Command Line Cheat Sheet – CLI Commands for Easy Reference

What Is a Command Line Interface?

A command line interface (CLI) is a computer’s text interface allowing you to type commands for the computer to run.

Below is an image of the Windows PowerShell terminal application.

The Windows PowerShell command-line interface

Note

Command line interfaces are sometimes called terminals.

Syntax of a Terminal’s Command

A terminal’s command comprises three components: a utility, a flag, and an argument.

Here is the syntax:

utility -flag argument

Note the following:

• A utility tells the computer the function you want it to run. Many CLI commands require only a utility.
• A flag alters the utility’s mode of operation. In other words, we use flags to specify preferences on how computers should run the utility command.
• Flags always start with one or two hyphens (-).
• Flags are typically written after the utility command and before an argument.
• An argument says the exact action the utility command should perform.

Let’s now see some of the widely used commands.

Directory Management Commands

Below are the commands for creating, accessing, and deleting directories on your system.

Note

Directories are sometimes called folders.

Description	Command
Check the current working directory’s path	pwd
Change directory from the current working directory to another-directory	cd another-directory
Change directory from the current working directory to its parent directory	cd .. Note The whitespace between cd and .. is essential.
Copy directory1 into directory2	cp -r directory1 directory2 Note The duplicated directory will overwrite an existing directory with the same name.
Remove a directory permanently from your system	rm -r name-of-directory-to-delete
Remove a directory permanently and forcefully from your system	rm -rf name-of-directory-to-delete-forcefully
Rename a directory	mv current-directory-name/ new-directory-name/
List out the current directory’s content	ls
List out the current directory’s content using the long listing format	ls -l
List out all the current directory’s content—including all hidden content	ls -a
List out all the current directory’s content using the long listing format. Also, include all hidden content	ls -la
Make a new directory	mkdir name-of-new-directory

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Files Management Commands

Below are the commands for creating, accessing, and deleting your system’s files.

Description	Command
Convert Word to Markdown with Pandoc	pandoc word-document.docx -o new-file-name.md --wrap=none
Convert Word to Markua with Pandoc	pandoc word-document.docx -t markua -o new-file-name.txt --wrap=none
Create a new file	touch name-of-new-file
Create test1.md file	touch test1.md
Create test1.md, test2.md, test3.md, and test4.md files	touch test{1..4}.md
Copy a file into a specific directory	cp file-to-copy directory-to-copy-file-into Note The duplicated file will overwrite an existing file with the same name.
Move a file into a new directory	mv file-to-move directory-to-move-file-into Note The moved file will overwrite an existing file with the same name.
Open a file with its default app	start filename
Open a file with VSCode	code filename
Print a file’s content on the terminal	cat filename
Print a file’s content in parts on the terminal	less filename Tip Press the ‘Enter’ key (or the up and down keys) to show more content. Press the Q key to exit the file space.
Print the first ten (10) lines of a specific file on the terminal	head filename
Print the last ten (10) lines of a specific file on the terminal	tail filename
Reduce image size from original width to 7px wide while retaining the original aspect ratio	ffmpeg -i image_name.jpg -vf scale=7:-1 image_name_tiny.jpg
Remove a file permanently from your system	rm name-of-file-to-delete
Remove a file permanently and forcefully from your system	rm -f name-of-file-to-delete-forcefully
Rename a file	mv current-file-name new-file-name

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Networking Commands

Below are the commands for downloading and testing network resources.

Description	Command
Download a file	curl -O url-of-the-file Note The -O flag must be in uppercase.
Test a network host’s reachability	ping domain-name.com

System Information Commands

Below are the commands for displaying your system’s information.

Description	Command
Display the current date and time	date
Display your CPU’s information	cat /proc/cpuinfo
Display your memory’s information	cat /proc/meminfo
Display your system’s disks usage information	df
Display your current directory’s space usage information	du
Clear your terminal’s content	clear