You’ve already learned the basics of using the command line for beginners in Part 1. It’s time to get a bit more advanced. Now that we can move around and see where we are in our file system, we can use the file systems to create new files and directories. Personally, this is one set of commands that I find to be much faster than any method of creation offered by the operating system.

Setting up new directories & files

mkdir <new-directory-name> – This command is short for Make Directory. It may come as no surprise to you that this command creates a new directory. Like cd, mkdir needs an argument to use for the name of the new directory.

touch <new-file-name> – Similar to mkdir, touch creates a new file. Also similar to mkdir, touch requires an argument to use for the new file’s name, including its suffix.

(more…)

We all love shortcuts. CTRL + C to copy some text. Brownie mix. You name it. We find workarounds in all aspects of our lives to save time. For programmers, using the Command Line is a shortcut that makes certain tasks, like creating files and directories, faster and easier. Are you new to coding and looking for a way to up your programming game? Read James’ tips for using the command line for beginners!

Using the Command Line Interface (CLI) or terminal for common operating system tasks can be intimidating. Personally, I was kind of resistant to learning how to do it when I started coding. Once I took the plunge I actually found that it was much faster to complete common operating system tasks, like creating files and directories. Now, doing it the ‘old way,’ like creating a new file in a text editor, feels very slow and clunky.

Getting started with the terminal is as easy as launching the Terminal on your OS X device (found in the Utilities folder in Applications. For this blog we will be using Unix commands. As OS X is based on Unix, all of these commands will work natively on a Mac. Are you a Windows user? Probably the easiest way to follow along would be to install a Unix-like environment such as Cygwin or the Git Bash terminal for Windows. (There’s also a more robust terminal called PowerShell, but including all of its commands is beyond the scope of this blog.)

Let’s get started! At first glance, most terminal commands look like the incoherent scribblings of an over-caffeinated five-year-old. That’s because almost all of the commands are abbreviations of the actual thing you want to do. This will seem clearer as you see a few of the commands and what they mean side by side.

Getting Around the Command Line & Terminal

(more…)