Boston Python Workshop 4/Friday/Linux terminal navigation

There are three commands that we'll be using at a command prompt to navigate the filesystem on your computer:

• ls
• pwd
• cd

ls lists the contents of a directory.
pwd gives the full directory path to your current directory.
cd moves you into a new directory (it stands for "change directory").

Let's practice using these commands.

Open a command prompt:

You can find the Terminal application at Applications/Accessories/Terminal, or it may already be on your menu bar.

Practice using ls, pwd, and cd

Before you practice these commands, let's make sure you are really at a terminal prompt. Recall that a terminal prompt will look like jesstess$ and a Python prompt will look like >>>. Make sure you are at a terminal prompt and not a Python prompt; if you are at a Python prompt, you can type exit() on a line by itself and then hit enter to exit Python and return to a terminal prompt. Great!

Type each of these commands and hit enter:

ls

This lists all the files in your home directory.

pwd

This displays the full directory path to your current directory, which is your home directory.

cd /

This will change you into the / root directory.

ls

This lists the contents of the / root directory.

cd home

This will change you into the home subdirectory of the / root directory.

ls

You should see a list of all the files in /home, including the directory for your username -- your home directory.

pwd

This displays the full directory path to your current directory, /home.

cd ..

.. means "parent directory", so this command moved you up to the parent directory. You were in /home, so now you are in /, the root directory.

ls

This lists the contents of the root directory, confirming where you are.

• You can use Tab to auto-complete directory and file names. So from inside the root directory, if you type cd U and hit Tab, the command prompt will auto-complete the directory name as much as it can.
• The command prompt maintains a command history. You can use the up arrow to cycle through old commands.

Success!

You've practiced using ls, pwd, and cd to navigate your computer's filesystem from the command prompt.

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