X Terminal for Beginners

X Terminal Commands Explained for Noobs

Well this is what we have so far I used a couple links and tested commands myself, to see if they actually worked and were not dangerous just in case anyone was trying to mess with us Noobs.

The list will increase as we go along learning together, and shall be separated with headings for easy use. Please no trolling, this is for constructive purposes.

When placing up a new command that isn't already on the list, make sure to place it under the most appropriate heading and also place with it an explanation of what it does and a working example.

Make reference to http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=63034 if you have any questions and Terminal and the books provided by anthonie here http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=63052 for more commands which you can use to help yourself or others. Thank you from T&T, West Indies


Exploring Files/Searching

ls 

view inside a directory (e.g. "ls /home/user" allows you to see inside the "user" directory)

ls -a

view all files, even the hidden ones (e.g. ls -a /home/user)

ls -l 

view it like a list (e.g. ls -l /home/user)

ls -la

lists hidden files and directories


cd 

changes directory (e.g. cd MyDocs would send you into MyDocs so if you're unzipping something the sytem will look in MyDocs for the desired folder to be unzipped)

pwd 

tells you the directory you are in (pwd stands for "present working directory")

find / | grep <place name of file/folder in question here>

Searches and gives results for all files or folders with that name. It will search the complete system.

find /home/ | grep <name of file/folder> 

Will look for a folder/file in the home directory and it's subdirectories. You can easily change the directory if you know where the files are located. (e.g. find /home/user/MyDocs/ | grep <file/folder name>. Will find file or folder for you in MyDocs. It's an easy way to check if something is really where it's supposed to be if you don't have a file explorer such as Cute Explorer or Filebox.

ls -laS / 

shows you your biggest folders/files in the different locations (e.g. ls -laS /home/user or ls -laS /home/user/opt will show you the biggest files in "user" and "opt")

dpkg -l  

shows you a list of all your programmes installed including those not visible in App Manager.


Removing Files/Programmes [WARNING! BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN USING THESE COMMANDS]

rm -r 

removes all files or folders in a specific location (e.g. rm -r /home/user/opt will delete all files in "opt" so DON'T RUN THIS COMMAND)

rm 

removes a file e.g. rm /home/user/opt/themes/sunset/file1 would delete "file1" in the "sunset" folder