

The alias command lets you define temporary aliases in your shell session. Now the ls command output is colorized, and you can appreciate the difference between a directory and a file.īut typing ls with the color flag would be inefficient that’s why we use the alias command. This flag returns all the flags you can use with ls.įor example, to colorize the output of the ls command, you can use the following: ls -color=auto The colorized ls command. It has many options, so it might be good to get some help by using the -help flag.

It allows you to list the contents of the directory you want (the current directory by default), including files and other nested directories. Ls is probably the first command every Linux user typed in their terminal. Many of these have multiple options you can string to them, so make sure to check out the commands’ manual. Now let’s dive into the 40 most-used Linux commands. If this isn’t working, search in your application panel for “terminal.” The Linux terminal emulator. In most Linux distributions, you would use Ctrl + Alt + T to do so. ⬇️ Click to Tweetīefore jumping into the most-used Linux commands, make sure to fire up a terminal. You can invoke flags using hyphens ( -) and double hyphens ( -), while argument execution depends on the order in which you pass them to the function.ĭid you know that 90% of all cloud infrastructure and hosting services use Linux? 🤯 For this reason alone, it is crucial to be familiar with popular Linux commands. In most cases, the argument is a file path, but it can be anything you type in the terminal. Most of the time, flags are optional.Īn argument or parameter is the input we give to a command so it can run properly. Most Linux commands have a help page that we can call with the flag -h. For example, when you close a window by clicking on the “X,” there’s a command running behind that action.Ī flag is a way we can pass options to the command you run. A command line is an interface that accepts lines of text and processes them into instructions for your computer.Īny graphical user interface (GUI) is just an abstraction of command-line programs. A Linux command is a program or utility that runs on the command line.
