nix-config/help/commands.md

Common Commands

• Move files: mv <source> <dest>
• Move directories: mv -r <source> <dest>
• Copy files: cp <source> <dest>
• Copy directories: cp -r <source> <dest>
• Copy all files from one directory to an existing directory (includes dotfiles and subdirectories): cp -R dir_1/. dir_2/

Note that "renaming" files is the same as moving them from one location to another. For example, if you want to rename a file oldfile to newfile, then you would type mv oldfile newfile.

• Print the contents of a file: cat <filename>
• Batch rename multiple files: rename -v <find_this_string> <replace_with_this_string> <in_these_files>
• Remove (delete) files: rm <filename>
• Remove (delete) a directory: rm -r <dirname>
• Make a new file: touch <filename>
• Make a new directory: mkdir <dirname>
• List all the files in a directory: ls
• List all the directories in a directory: ls -d */
• List all the files in a directory, including dotfiles: ls -A
• List all the files in dirname: ls <dirname>
• Only list png and jpg files: ls *.{png,jpg}

Switching Directories

• Go up one directory: ..
• Go up two directories: ...
• Go to the home directory: ~ OR simply cd with no parameters
• Go to dirname: dirname

Note that for all of the above, cd is not required.

Other Commands

• Print the working directory: pwd
• Make a script executable: chmod +x <file>
• Termite the processes with a specific word in it: killall -q <word>
• Get the current time and settings: timedatectl
• Show what gets executed when you run a command: which <command>
• Create a symbolic (soft) link between two files: ln -s <source> <dest>
  • When a program references dest, it will link to and give source.
  • In comparison, a hard link is when you make a copy of the file
• Change the permissions of a directory to all users: chmod -R a+rwX dir/
• Give permissions to the user hello and the group world: chown -R hello:world dir/

System Commands

• Logout of the current user session: logout
• Restart the system: reboot
• Turn off the computer: poweroff

Installed Commands

These programs are installed on top of the base system.

• List the entire contents of a directory: tree
• List all the directories in a directory, up to 2 levels deep: tree -d -L 2
• Beautify any JSON output: <json_output> | jq '.'

Inox

• Open a webpage in a borderless window: inox --app=<url>
• Open a webpage in the regular browser window: inox <url>

Waterfox

• Open a webpage in a new window: waterfox --new-window <url>
• Open a webpage in a new tab: waterfox --new-tab <url>
• Search for a specific term: waterfox --search <term>

Dealing with Archives

• Zip all files in a directotry: zip -r <zip_name> <directory>
• View the contents of rar files: unrar lb <files>
• Extract the contents of rar files: unrar x <files>
• Extract the contents of zip files: unzip <files>
• Extract any type of archiving algorithm: extract <filename>

Note: When using unrar or unzip to extract multiple files (with wildcards), you must first escape the * to \*.

Opening Things

Note that the preferred way to open things is with the open function; however, sometimes it is necessary to use these commands if, for example, you're loading an entire directory.

• Open a video or multiple videos in a playlist: mpv <files/dir>

Pacaur

• Install packages: pacaur -S <packages>
• Remove packages (including dependencies no longer needed): pacaur -Rs <packages>
• Update all packages: pacaur -Syu
• Search for a specific package: pacaur -Ss <package>

Note that if you ever get 404s with pacman or pacaur, you need to update your local database to the new download locations with -Syu first.

Custom Commands

• Easily switch to a 4k resolution with DPI scaling: 4k
• Easily switch to a 1080p resolution (with 96 DPI): 1080p
• Run a command as root: pls <command>
• Run the previous command as root: pls !!