Navigate file system using command line

Learning Objectives

• use cd to change working directory
• pwd to print working directory
• ls to list files in a directory
  • -a flag to show hidden files
  • -l flag to see file details
• . and .. to refer to the current directory and parent directory
• ~ to refer to the home directory
• use both absolute and relative paths
• use TAB for Autocompletion

Let's try some out!

cd

pwd

ls -l

ls -a

. vs ..

~

Absolute

Relative

Any path that doesn't start with a / is relative to your current working directory

• Any path that starts with /
• Start at the root directory and work your way down the tree.
• Your home directory has an absolute path of /Users/[yourAccountName]

Take 7 minutes to look up the difference between absolute and relative paths, then answer these questions:

When accessing a file using its relative path, the file path starts in 

When accessing a file using its absolute path, the file path starts in 

.

.

$ cd ~
$ ls ~/Documents
$ ls Documents
$ ls /
$ ls ../..

Absolute vs Relative

What do you think

$ ls -l ~/Documents/../

will do?

Tab is your new BFF

• Tab Autocompletes stuff

• Type $ ls then double tap tab!

• Type $ ls L then single tap tab

• now double tap tab!

Did we get it?

• use cd to change working directory
• pwd to print working directory
• ls to list files in a directory
  • -a flag to show hidden files
  • -l flag to see file details
• . and .. to refer to the current directory and parent directory
• ~ to refer to the home directory
• use both absolute and relative paths
• use TAB for Autocompletion
• store folders in your $PATH so you can execute files contained in them from anywhere

Let's practice!

Grab a buddy and practice:

Exercise: 5 minutes in Pairs

1. Using Finder: Pick a directory somewhere under the /Users directory on your partner's computer

2. Your Task: Navigate to that directory in a single command from your home directory using a relative or absolute path

3. Help your partner if they are having trouble and use Tab Completion

Chain, pipe, and redirect commands

Learning Objectives

• > to redirect standard output to a file (overwrite)
• >> to redirect standard output to a file (append)
• | to redirect the standard output of one command into the standard input of another command
• && to chain a series of commands (only continues if the previous command executes successfully)
• ; to chain a series of commands
• Pipe input through grep to filter

Complete "File Manipulation" section of Command Line LE

Manage files on the command line

Learning Objectives

• ___ for moving and renaming files
• ___ for copying files
• ______ to create files
• ___ to remove files and directories
  • -__to force
  • -__ for directories
• ___ to show file contents
• _____ to search and filter file contents
• _____ to read file contents

mv

cp

touch

rm -rf

cat

grep

less