#Basic windows command prompt commands manual
Man command displays the manual page for a given command.
#Basic windows command prompt commands how to
help is a flag supported by many bash commands, and programs that can be run from within Bash, to display more information on how to use these commands or programs.
Grep selects lines in files that match patterns. Letting users decide what files to process is more flexible and more consistent with built-in Unix commands.įind finds files with specific properties that match patterns. Place variables in quotes if the values might have spaces in them. $1, $2, etc., refer to the first command-line argument, the second command-line argument, etc. refers to all of a shell script’s command-line arguments. Save commands in files (usually called shell scripts) for re-use.īash filename runs the commands saved in a file. Use history to display recent commands, and !number to repeat a command by number. Use Ctrl-R to search through the previously entered commands. Use the up-arrow key to scroll up through previous commands to edit and repeat them. Give files consistent names that are easy to match with wildcard patterns to make it easy to select them for looping. $ can also be used.ĭo not use spaces, quotes, or wildcard characters such as ‘*’ or ‘?’ in filenames, as it complicates variable expansion. Use $name to expand a variable (i.e., get its value). The best way to use the shell is to use pipes to combine simple single-purpose programs (filters).Ī for loop repeats commands once for every thing in a list.Įvery for loop needs a variable to refer to the thing it is currently operating on. Wc counts lines, words, and characters in its inputs.Ĭommand > file redirects a command’s output to a file.įirst | second is a pipeline: the output of the first command is used as the input to the second. Tail displays the last 10 lines of its input. Head displays the first 10 lines of its input. The shell does not have a trash bin: once something is deleted, it’s really gone.ĭepending on the type of work you do, you may need a more powerful text editor than Nano. Use of the Control key may be described in many ways, including Ctrl-X, Control-X, and ^X.
? matches any single character in a filename, so ?.txt matches a.txt but not any.txt. * matches zero or more characters in a filename, so *.txt matches all files ending in. Mv old new moves (renames) a file or directory. The extension isn’t required, and doesn’t guarantee anything, but is normally used to indicate the type of data in the file. Most files’ names are something.extension. on its own means ‘the current directory’. means ‘the directory above the current one’. on its own is the root directory of the whole file system.Ī relative path specifies a location starting from the current location.Īn absolute path specifies a location from the root of the file system.ĭirectory names in a path are separated with / on Unix, but \ on Windows. Pwd prints the user’s current working directory. Ls path prints a listing of a specific file or directory ls on its own lists the current working directory. Information is stored in files, which are stored in directories (folders).ĭirectories can also store other directories, which forms a directory tree.Ĭd path changes the current working directory. The file system is responsible for managing information on the disk. The command prompt’s main disadvantages are its primarily textual nature and how cryptic its commands and operation can be. The command prompt’s main advantages are its high action-to-keystroke ratio, its support for automating repetitive tasks, and its capacity to access networked machines. The Windows Command Prompt: Summary of Basic Commands Key Points Introducing the Windows Command PromptĪ command prompt is a program whose primary purpose is to read commands and run other programs.