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Cheat sheet: moving around in Linux

Bookmark this. These are the commands you’ll use every single day.

Command What it does Example
pwd Print working directory: where am I? pwd → /home/you
ls List what’s in this folder ls
ls -la List everything, including hidden files, with details ls -la
cd folder Change into a folder cd loopnotes
cd .. Go up one folder cd ..
cd ~ or cd Go to your home folder cd
cd - Go back to the previous folder cd -
Keys What they do
Tab Complete a file or folder name
Tab Tab Show all possible completions
↑ / ↓ Previous / next command from history
Ctrl+R Search your command history
Ctrl+C Stop the running command
Ctrl+L Clear the screen
Terminal window
pwd
ls
cd /tmp
pwd
cd -