Terminal

CORE COMMANDS

Key/Command	Description
cd [folder]	Change directory e.g. cd Documents
cd	Home directory
cd ~	Home directory
cd /	Root of drive
cd -	Previous directory
ls	Short listing
ls -l	Long listing
ls -a	Listing incl. hidden files
ls -lh	Long listing with Human readable file sizes
ls -R	Entire content of folder recursively
sudo [command]	Run command with the security privileges of the superuser (Super User DO)
open [file]	Opens a file ( as if you double clicked it )
top	Displays active processes. Press q to quit
nano [file]	Opens the file using the nano editor
vim [file]	Opens the file using the vim editor
clear	Clears the screen
reset	Resets the terminal display

FILE MANAGEMENT

Key/Command	Description
touch [file]	Create a new file
pwd	Full path to working directory
.	Current folder, e.g. ls .
..	Parent/enclosing directory, e.g. ls ..
ls -l ..	Long listing of parent directory
cd ../../	Move 2 levels up
cat	Concatenate to screen
rm [file]	Remove a file, e.g. rm data.tmp
rm -I [file]	Remove with confirmation
rm -r [dir]	Remove a directory and contents
rm -f [file]	Force removal without confirmation
cp [file] [newfile]	Copy file to file
cp [file] [dir]	Copy file to directory
mv [file] [new filename]	Move/Rename, e.g. mv file1.ad /tmp
pbcopy < [file]	Copies file contents to clipboard
pbpaste	Paste clipboard contents
pbpaste > [file]	Paste clipboard contents into file, pbpaste > paste-test.txt

CHAINING COMMANDS

Key/Command	Description
[command-a]; [command-b]	Run command A and then B, regardless of success of A
[command-a] && [command-b]	Run command B if A succeeded
[command-a] || [command-b]	Run command B if A failed
[command-a] &	Run command A in background

DIRECTORY MANAGEMENT

Key/Command	Description
mkdir [dir]	Create new directory
mkdir -p [dir]/[dir]	Create nested directories
rmdir [dir]	Remove directory ( only operates on empty directories )
rm -R [dir]	Remove directory and contents
less [file]	Output file content delivered in screensize chunks
[command] > [file]	Push output to file, keep in mind it will get overwritten
[command] >> [file]	Append output to existing file
[command] < [file]	Tell command to read content from a file

SEARCH

Key/Command	Description
find [dir] -name [search_pattern]	Search for files, e.g. find /Users -name "file.txt"
grep [search_pattern] [file]	Search for all lines that contain the pattern, e.g. grep "Tom" file.txt
grep -r [search_pattern] [dir]	Recursively search in all files in specified directory for all lines that contain the pattern
grep -v [search_pattern] [file]	Search for all lines that do NOT contain the pattern
grep -I [search_pattern] [file]	Search for all lines that contain the case-insensitive pattern
mdfind [search_pattern]	Spotlight search for files (names, content, other metadata), e.g. mdfind skateboard
mdfind -onlyin [dir] -name [pattern]	Spotlight search for files named like pattern in the given directory