Find Files

find files from current directory down	find . -name filename
find files from home directory using wildcards	find ~ -name filenam*

Directory Listing

show subdirectory	pwd
list files and directories	ls
list files and directories (one per line)	ls -l
list files beginning with 'Adams'	ls adams*
list files by screenful	ls | more

Delete Files

delete files with prompting

rm existingfile

Counts

count files in a directory	ls | wc -l filename
count lines files	wc -l filename
count lines words and bytes	wc filename
count words files	wc -w filename
write a file count to a file	ls | wc -l > file.ext

Copy / Move

concatenate files together in new file	cat oldfile1.ext oldfile2.ext > bothfiles.ext
copy a file and prompt before overwriting	cp -i existingfile newfile
copy top # lines of a file to a new file	head -# filename > newfilename
move a file and prompt before overwriting	mv -i existingfile newfile

Compare Files and Directories

compare two directories	diff /directory1 /directory2
compare two files	cmp file1 file2
compare two files and show specific differences-i=ignore case-b=ignore blanks-w=ignore spaces and tabs	diff -iwb file1 file2
compare two files side-by-side| lines are the same< line is in first file only> line is in second file only	sdiff file1 file2
compare two files side-by-side showing only differences	sdiff -s file1 file2

Change / Make Directory

make a directory	mkdir subdir
change to a subdirectory beneath where you are	cd subdir
change to a subdirectory of the root	cd /subdir
change to a subdirectory under your home directory	cd ~/subdir
change to home directory	cd
change up one level	cd ..