The Linux command line – What is it?

When working with Linux, you will, sooner or later, come in contact with the command line, or Terminal. The command line interface is a powerful tool in any Linux system and it’s a good thing to learn how to use it. A complete list of all the commands would be a waste of time and page space since almost no one needs to learn all the commands and rarely have use for many of them.

There are several ways to access the terminal on a Linux desktop but the most common way is to find it in the list of installed software. Or use a keyboard command, where the most common is CTRL-ALT-T (that being the key T) but not always. Refer to your distros documentation or plainly google it for your distro. I prefer to use Guake since it has a single hotkey on my keyboard and gives me instant access to my terminal. I am in no way, shape, or form a terminal power user but I do get into the terminal several times per week, for different reasons.

So instead of listing a bunch of useful commands, I thought I would point you in the direction of some good documentation about the Linux command line and the commands themselves. Remember to be careful about using some of the commands you’ll find in these documents. They are powerful and if used the wrong way, could potentially harm your computer.

These are some resources where you can find comprehensive lists of Linux terminal commands and their attributes:

LinuxCommand: This website provides a comprehensive guide to using the Linux command line, including detailed information about many common commands.

The Linux Documentation Project: This project hosts a variety of resources related to Linux documentation, including a collection of HOWTOs and guides that cover many different aspects of Linux system administration, including the command line. Here, I would also like to add that I firmly believe that the layout of the site is an homage to early-day Linux GUIs…

Linux Journal: This website provides a wealth of information about Linux, including tutorials and articles about specific commands and how to use them.

The Linux man pages: The man pages (short for ”manual pages”) provide documentation for most of the commands installed on your system. To access the man pages, simply type ”man [command]” in the terminal, where ”[command]” is the name of the command you want to learn about.

Keep in mind that while it’s fun to learn the basic Linux commands, it’s even more important to understand the underlying principles of how Linux works. This will allow you to troubleshoot problems and perform tasks more effectively, even if you don’t know the exact command to use off the top of your head.