Command Line Basics
beginnerTopic 3 of 11 in Cloud & DevOps
What it is
The command line (terminal) is a text-based interface for interacting with your computer. Instead of clicking through folders and menus, you type commands to navigate, create files, install tools, and run programs.
Why cloud & devops developers need it
Most developer tools — Git, package managers, build tools, servers — are controlled from the terminal. Being comfortable with it makes you faster and lets you automate repetitive work.
What to learn
Navigating the filesystem: cd, ls/dir, pwd
Creating and managing files and directories: touch, mkdir, rm, cp, mv
Viewing file contents: cat, less, head, tail
Searching: grep, find
Environment variables and PATH
Piping and redirection: |, >, >>
Package managers: npm, pip, apt/brew
Running scripts and processes
Practice project
Terminal Workout
Complete a series of tasks entirely from the terminal: create a project folder structure, initialize a Git repo, create and edit files, search through them, and push to GitHub — without opening a file manager.