIGHT CLICKING AND UNCOMPRESS DIRECTORY :-1:
1$ unzip archive_name.zip
decompress files of any format #
STOP RIGHT CLICKING AND UNCOMPRESS DIRECTORY :-1:
1$ unar archive_name.zip
2$ unar archive_name.7z
3$ unar archive_name.rar
4$ unar archive_name.ISO
5$ unar archive_name.tar.gz
peek files in a zip file #
STOP USING WinRAR :-1:
1$ zipinfo archive_name.zip
2# or
3$ unzip -l archive_name.zip
peek files in a compress file of any format #
STOP USING WinRAR :-1:
1$ lsar -l archive_name.zip
2$ lsar -l archive_name.7z
3$ lsar -l archive_name.ISO
4$ lsar -l archive_name.rar
5$ lsar -l archive_name.tar.gz
remove a file #
STOP RIGHT CLICKING AND DELETE A FILE PERMANENTLY :-1:
1$ rm my_useless_file
IMPORTANT: The rm command deletes my_useless_file permanently, which is equivalent to move my_useless_file to Recycle Bin and hit Empty Recycle Bin.
remove a directory #
STOP RIGHT CLICKING AND DELETE A DIRECTORY PERMANENTLY :-1:
1$ rm -r my_useless_folder
remove all files of certain criteria #
1$ find . -name "*.bak" -type f -delete
IMPORTANT: run find . -name "*.bak" -type f first to see exactly which files you will remove.
list directory contents #
STOP OPENING YOUR FINDER OR FILE EXPLORER :-1:
1$ ls my_folder # Simple
2$ ls -la my_folder # -l: show in list format. -a: show all files, including hidden. -la combines those options.
3$ ls -alrth my_folder # -r: reverse output. -t: sort by time (modified). -h: output human-readable sizes.
tree view a directory and its subdirectories #
STOP OPENING YOUR FINDER OR FILE EXPLORER :-1:
1$ tree # on Linux
2$ find . -print | sed -e 's;[^/]*/;|____;g;s;____|; |;g' # on MacOS
3# Note: install homebrew (https://brew.sh) to be able to use (some) Linux utilities such as tree.
4# brew install tree
find a stale file #
STOP USING YOUR FILE EXPLORER TO FIND A FILE :-1:
Find all files modified more than 5 days ago
1$ find my_folder -mtime +5
show a calendar #
STOP LOOKING UP WHAT THIS MONTH LOOKS LIKE BY CALENDAR WIDGETS :-1:
Display a text calendar
1$ cal
Display selected month and year calendar
1$ cal 11 2018
find a future date #
STOP USING WEBAPPS TO CALCULATE FUTURE DATES :-1:
What is today's date?
1$ date +%m/%d/%Y
What about a week from now?
1$ date -d "+7 days" # on Linux
2$ date -j -v+7d # on MacOS
use a calculator #
STOP USING CALCULATOR WIDGET :-1:
1$ bc -l
force quit a program #
STOP CTRL + ALT + DELETE and choose the program to kill :-1:
1$ killall -9 program_name
check server response #
STOP OPENING A BROWSER :-1:
1$ curl -i umair.surge.sh
2# curl's -i (--include) option includes HTTP response headers in its output.
view content of a file #
STOP DOUBLE CLICKING A FILE :-1:
1$ cat apps/settings.py
2# if the file is too big to fit on one page, you can use a 'pager' (less) which shows you one page at a time.
3$ less apps/settings.py
search for a text in a file #
STOP CMD/CTRL + F IN A FILE :-1:
1$ grep -i "Query" file.txt
search in all files in current working directory, quickly (entire disk in less than 15 minutes) #
STOP CMD/CTRL + F IN A DIRECTORY :-1:
1$ ripgrep -i "Query"
2# brew install ripgrep
view an image #
STOP USING PREVIEW :-1:
1$ imgcat image.png
2# Note: requires iTerm2 terminal.
show disk size #
STOP RIGHT CLICKING DISK ICON OR OPENING DISK UTILITY :-1:
1$ df -h
check cpu usage, processes and RAM #
STOP OPENING YOUR ACTIVITY MONITOR OR TASK MANAGER :-1:
1$ top
if you want some more details:
1$ htop
know whether your computer is under load, and whether it's due to memory or CPU #
1$ glances
2# brew install glances
poweroff or reboot your computer #
This can be useful when you're patching a server that is accessed via SSH and you don't have a GUI.
1# poweroff
2$ sudo shutdown -h now
3# reboot
4$ sudo shutdown -r now
locate USB drives #
1$ df
unmount USB drives #
1$ sudo umount /dev/sdb1
format USB drives #
1# FAT32
2$ sudo mkfs.vfat /dev/sdb1
3# NTFS
4$ sudo mkfs.ntfs /dev/sdb1
5# exFAT
6$ sudo mkfs.exfat /dev/sdb1
check USB format #
1$ sudo fsck /dev/sdb1
run command on all files of a directory #
STOP CLICKING THE FILES ONE BY ONE :-1:
1$ for FILE in *; do echo $FILE; done
check network connectivity to a remote address and port #
STOP USING NETWORK UTILITY
1$ nc -vz www.google.com 443
2$ nc -vz 1.1.1.1 53
check DNS config of a domain #
STOP USING NETWORK UTILITY
1$ dig www.google.com
check the ownership and registration of a domain #
STOP USING NETWORK UTILITY AND THE WEBSITE OF DOMAIN REGISTRATION PROVIDERS
1$ whois www.google.com
Quick tips #
Hotkeys #
Ctrl + A Go to the beginning of the line you are currently typing on
Ctrl + E Go to the end of the line you are currently typing on
Ctrl + L Clears the Screen, similar to the clear command
Ctrl + U Clears the line before the cursor position. If you are at the end of the line, clears the entire line.
Ctrl + H Same as backspace
Ctrl + R Lets you search through previously used commands
Ctrl + C Kill whatever you are running
Ctrl + D Exit the current shell
Ctrl + Z Puts whatever you are running into a suspended background process. fg restores it.
Ctrl + W Delete the word before the cursor
Ctrl + K Clear the line after the cursor
Ctrl + T Swap the last two characters before the cursor
Ctrl + F Move cursor forward one character
Ctrl + B Move cursor backward one character
Esc + T Swap the last two words before the cursor
Alt + T Same as Esc + T
Alt + F Move cursor forward one word on the current line
Alt + B Move cursor backward one word on the current line
Esc + F Same as Alt + F
Esc + B Same as Alt + B
Alt + . Paste the last word of the most recently command
Tab Auto-complete files and directory names
I can't remember these cryptic commands #
You can always google or man the commands you are not familiar with. Or, checkout tldr, a collection of simplified and community-driven man pages.