# Linux Terminal: A Beginner’s Guide

So you want to learn Linux command line? This guide will hopefully get you started.

Linux is one of the most widely used open source operating systems. It's now used, not only in computer systems administration tasks, but by web servers, network equipment, as well as in software development and more.

Some of its uses include developing new software, managing network infrastructure, automating repetitive tasks, data mining, data processing, and scientific computing.

## Command line? 

A lot of people think of the command line as a scary and intimidating place that they don’t want to go. But I am here to tell you that it is actually very easy.

Bash shell is the default command line interpreter. Linux bash (variant) or BASH for short is a command interpreter for Unix-like operating systems and also for Linux, Android and Apple's macOS.

If you are new to command line, try [these exercises](https://www.practicelinux.com/) to memorize all the commands quickly.

![command line](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/yv8zhh7w8xxu3uli9lf3.gif)

## List of Linux commands

This is a list of basic Linux commands that you need to know when you start to use Linux, most of the commands have their description and examples, but for more info you can read the bash manual pages with "man "

These commands should work on any Linux system.


`cal`   : Displays the calendar of the current month
`date`  : displays the current date and time
`~`       : home of the current user
`pwd`    : present working directory
`mkdir` : make directory
`mv`    : move/rename
`cp`    : copy
`rmdir` : remove directory
`ls` : list files
`cd` : change directory
`rm` : remove file

Linux has hundreds of [commands](https://bsdnerds.org/what-is-linux-shell/) that you can use to browse your file system, to configure your network, do programming and a lot more.

You could also learn [vim](https://vim.is/) which is a powerful text editor and sometimes even used as IDE. It can be used from the command line directly and is one of the most widely used Linux tools.