Working with Terminals (Foundations)

A terminal (also called the command line or shell) is a text-based interface where you type commands and see results.

Terminals are a professional tool used across operating systems to run commands, navigate folders, and launch programs.

Terminal commands are reliable, can be easily copied-and-pasted, can save time, and help prevent mistakes.

Terminal Types By Platform

Common terminals by platform:

There are two key locations for opening terminals. Sometimes we need:

Both behave the same for the following commands.

Terminal commands always run in the working directory - the current folder.

Know where you are before running commands. Running a command when in an unexpected location will not work and can cause significant errors.

Prints the full path of the current folder. Use this to confirm you are in the expected directory.

shell pwd

Lists files and folders in the current directory. Use this to check for files like README.md or project folders.

shell ls

Moves into another folder.

shell cd folder_name

Clears previous output from the terminal. This does not delete files or undo commands. It only makes the terminal easier to read.

shell clear

Use the UP ARROW and DOWN ARROW in the terminal to scroll through past commands.

A path is the address of a file or folder. There are two kinds of paths:

Absolute - the full address from the top. Windows: C:\Repos\my-project. Mac/Linux: /Users/you/Repos/my-project.
Relative - an address starting from the current folder. my-project means "my-project inside where I already am."

Useful shorthands:

Windows separates folders with a backslash while Mac/Linux use a forward slash. Most tools accept /.

So cd ~/Repos means "go to the Repos folder in my home directory," and cd .. means "go up one level."