Table of Contents
While Xubuntu, including the default applications and the applications in the Ubuntu repositories, comes with graphical user interfaces to accomplish most tasks, sometimes you might want or need to use a command line to achieve your goal - or just achieve it faster.
To start the default terminal emulator and get to the command line, either
Navigate to → →
Press and run Alt+F2xfce4-terminal
There is a great tutorial on using the command line in the Ubuntu community wiki.
When working on the command line, any command can be run as an administrator by prefixing the command with sudo
. Sudo will remember your password for 15 minutes to allow you to perform multiple administrative tasks without being prompted for a password each time.
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If the program you wish to run as an administrator is graphical, such as the Mousepad text editor, you should use the command |
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Be careful when using sudo; you might damage your system if you type the wrong command! As a general rule, only use sudo when absolutely necessary. When you use sudo from a terminal, be sure to either close it when you have finished or type |
For more information on sudo, see the sudo page on the Ubuntu community wiki.
Basic terminal commands are outlined below (square brackets indicate substitutions):
Command | What it does? | Syntax |
---|---|---|
ls
|
Lists files in a directory; lists files in the current directory if none is specified |
ls [directory]
|
cd
|
Changes to another directory |
cd [directory]
|
cp
|
Copies a file (or files) to a directory or to overwrite another file |
cp [file(s)] [directory]
|
mv
|
Moves or renames a file |
mv [filename] [newfilename]
|
man
|
Get help about a command |
man [command]
|
cat
|
Joins (concatenates) two or more files |
cat [file1] [file2] ... > [output file]
|
less
|
View the contents of a text file |
less [file]
|
editor
|
Edit a text file |
editor [file]
|