terminal-basics

Windows

When you open the terminal or command prompt you usually find the following:

C:\Users\Name>

Everything before the symbol > indicates the place where you are located. The first basic command allows you to see a list of the elements and/or folders that are in the current path (C:\Users\Name). This command is dir, if you type it and press enter you will find something like this:

C:\Users\Name>dir

Directory of C:\Users\Name

dd/mm/aaaa    hh:mm   <DIR>   Desktop
dd/mm/aaaa    hh:mm   <DIR>   Documents
dd/mm/aaaa    hh:mm   <DIR>   Downloads

The order of the list depends on each computer and its content.

If you want to change folder, for example to the desktop, you can use the cd command and copy the respective name.

Tip: In many cases you can use the tab key to autocomplete what you are copying.

Try to change to desktop folder as follows:

C:\Users\Name>cd Desktop

Remember that you must be sure that the folder is in the current path. If the command worked you should see that the path changed, as follows:

C:\Users\Name\Desktop>

In case you want to go back to the previous folder use the command cd ..

C:\Users\Name\Desktop>cd ..

C:\Users\Name>

With these three basic commands you can use the PVDP platform.

Linux

In this operating system the cd and cd .. commands work the same way. However the command to see the folders and/or files of the present path is ls.

Summary

• dir : Displays a list of the contents of a directory or folder. In Linux its equivalent is ls.
• cd : Used to move through folders and subfolders.
• cd .. : Used to go back one level of folders and subfolders.