Questions tagged [command-line]
This tag is for questions that are about using the command-line interface (CLI), including the use of standard command-line tools and shell commands. However, for questions that are specific to each shell (like Bash, ZSH etc.), use the tag of that particular shell as well.
3,506
questions
1468
votes
12
answers
4.5m
views
How do I install a .deb file via the command line?
How do I install a .deb file via the command line?
- 26.8k
40
votes
8
answers
68k
views
Nothing shows up in the terminal when I type my password
When I'm about to install a program in the terminal it wants the password:
[sudo] password for xxx:
But when I start to type my password nothing happens. What should I do?
- 401
81
votes
5
answers
377k
views
What is a terminal and how do I open and use it?
What is a terminal?
How do I open a terminal window?
How do I use the terminal?
202
votes
7
answers
305k
views
How to solve "permission denied" when using sudo with redirection in Bash?
When using sudo to allow edits to files, I regularly get 'permission denied'.
For example, my mouse is jittery and sluggish, so I want to disable polling:
sudo echo "options drm_kms_helper poll=N"&...
- 3,929
73
votes
10
answers
120k
views
How to run scripts without typing the full path?
I'd like to know if there is a way to run program/shell script without typing full path:
/opt/idea/bin/idea.sh
- 731
750
votes
9
answers
2.0m
views
What is the correct way to completely remove an application?
I've searched the net for such information and found different command lines, like these ones:
sudo apt-get remove application
sudo apt-get remove application*
sudo apt-get remove --purge ...
- 7,943
184
votes
10
answers
442k
views
Running programs in the background from terminal
How do I run a program in the background of a shell, with the ability to close the shell while leaving the program running?
Lets say my UI is having problems or for some reason, I need to boot up a ...
- 2,317
704
votes
9
answers
2.1m
views
What does "sudo apt-get update" do?
I am wondering what sudo apt-get update does?
What does it update?
- 11k
539
votes
13
answers
1.1m
views
Execute sudo without Password?
Inspired by this question....
I am the sole person using my system with 12.04.
Every time I issue a sudo command; the system asks for the user password (which is good in its own way).
However I was ...
- 11.1k
53
votes
8
answers
147k
views
How do I enter a file or directory with special characters in its name?
I want to enter the following folder in the terminal:
Milano, Torino (Jan)-Compressed
How should I write the command cd to enter this directory?
Spaces and several other special characters like \, *...
- 2,038
507
votes
17
answers
4.4m
views
How do I run .sh scripts?
Whenever I open a .sh file, it opens it in gedit instead of the terminal. I can't find any option similar to Right Click → Open With → Other Application... → Terminal.
How do I open this file in the ...
- 5,071
979
votes
7
answers
3.4m
views
How can I add a user as a new sudoer using the command line?
After I add a user using adduser, I can't see it via System > Administration > Users and Groups unless I log out and then log in again. Is that normal?
Also, can I set a newly added user as a sudoer ...
- 11.1k
37
votes
9
answers
16k
views
How can I get help on terminal commands?
I often see things like
read man xyz
For more information read xyz's man page.
see info xyz
so I wonder:
How can I get help on terminal commands generally?
What exactly are these man and ...
- 40.2k
217
votes
18
answers
398k
views
How to change LCD brightness from command line (or via script)?
To work around bug #1005495 (changing LCD brightness via hotkeys impossible), I'd like to have one command line query for increasing and one for reducing the brightness of my LCD. I could then map a ...
- 2,383
769
votes
9
answers
3.8m
views
Change folder permissions and ownership
I would like the user to have full rights on this folder (as well as all sub-directories and files in it):
~/.blabla
currently owned by root.
I have found numerous posts (in this forum and ...
- 14.5k
502
votes
8
answers
1.6m
views
How to create a bootable Ubuntu USB flash drive from terminal?
Is there any way to create a bootable Ubuntu USB flash drive from the terminal without using any third-party applications like YUMI, Unetbootin, Startup Disk Creator, etc.
I tried to create a ...
59
votes
7
answers
14k
views
How can I easily share the output of a command or a text file with others?
I recently asked a question on Ask Ubuntu (or somewhere else), and a comment or answer asks me to paste the contents of some file or the output of a command to troubleshoot my problem.
How do I do ...
- 140k
53
votes
2
answers
62k
views
How do file permissions work?
Can you explain briefly the main concepts and command line tools used to manage file permissions?
- 633
118
votes
8
answers
177k
views
How do I easily rename multiple files using command line?
One of the ways I quickly rename files in Windows is
F2 > Rename > Tab (to next file) > Rename ...
But in Ubuntu/Nautilus, I can't tab to next file. But being on Linux, I think there must ...
- 10.4k
22
votes
2
answers
73k
views
Restore default apt repositories in sources.list from command line
I am looking for the best method to restore /etc/apt/sources.list to default from the command line.
Is there no way to reference the source code of the package which generates this file or something ...
- 323
600
votes
20
answers
1.2m
views
How do I fix my locale issue?
I am getting this message every time I do something like starting or stopping a service.
perl: warning: Setting locale failed.
perl: warning: Please check that your locale settings:
...
- 6,776
53
votes
5
answers
289k
views
Install Nvidia driver instead of nouveau
I've installed Ubuntu 14.04 and I'm experiencing a fuzzy/blurry screen and bad support for multiple screens.
I realized that Ubuntu installs nouveau as default, but I need to install nvidia drivers, ...
- 631
22
votes
4
answers
86k
views
How to run xrandr commands at startup in Ubuntu
How can I run the following xrandrcommand on startup?
xrandr
cvt 1368 768
xrandr --newmode "1368x768_60.00" 85.25 1368 1440 1576 1784 768 771 781 798 -hsync +vsync
xrandr --addmode VGA1 ...
- 229
10
votes
2
answers
12k
views
Switching between virtual console (tty) and GUI
How to switch between virtual console and GUI in Ubuntu? I wanted to see what key functions would allow me to switch between the two.
- 101
491
votes
5
answers
1.1m
views
What do the different colors mean in ls?
What do the different colours in Ubuntu's ls command mean? For example, when I type the ls command in one of my folders, I get one of the files in light green, the other (which is a folder) in blue ...
- 5,447
254
votes
5
answers
573k
views
How to create a permanent "alias"? [duplicate]
If you create an alias for example:
alias cls="clear"
It exists untill you kill terminall session. When you start a new terminal window the alias doesn't exist any more. How to create "permanent" ...
- 5,041
1399
votes
11
answers
4.0m
views
How do I save terminal output to a file?
How do I save the output of a command to a file?
Is there a way without using any software? I would like to know how.
- 14.3k
15
votes
3
answers
161k
views
How do I cd into a directory in the home folder?
How do I change directories to downloads, from the home folder, in the latest version Ubuntu 12.10? I tried cd /downloads, but it gave an error saying that there is no such directory.
- 159
149
votes
4
answers
450k
views
How do I change mirrors in Ubuntu Server from regional to main?
I have a Lucid Server (10.04) set up and I would like to change the mirror from US (or any other country) to the Main Ubuntu Mirror.
For example my two first entries in sources.list are:
deb http://...
- 1,873
69
votes
4
answers
147k
views
Where to declare environment variables?
What are correct places for:
Global environment variables meant to affect all users?
User-specific environment variables?
- 57.5k
237
votes
6
answers
275k
views
How can I shorten my command line (bash) prompt?
Currently it is:
michael@Castle2012-Ubuntu-laptop01:~/Dropnot/webs/rails_v3/linker/spec/controllers$
Outside of renaming my machine and directory structure...
How could I make it be something more ...
- 10.8k
106
votes
5
answers
329k
views
What is a tty, and how do I access a tty?
I keep hearing about these things known as tty's.
what are they
how can I access them
what do they do?
- 60.9k
30
votes
3
answers
124k
views
How do I enable the "Universe" repository from the command line? [duplicate]
How do you use terminal to enable Universe source?
Or any those 4 from Software Sources: Main, Universe, Restricted, Multiverse
Main is on by default and Restricted is on if durring Ubuntu ...
- 5,085
233
votes
17
answers
294k
views
How to change Gnome-Terminal title?
I have several instances of terminals running in my working environment, what I would like is to set a specific title for each one, in order to have a clear idea what purpose the specific terminal ...
- 7,405
205
votes
7
answers
1.8m
views
How to install Chrome browser properly via command line?
I am trying to install chrome browser via command line. I tried this:
$ apt-cache search chrome browser
The results show that the proper term is "chrome-browser," so I tried that:
$ sudo apt-get ...
user33877
149
votes
4
answers
130k
views
What do the various dpkg flags like 'ii' 'rc' mean?
I frequently need to check which packages are installed, and I use the following command:
dpkg -l | grep foo
which gives the following output
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/...
- 16.3k
148
votes
3
answers
815k
views
How do I create a script file for terminal commands?
In Windows I can write a file containing commands for cmd (usually .cmd or .bat files). When I click on those files it will open cmd.exe and run them commands the file contains.
How would I do this ...
- 58.3k
83
votes
8
answers
83k
views
How to find out the terminal command of an application?
I want to use some applications shown on the Unity Launcher in a terminal, but I need to know the appropriate command to run them. How can I achieve that?
- 933
498
votes
14
answers
726k
views
How can I suspend/hibernate from command line?
How can I suspend or hibernate my laptop using command line, without installing additional software?
- 4,983
180
votes
14
answers
291k
views
How do you select the fastest mirror from the command line?
I want to update my sources.list file with the fastest server from the command line in a fresh Ubuntu Server install. I know this is trivially easy with the GUI, but there doesn't seem to be a simple ...
- 3,725
63
votes
5
answers
557k
views
How to edit files in a terminal with nano?
Sometimes, a graphical text editor like gedit or kate cannot be used (because you're in a virtual console for example). Luckily, there are text editors for the terminal. An easy one is nano, but I ...
- 175k
582
votes
3
answers
1.6m
views
How do I use variables in a sed command?
I tried the following code to replace QQ with ZZ, but it doesn't do what I want:
var1=QQ
sed -i 's/$var1/ZZ/g' $file
However, this code does what I want:
sed -i 's/QQ/ZZ/g' $file
How do I use ...
- 17.7k
449
votes
4
answers
1.9m
views
How to make a file (e.g. a .sh script) executable, so it can be run from a terminal
I have a script.sh file and type of this file is shellscript file. I want to make this file as application/x-executable file. How can I make it?
- 7,369
883
votes
9
answers
2.7m
views
How to install updates via command line?
When I log into my web server via SSH I see the information:
88 packages can be updated.
80 updates are security updates
I tried apt-get update then apt-get upgrade but each time I log in I still ...
- 8,984
243
votes
20
answers
359k
views
Running a .desktop file in the terminal
From what I can gather, .desktop files are shortcuts that allow application's settings to be customized. For instance, I have lots of them in my /usr/share/applications/ folder.
If I open that ...
- 10.3k
158
votes
14
answers
478k
views
Mount encrypted volumes from command line?
If I have an encrypted external disk (or an internal disk that is not in fstab), I see an entry for it in Nautilus -- with an entry like "X GB Encrypted Volume". I can click on this volume, and am ...
- 2,083
63
votes
7
answers
140k
views
Why am I getting "Authentication failure" when running the "su" command?
I am having problems with the su command. I know my password and I am typing it correctly, but su indicates Authentication failure.
So I checked on the internet and then went into recovery mode and ...
- 785
77
votes
11
answers
76k
views
How to set custom keyboard shortcuts from terminal?
How to set custom keyboard shortcuts from terminal for different Linux versions?
Basically I want to know where Linux stores the keyboard shortcut files and how it can be edited.
On my research I ...
- 3,830
455
votes
19
answers
699k
views
How do I check the battery's status via the terminal?
I would like a command that displays the battery status in the terminal.
- 4,551
141
votes
5
answers
418k
views
How to connect and disconnect to a network manually in terminal?
Since the network manager is troubling me so much I want to replace it (possibly wicd orNM from ppa:volanin).
I do not know how to connect and disconnect to the network through the terminal without ...
- 1,411