Shell Commands are not just for the Pros, we all need them…
When logged into the Raspberry Pi Terminal or ssh, Shell Commands allow users to perform a wide range of tasks. In fact, shell commands can be used operate the Raspberry Pi completely without the Desktop or GUI. In the event that your Raspberry Pi is running Raspberry Pi OS Lite you may have no choice but to use shell commands.
What do you do when the Raspberry Pi Desktop is not responding?
Another key point would be what do you do when the Raspberry Pi Desktop is not responding? Provided that you have either the VNC (Virtual Networking Client) or RDP (Remote Desktop) applications you may be able to connect. In the case that these applications are not installed or do not work you still would have the same problem.
Consequently, you will have no other choice but to open up an ssh connection from another computer or power off and reboot. The problem with a hard reset or power cut is that the Micro SD Card can become corrupted. If that happens you may have to reinstall the operating system resulting in lost time and work.
Shell Commands to the Rescue!
For this reason, I recommend making sure ssh server is enabled and configured. In addition, the default pi and root passwords should be changed. Regardless of if you are new or experienced the following ultimate guides will help you become a Command Line Pro in no time!
Raspberry Pi Terminal:
In fact, this page has links to several articles showing how to use shell commands. Consequently, see image below on how to open Raspberry Pi Terminal from the desktop.
Notably, these tutorials will show how to use shell commands. Each shell command is grouped in a category as shown below.
Commands used for Viewing, Editing, Copying, Moving, Renaming, and Managing Files, Links, and Directories:
- cat – Concatenate files.
- cp – Copy Files and Directories.
- head – Display the first part of a file.
- less – An Advanced File Viewer.
- ln – Link Symbolic Links to Files.
- ls – List Directory Contents.
- mkdir – Make Directory.
- more – An Basic File Viewer.
- mv – Move or Rename File or Directory.
- rm – Remove File.
- pwd – Print Working Directory.
- tail – Display the last part of file.
- touch – Update Key File Timestamps.
- wc – Word Count for counting words in a file.