Terminal basics: files, folders, and commands

This course is for anyone who has used a computer only through windows, menus, and buttons. No programming background is needed. By the end, you'll open your terminal, move between folders, look at files, copy and move them, run a small program, and recover confidently when a command goes wrong — all without touching a mouse.

By the end you'll be able to (course objectives):

• Open the terminal app on your computer and read the prompt.
• Navigate folders with pwd, ls, and cd using both absolute and relative paths.
• Inspect files and folders with cat, less, file, and ls -l.
• Create, move, copy, and delete files and folders with mkdir, mv, cp, and rm.
• Run a command with arguments and flags, and find help with --help or man.
• Interrupt a stuck command and recover from a wrong command without fear.

Prerequisites: None beyond everyday computer use. You should know how to open apps, save files, and click folders. If you have never opened a terminal, Lesson 1 starts there.

Practice environment: Your own terminal. This course has no embedded sandbox.

Lessons

Sources listed in sources.md.