Appendix C. A Comparison of Common DOS and Linux Commands
Many
Linux commands typed at a shell prompt are similar to the commands you would
type in DOS. In fact, some commands are identical.
This appendix provides common commands used at the DOS prompt in
Windows and their counterparts in Linux. Basic examples of how the
command are used at the Linux shell prompt are also provided. Note that
these commands usually have a number of options. To learn more about each
command, read its associated man page (for example, type man
ls at the shell prompt to read about the ls
command).
| Command's Purpose | MS-DOS | Linux | Basic Linux Example |
|---|
| Copies files | copy | cp | cp thisfile.txt /home/thisdirectory |
| Moves files | move | mv | mv thisfile.txt
/home/thisdirectory |
| Lists files | dir | ls | ls |
| Clears screen | cls | clear | clear |
| Closes shell prompt | exit | exit | exit |
| Displays or sets date | date | date | date |
| Deletes files | del | rm | rm thisfile.txt |
| "Echoes" output to the screen | echo | echo | echo this message |
| Edits files with simple text editor | edit | gedit([a]) | gedit
thisfile.txt |
| Compares the contents of files | fc | diff | diff file1
file2 |
| Finds a string of text in a file | find | grep | grep
this word or phrase
thisfile.txt |
| Formats a diskette | format
a: (if diskette is in A:) | mke2fs or
mformat([b]) | /sbin/mke2fs /dev/fd0
(/dev/fd0 is the Linux equivalent of
A:) |
| Displays command help | command
/? | man([c]) | man
command |
| Creates a directory | mkdir | mkdir | mkdir directory |
| Views a file | more | less([d]) | less
thisfile.txt |
| Renames a file | ren | mv([e]) | mv
thisfile.txt
thatfile.txt |
| Displays your location in the file system | chdir | pwd | pwd |
| Changes directories with a specified path
(absolute path) | cd pathname | cd pathname | cd /directory/directory |
| Changes directories with a relative path | cd .. | cd .. | cd .. |
| Displays the time | time | date | date |
| Shows amount of RAM in use | mem | free | free |
Notes:
a. Gedit is a graphical
text editor; other editors you can use in place of
Gedit include
Emacs and
vi.
b. This formats a disk for
the DOS file system.
c. You can also use
info for some
commands.
d. The
more pager can also be used to
page through a file one screen at a
time.
e. The
mv command can
both move a file and, if you want to rename a file in the same
directory, "move" that file to the same directory with a new
name, as seen in this example.
|
Table C-1. Similar Commands
