What helps people get comfortable on the command line?
What helps people get comfortable on the command line?
jvns.ca
What helps people get comfortable on the command line?
56 comments
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What helps me is to understand what commands acronym means. For instance cp for copy, mkdir for make directory, blkid for block id, ls for list (not too sure about actual meaning for s) and so on!
Nice tips about ctrl+r to search in command history. Was not aware it existed!
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'ls' is an abbreviation for 'list', not an acronym. Like copy -> cp, and the other keystroke saving abbreviations.
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pwd for password, man for mansplain, and dd for destroy disk
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Hey, the first two don't sound quite right
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Okay, this is not Linux-specific, but it's about a transferable skill:
What helped me get comfortable and learn a lot of basics was setting up NetBSD. The basic install throws you into a basic command line, with no graphical interface installed and not even the internet configured. But the online guide for setting the system up is incredibly well-written and teaches you all the concepts you need to know.
After doing this, I was familiar with a larger set of terminal commands, knew how to use vi, had a bunch of practice setting up config files in CLI and even finally learned how pipes work. It's a very enjoyable experience, the guide is so good I didn't feel overwhelmed once and anything you have to look up is tied to a problem you're solving (like cursor movement in vi).
It also teaches you how NetBSD is structured. It's not Linux, but similar enough to understand a lot of how and why things are done in Linux systems
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Mastering the command line? A few observations. First, consult and take notes (yes, even seasoned terminal veterans forget syntax.) Secondly, embrace tab completion. It’s your friend, and a surprisingly effective substitute for remembering every single command. Third, the true test: procure a VPS or remote server and exclusively use the command line. No GUI crutches allowed. It’s a digital wilderness, and you'll learn to navigate it.
Lastly, and this is non-negotiable: keep a terminal window permanently resident on your desktop. Consider it a vital organ, deserving of its space. It’s a constant reminder of the power you wield, and a readily available portal to a world beyond the pretty buttons.
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On that front: to developers-
Please make sure you include bash completions for your tools
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Hehe, I'm doing this all the time now ! 3 years ago when I started my linux/self-hosted server journey with debian: CLI only !
Was difficult at times and had a few breakdowns (most got fixed the next day... Sleep/taking some time off really helps !!!)
One thing I'm still bad at... Is taking notes. Haven't found a good way take IT notes. And I tried sooo many different approaches...
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Breakdowns are inevitable; a good night's sleep is often the most elegant solution. :) I utilize Zim (for note management) as plain text remains a perfectly serviceable option, imo.
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Really specific here, but font control.
Us folks with dyslexia in its various expressions have trouble with command line. If you can't read a specific command, good luck ever getting comfortable with it. You can't error check yourself, so until you build up memory, you're kinda screwed if you can't use the fonts that are available.
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Practice I guess. Especially using cli for specific tasks that is done more efficiently on there than the gui.
Moving files using regex for example is useful. Or finding files with specific phrases in them. Stuff like that
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For me it was self hosting, aka not having a choice but to learn. I'll be dead before using remote desktop for that.
Also, self hosting gives you real motivation, because you actually need to do things, carry tasks, not just learning for the sake of it. Your efforts get immediately rewarded with functioning things.
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Have someone on Google doing the thing I need to do.
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To things that helps no mater your skill level the tab key is your best friend and man pages are great but if those are overwhelming install the package tldr then you can use the command tldr and the command you are trying to run to give you helpful examples of how to use that command.
Also old users don't remember long commands if we use a command more than once. You save it to your bash alias file to create your own commands.
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Knowing:
- pwd, ls, cd, cat/less, cp, mv, rm, rmdir, rm -rf, ls -lah
- command --help
- man command | grep thing I care about
- bonus points if you have tldr command installed
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Breaking things.
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I've done. It had the opposite effect.
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When you aren't in a rush try to do stuff in command instead, looking for a file? , try to find it in command. Need to copy and move a folder? Don't use your file manager, use the command line instead.
Eventually you will piece together the bits you learn and it starts to make sense, and then you feel like a God. Lol.
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I 100% agree. I'm still relatively new but this helped me become much more confident.
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Good cushions
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I have no clue... I grew up on Windows 3.11 and I thought Windows was kinda lame while MS-DOS was the coolest thing ever because you typed things like magic spells 😅
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This right here (more or less - first home PC was Win95, but it still relied pretty heavily on DOS, esp for games). I loved the RPGs where you typed in your actions, too.
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I am a Linux noob as far as the desktop goes. But I'm quite comfortable in the terminal because for years I've maintained a home server running Debian. After I install the OS, I unplug the keyboard and monitor and the only way to talk to that box is through SSH.
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2 things got me comfortable on command line: 1) A great cheat sheet (one from Ubuntu: https://ubuntu.com/download/server/thank-you); 2) Practice all the commands from the cheat list regularly. Last page is something for Pro version, but first 2 pages are great for a begginer. There is a typo at a command (or it was in a past cheat sheet): "Sudo change
<username>
" instead of "sudo chage<username>
". It helped me most to get comfortable with terminal. Enjoy! -
Working in a remote environment
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/to search man pages was a gamechanger
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using tldr instead of man 90% of the time to preserve your sanity
🎉 COLORS ! READABILITY ! CONCISION ! CONCRETE EXAMPLES ! 🎉
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tldr is very useful
Also, knowing vim keys is useful because a lot of terminal programs use them.
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Play around in a virtual machine so you don't have to worry about messing anything up. Start with the basics such as navigating through directories and creating, editing, and moving files. If you break something, just restore a snapshot.
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Step 1: Use a youtube tutorial for the basic commands. Don't worry, you'll forget about them soon enough. But doing them once, helps with muscle memory. Step 2: When in need to do something, copy/paste from Q&A/forums various commands that they suggest for your problem. Your basic knowledge from step1 will come back as you do that.
After a few days, you'll be understanding what's going on and how the whole thing works in an abstract level.
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I would recommand to never copy paste but retype so you have the commands on your finger memory.
Also don't be afraid to
--helpeverything. It give more option for commands you know quicker than theman.
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Clear instructions on how to do a clearly defined, specific task, in a failsoft manner, faster and easier, which helps them in a project they are doing now.
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For me, it was having a cool-looking and user-friendly terminal app.
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How do you get a terminal app that’s cool and user-friendly? Any recommendations?
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Install some terminal apps
Examples:
https://github.com/clangen/musikcube
https://github.com/yorukot/superfile
This is the font I use
https://github.com/ryanoasis/nerd-fonts/tree/master/patched-fonts/Meslo/M-DZ
I also use ghostty because it’s themeable, I found adding transparency helped me because i can have whatever I need to see under the terminal (helps for command cheatsheets)
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As someone who started with nothing but command line - Timex Sinclair, Apple IIe, DOS, I can’t even relate to the concept of being scared of command line.
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Colors. And a nice, readable font. Make your terminal pretty so you feel good every time you interact with it. Think about window dimensions (I personally always find the standard 80x24 too small), maybe set up some manual tiling so you can have two terminal windows fill your screen. Use the keyboard to move around your desktops.
But mostly, colors.
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And the message "DON'T PANIC" in big friendly letters.
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Using computers since before GUI was available... Sometimes I think we ought to go back to it
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Knowing the commands
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I set it so when I hit CTRL-Tilde it drops down from the top of the screen.
Quake-style, baby.
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CTRL-tilde or CTRL-backtick?
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Yes
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C:[Enter]
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Well, it's easy... just be born in the early 80s and grow up with home micros!
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Doing hackthebox or other CTF challenges, Using CLI software, writing bash scripts.
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in my experience, practice, practice, and more practice. but "just git gud m8" isn't really helpful advice. if you don't have half a decade on hand, i can make a few more practical recommendations.
a shell that can do argument autocomplete is your best friend. personally, i use zsh + ohmyzsh + fzf + fzf-tab, but i'm sure there are other configs, and i've heard ohmyzsh is a bit of a nightmare, though i haven't had too many issues.
so let's say you're running the one rsync command this month, and you forgot the args, just tab-tab and you can search through the arguments with fzf.
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Stumbled across a game that teaches the command line as you play it. Seems like a good place to share https://gitlab.com/slackermedia/bashcrawl
personally, writing and saving simple scripts - IE project based learning - is how i got time in the saddle.
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I think just doing it more, and thinking it's cool to interact more directly. At least that helps me. I do feel bad for dyslexic peiple though, it's a lot harder for them to use CLI.
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Yeah that was it for me. Just keep regular backups and bear in mind that you'll probably break stuff at first. But once you get the hang of it, it's like a whole other level of control over your system.
Also I'm not dyslexic but would things like tab completion and aliases help maybe? I sometimes shorten often-used commands with aliases just for convenience (as an example, I use
rsynca lot, particularly the commandrsync --ignore-existing -ravwhich I just shorten torsto save time) so maybe that could also be used to avoid mis-spelling?
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56 comments
In my experience repetition helped. Not memorization, but more like muscle memory.
Also, ensuring to never copy and paste commands but to type them in manually yourself. It's hard to enforce this on yourself, but worth it.
I appreciate that this article started with "ways to reduce risk" because that's an extremely valid concern and tied to why you shouldn't ever copy and paste. The one time in my early Linux forays where I copied and pasted I wiped the wrong drive. It definitely taught me to always manually type it in and not get too lazy, because what you copied might not match what you want to do exactly.
"Command: sido not found..."
As a fan of german rap this gave me a good chuckle. Thx.