Beginner's Guide To The Linux Terminal 

Table of contents: 0:58 Opening the terminal 1:20 Zooming on the terminal 2:00 Print working directory - pwd 2:34 Change directory - cd 4:18 Clearing the screen - clear / Control+l 4:45 List contents of directories - ls 7:12 Manual pages - man 8:07 Creating files - touch 9:30 Showing file contents - cat 9:49 Creating directories - mkdir 10:23 Moving files - mv 11:36 Copying files - cp 12:14 Removing files - rm 13:05 Removing directories - rmdir 13:30 Removing not empty directories - rm -rf 15:06 Finding program binaries - which / whereis 16:29 Finding files in filesystem - locate / mlocate / find 17:54 Printing text - echo 19:21 Printing text - printf 21:26 Cat from the top of a file - less 22:00 Finding strings of text in a file - grep 22:50 Piping program outputs - | 23:19 Find and replace strings - sed 25:38 Printing first or last lines of a file - head / tail 26:54 File permissions - chmod 29:50 Console command history - history 30:43 Repeat last command - !! 31:56 Closing programs - kill / killall / xkill 33:20 Closing programs - htop 34:22 Testing connection - ping 35:11 Downloading things - wget 35:51 Getting the date - date 36:18 Calendar - cal 36:23 Calculator - bc 36:56 Configuring shell aliases - .bashrc editing 38:21 Updating Debian-based systems - apt update && apt upgrade

Do I already know how to use the terminal? Yes. Am I still going to watch the video? Yes.

this 42 min long video is literally worth a 4 hours lecture at the university, great delivery, simple and straight to the point. you earned a sub, keep the good work !

Those chips were just teasing me the whole time! I'm ready for the party size!

We need some of these every once in a while

Having taught Linux for several years now, most students really struggle with paths. It seems to be so abstract for many beginners.

Derek that a great video not for beginner but also good for revision although could you do stamps times? Thank you Derek!

00:04 gnew subscribers lol

I applaud channels like this. Here's why. These resources are introducing people to our other options. I converted my computers to Linux a while back. I have no regrets at all. I got tired of questionable operating system behavior which included ads and popups. Since I put Linux MX on some machines and Linux Zorin on others, I'm experiencing nice tight operating systems that 'I' can trust. No ads. No popups. No operating system stubbornness. It just works! In my case, I had another observation. The amount of time I'd observe how often my hard drive and internet lights would be working when nobody is using the machines. With Linux I don't see this activity with these lights. An occasional flicker or two, but no 10 minute sessions of watching these lights showing activity. I'm fond of Linux MX because it lets you change the OS system Icon images. I put my business logo on the start button. I'm a very happy Linux user. Very happy. 👍

Terminal meme man isn’t real he can’t hurt you Terminal meme man: 24:03

I just started "Introduction to Operating Systems" two weeks ago and I am so slow and lost. I was able to complete my assignments, but they came with step by step instructions. This is some really intimidating stuff for a guy who left high school and has been working dead end jobs for 20 years. I decided to just pick something, and that was a Cybersecurity Program. If you have any tips, I welcome your advice because this video taught me a lot in under an hour. Thanks!!!

Run "man intro", it's a great intro (obviously) to using the Terminal. "info" is good on systems that support it but a bit harder to move around navigate. "man man" is another good place to start, and then from there "man command" (insert any command to learn about). Also "cd --help" or "command --help" is a good cheat sheet. depending your shell (most often bash), "man bash" will get more in depth. "man zsh" would be for the ZSH shell. If you want a bonus to take things to the next next level. Full screen your terminal, get rid of any menu bars or scrollbars, and then run "byobu" to get a terminal multiplexer (window manager) to split the terminal, have multiple tabs, print system info on status bar, pretty much a terminal based GUI so you aren't stuck in a single shell and can start multitasking similar to having multiple GUI windows open but way more efficient and hacker--ish haha.

Getting into this at the ripe age of 36. This was extremely helpful. Much obliged.

I’ve learned more about using Linux from this channel than I have about just customizing Linux...

Im new! I am still learning but I have to say, if anyone else is learning alone like i am, then pit your frustrations to the side and keep trying. it is tough but you will get better at it before you even realize it. 😂 one day you will be watching a video like this and realize you need to fast forward because you know this stuff. 😎 I can navigate linux but not confidently,. I still cant really manipulate it very well. ..Took me many hours to finally get my external network adapter and Bluetooth mouse installed. I wasted a lot of time taking chillaxin breaks 😅 I probably already forgot how i did it. Videos like these are very helpful though and I am always searching for more. Thnak you

This brings me back to 2014. Freshman year of college we had to learn all of this in a required course that was prerequisite for every engineering major

Linux has been my daily driver for years, but I watched this just to see if there was anything I could learn. Sure enough, I have always used "cd .." to go up a directory. I never knew "cd -" would work also. Great job.

My first day watching linux commands after ccna certification just picking one or two commands thanks very much

alias commands are dope, I am in love with alias commands literally I'm using them daily for a lot of tasks.

The first commands that I learned. I always called them navigation commands. Which is the main commands you run daily. People always ask how can you remember these commands. Well repetition for one thing. I always start with 10 commands. Learn them well, until it's burn into memory. Then go to the next 10 commands. Repeat until you get to 100 commands by heart.

If you are a real beginner and wondering if the terminal is really worth the time Yes it is! You get similar productivity boost from terminal as from learning 10 finger typing over self taught. But terminal has been easier to learn for me at least

I absolutely recommend anyone new top linux to watch this video.Its covers most of if not all the basic commands of the terminal Thanks DT☺

I use LinuxMint 20.1 XFCE and the terminal app that came with Linux on my old Toshiba. To increase the text size on my terminal, I had to press the CTRL key and the SHIFT key together and tap the + key. When I pressed only the CTRL key and tapped the + key, the = sign would show on the command line. Using only the CTRL key and tapping the minus key, the text would become smaller. I am using a Toshiba Satellite C55-B5250, bought around 2015. Thanks for the easy to follow terminal video. :

DT you are the best Linux teacher I could ever ask for. This is such a helpful guide to the Linux terminal and you go at a really good pace. You explain things in a very clear way and I find this tutorial very easy to follow. Keep up the amazing work!

In less than 5min you tought me more than I expected. Thanks a lot for this video. Will rewatch it a few times, making notes 🙏

An excellent video. Will be immensely helpful for new users. Really appreciate the work you doing for everyone. Thankfully I was never scared of the Terminal as I come from the MS-DOS days 😀

This is one of the GREATEST beginner Linux tutorials on RU-vid. Thank you very much for this course of yours, sir. I've also subscribed for more.

Solid tutorial; Not a beginner but discovered a thing or two. Never hurts to go back to the basics !

A very packed but most useful video on the Terminal so far. Thank You so so much.

This was really encouraging to watch. Really helpful to improve my work

I’ve been learning Linux for the last couple weeks and this is by far the best video I’ve found so far

DT , my son moved to linux because of you. I been using Linux on my "old" laptop 💻 and it work well. zoom works and the downside it's the battery drain fastly. love you from Malaysia 🇲🇾

Just found this video and first time seeing your channel. VERY easy to follow and great information for someone new like me. Thank you!

Great video, haven't finished it yet, but I really wanted to leave a good feed-back here. So far so good.

I literally changed this comment 3 times. This is exactly the video i was looking for. U answered a lot of questions i had about commands in the terminal i built up the last weeks. Great stuff man love it.

Love your videos man, you got me wanting to try Arch out. I'm running windows 11, and Ubuntu on a cheap laptop, and your videos have been priceless.

This is a great video i just started learning and understanding the terminal this week.

Good stuff. I was able to learn a thing or two even though I've been using linux for quite awhile now. Really cool that you covered bc. One of my college professors actually helped write it!

Fantastic work! Great information and pacing. Thank you

It has been 3 1/2 years since my intro to Linux course, and this is a great review.

Thank you for that teaching! I'm one of those who will be reviewing this information several times as I learn to use the command line.

Thanks a lot. I went linux(mint)-only like 3 moths ago and still not properly aquired basic bash so this video is EXACTLY what i needed ;)

Configuring shell aliases - awesome ! Thank you, dear...

Extremely useful for a beginner trying to learn to bash in a terminal window, really needed this for work as I'm expected to handle linux and ubuntu OS based systems.

41:45 I wanna thank these folks too thank you for making it possible

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge on Linux terminal for beginners! Your explanations and jokes made the learning process so much more enjoyable and approachable. Your guide was instrumental in helping me get a better understanding of the Linux terminal and I appreciate all the time and effort you put into creating it. Your passion for teaching and commitment to helping others truly shines through. Keep up the great work and I look forward to learning more from you in the future! 💌💌

Thanks dude, this was helpful. I've used Linux in the past and executed commands in the terminal, but I would just copy/paste the commands and not really understand what they meant or what exactly was going on. This helped fill in the gaps I had.

you're an amazing teacher, in a first 4 minutes I learned more that other 20 minutes videos

Thank you. New to Linux and this answered a lot of questions I had.

i cant thank you enough for this video. i just started the odin project, installed a dual boot but the linux terminal always confused me. i just watched your video and the way you teach is excellent!!! thank you so much.

Thank you abundantly for this thorough, grounded instruction... This program was a joy to work through. Lots of my fears were relieved and I'm no longer walking on eggshells as a new Linux Mint user... I have previous experience with Windows Subsystem for Linux for a couple years, bu this is still a different animal with a new file system. Well done.

This was awesome. Thank you for the video. Made so much more sense than trying to figure it out on my own.

Epic! I've gone through many other tuts, and this one is way on top. Thx a lot!

Tandy trs80, I learned Basic in the 80s, DOS in the 90s, msDOS shell 6 was my favorite. I upgraded my green screen msDOS to an amber ibm dos in 96.. my bbs was the cyberdome, on my PS1 ibmdos 8color. Yeah new Orleans Superdome was a current thing. PC plus was my browser... via 2400bpm Dial up... Had all Three ISP CompuServe, prodigy and aol... NetZero was always a good back up... By 98.. my skills got noticed. I passed the tests for telecommunication tech II... I'm now retired from at&t Long lines... theses distros, this Linux, it is all the same. Different names and faces but the game... ah the game stays the same... reel to reel, 45s, albums, 8 track or cassette tape. CDs, mp3... Your videos are so helpful, thanks for the lessons 😺

Very helpful as I begin working with Linux, i haven't seen anything else on using terminal commands so this is an excellent reference thank you.

What you said about moving, copying, creating deleting files via a terminal is so true. I liked the tip about asking beginners to re-watch, and try the commands. Of course I am an old hat at this, but was looking for a video for co-workers.

State-of-the-art tutorial. Thanks for sharing!😎

Hey DT, I was a Unix system admin for many years. I got my first taste of it 34 years ago. I knew most of this, but you still managed to teach me a few new tricks. Thanks. You missed your calling... I know you like retail a lot, but you are also an awesome teacher/trainer. That is a rare skill. Kudos!

As someone who has been used to be with windows for decades and just recently actively discovered Linux as "the new World", I'm impressed 🤩

Yooo DT thanks for the video I just got into recently so this is a great help.

Thanks so much DT! This is terrific.

Been Interested in learning Linux and your video is Excellent. TYVM 🤠

Awesome video! You made this so easy to learn! Thank you!

Thank you very much you are very easy to follow along with you should do entire sets of terminal tutorials heck I would even pay for them.

Wow. On point, very dense information. Great work!

Hi Derek, many thanks! Dankeschön from Germany 😃👍🏻 Best wishes, Ralf

Thanks a lot. This is valuable for me, a new beginner into Linux Realm.

Terminal is power of gods. But less users know that. 💪

Excellent work, one of the best tutorials about beginning learn Linux.

I thoughts it was weird when i first heard Indian accent in a video teaching me computer science, turns out its even weirder hearing a Southern accent in a video teaching me computer science. Jokes aside, its a great video with clear explanation. Good job

Love the video and love this channel. Thanks!

Awesome video man! Nice pace and good info. Thabk you. Im in...

Thank you so much! I'm very new to Linux and this helped me a lot

about `touch` - this subtle command does not only create file if it does not exist, but if it does exist, touch will keep it intact, but modify date of last modification (as if you re-saved it just now with same content) ^^^ this is quite handy functionality when you have some other tool depending on date of files, like building-systems or archiving (the "create file" functionality can be achieved by many other ways, but the "refresh the file date" is the main point of existence of `touch`)

Is DT the best Linux youtuber out there? Been watching him for months and the amount of gems he has over the years is insane !

I’ve stayed away from the terminal as much as possible for 20 years. I never understood the point of a text interface when you have a graphical interface. It felt like using DOS when I was a little kid. I quickly left that when Windows 95 came out and never really bothered with DOS again. But now I want to learn terminal a bit more. It helped solve an issue I had with Kubuntu.

Derek Taylor, You are a hero! This is tutorial works for us os x folks too.

I should be sleeping, and I am heading that way. But I was watching this, I am seriously considering dumping Windows and going to Linux. THIS, this reminds me of the good old days running DOS. Obviously just about the same thing. I think I might enjoy this. Okay, time to get some sleep...

Thanks Distro. Awesome presentation!!

Superb, straight to the point video. Thumbs up.

Really great tutorial! Thanks!!!

This is great! Finally some explanations! Thanks 🙏

Thank you for the great tutorials , thanks to you I really learnt the use of terminal and vim Linux is fun again. Please share more fun things

Great explanation! This really helps!

This is a perfect video for learning Bash

Thank you DT! (for your keeping (me) company and your videos i've been binge-watching, not just this one..!)

sincerely Thank you ,this is eye opening .

just moved to Mac from windows been a great help, thanks.

Loved the video. I guess since I knew all these I'm no longer a beginner...lol yeah right. Still a beginner. I also would've also added "cd .." to go back one directory. At least I use that one a lot.

I like to imagine sometimes that Arch users have some life issues and somebody tells them RTFM...

my favorite unintentional ASMR video. Linux tips are good too

Great stuff DT

+1 to the previous comment, earned a sub because of this video. Great delivery and straight to the point. Thx

I have been using Linux for a long time in parallel with Windows and exclusively for more than one and a half yearas, but I didn't know that there is a printf command. I am familiar with printf as a c function, but it was this video that taught me about the Linux command with the same name.

Nice. I knew a lot of these but did not realize 'cd' would go to home and 'cd -' would go back to the previous folder I was in. Kept expecting to hear about 'cd ..' to go up a level

I just started using Linux and this is very helpful!

Really nice, using Linux for 2 months and learned 3,4 commands. Could you please do a intermediary guide too?

I've been using Linux at home on all my machines for ten years, but I always enjoy videos on using the terminal. You can ALWAYS learn a new trick or two, even after ten years :-)

This was extremely helpful. Thank you

I installed linux for the first time & this was fun. Thanks.