Mac Terminal Cheat Sheet

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SHORTCUTS

Key/Command	Description
Ctrl + A	Go to the beginning of the line you are currently typing on
Ctrl + E	Go to the end of the line you are currently typing on
Ctrl + U	Clear the line before the cursor
Ctrl + K	Clear the line after the cursor
Ctrl + W	Delete the word before the cursor
Ctrl + L	Clears the Screen
Ctrl + C	Kill whatever you are running

CORE COMMANDS

ls	Short listing
ls -l	Long listing
ls -a	Listing incl. hidden files
ls -lh	Long listing with Human readable file sizes
top	Displays active processes. Press q to quit
q	Exit
clear	Clear screen

FILE MANAGEMENT

touch [file]	Create new file
ls -l ..	Long listing of parent directory
cd ../../	Move 2 levels up
cat	Concatenate to screen
rm [file]	Remove a file, e.g. rm [file] [file]
rm -i [file]	Remove with confirmation
rm -r [dir]	Remove a directory and contents
rm -f [file]	Force removal without confirmation
rm -i [file]	Will display prompt before
cp [file] [newfile]	Copy file to file
cp [file] [dir]	Copy file to directory
mv [file] [new filename]	Move/Rename, e.g. mv -v [file] [dir]

DIRECTORY MANAGEMENT

mkdir -p [dir]/[dir]	Create nested directories
rmdir [dir]	Remove directory ( only operates on empty directories )
rm -R [dir]	Remove directory and contents

PIPES – Allows to combine multiple commands that generate output

more	Output content delivered in screensize chunks
> [file]	Push output to file, keep in mind it will get overwritten
>> [file]	Append output to existing file
<	Tell command to read content from a fi

HELP

reset	Resets the terminal display
man [command]	Show the help for ‘command’
whatis [command]	Gives a one-line description of ‘command’