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Rock the Command Line
21 Bash commands to save you time
This article is a gentle introduction to Bash commands. Knowing how to move around the command line is an essential skill to save you time. We’ll hit 21 of the most common commands and their key flags. We’ll also cover Bash shortcuts to save you lots of keystrokes. ⌨️
Terms
The terms Unix, Linux, Bash, shell, command line, terminal, and shell scripting are distinct things, but they share the commands we’ll discuss. Here’s a quick breakdown of the differences and similarities.
Unix is a popular computer operating system developed by Bell Labs in the 1970s. It wasn’t open source.
Linux is the most popular Unix derivative. It runs a huge number of the computer-like devices in the world.
Your terminal is the emulator program that gives you access to the operating system. You can have multiple terminal windows open simultaneously.
The shell language is used to send commands to the underlying operating system.
Bash stands for Bourne Again SHell. It’s the most common shell language for communicating with the operating system. It’s also the default shell for macOS. To learn more about the open source foundations that support Linux and Bash, check out this article.