Top 10 list of Linux command

man command

stands for manual. man followed by the name of the command gives you information about that command. EX: man cp

apropros keyword

seaches the documentation for instances of the keyword

pwd

print working directory. Displays the absolute pathname of the current working directory

cd

change directory. Changes to the specified directory

cd ~ returns you to your home directory

cd .. moves up one level (to the parent) in the directory tree

cd /dir1/dir2 moves to directory 2 starting from the root

ls

list the contents of the current directory

ls directoryName lists the contents of the relative directory, directoryName

ls -l displays more information including permissions about the directory contents

cp fromfile tofile

copies from the fromfile to the tofile. May use relative names or absolute names.

mv fromfile todestination

renames a file or moves a file. todestination may be a directory or a file name.

rm filename

removes a file (deletes the file). This may also delete an empty directory.

rm -rdirectoryName Removes a directory and all of its contents. NO PROMPT.

mkdir directoryName

creates a new directory with the given name

rmdir directoryName

removes a directory with the given name

less filename

displays the contents of filename. Enter 'q' at the ':' prompt to exit this program.