Command-line 'Terminal' Programmers use a command-line interface (CLI) to issue text-commands to the Operating System, instead of clicking or double-clicking on a Graphical User Interface (GUI). This is because command-line is much more powerful than the graphical interface. The Terminal application is a command-line Interface.

By default, the Terminal in Ubuntu and Mac OS X runs the so-called bash shell, which supports a set of commands and utilities; and has its own programming language for writing shell scripts. To launch a Terminal: • In Mac OS X: Open 'Finder' ⇒ Go ⇒ Utilities ⇒ Select 'Terminal'. Drag the 'Terminal' to your dock since you need to use it frequently. • In Ubuntu: Open 'Dash' ⇒ type 'Terminal'; or choose 'Applications' lens ⇒ Installed ⇒ Select 'Terminal'.

Drag the 'Terminal' to your Launcher since you need to use it frequently. A Terminal displays a command prompt ending with a ' $' sign, in the form of: • In Mac OS X: ' ComputerName: CurrentDirectory Username$' • In Linux/Ubuntu: ' Username@ ComputerName: CurrentDirectory$' You can enter commands after the command prompt. For example, enter ' pwd' to print the current working directory: $ pwd. In this article, I shall denote the command prompt simply as ' $'. File System Files and Directories Files are organized in directories (aka folders). The directories are organized in a hierarchical tree structure, starting from the root directory. A directory may contain sub-directories and files.

A sub-directory may contain sub-sub-directories and files. Root Directory ( /) A file is identified via the directories and filename, e.g., ' /usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.7.0_07/bin/javac'. The leading ' /' (forward slash) denotes the root directory.

The sub-directories are also separated by a ' /'. There is only one root directory for the entire Unix's file system.

Hard drives are mounted somewhere under the root directory. Notes: Windows use ' ' (back slash) as the directory separator, and may contain multiple root directories - one for each drive (e.g., c:, d: ). Home Directory ( ~) Unix is a multi-user operating system (although most of you, in particular the Mac users, use it as a single-user personal computer). Each user on the system is allocated a directory for storing his files, known as home directory. The users' home directories are allocated under /Users (for Mac OS X), or /home (for Ubuntu), with a sub-directory name the same as the username, e.g. /Users/peter, /Users/paul in Mac OS; or /home/peter, /home/paul in Ubuntu. Your home directory ( /Users/) contains sub-directories such as Downloads, Documents.

Dec 28, 2017 - Well, all of this can be done on Windows & Mac, no? Just the right few words and that AskUbuntu answer will come along to save the day. Be sure to select the “Install Ubuntu alongside Mac OS X” option instead of overwriting your Mac OS X system with Ubuntu. The installation process should otherwise be normal. Whenever you boot your computer, you’ll have the ability to choose between Mac OS.

Their full filenames are /Users//Downloads, /Users//Documents, respectively. You can use a special notation ' ~' to denote your home directory. In other words, ~/Downloads is the same as /Users//Downloads. Pathname and Filename To reference a file, you need to provide the pathname (directory and sub-directories names) and the filename. For example, in ' /usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.7.0_07/bin/javac', the pathname is ' /usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.7.0_07/bin/' and the filename is ' javac'. The pathname can be specified in two ways: • Absolute Pathname: An absolute path begins from the root directory.

That is, it starts with a ' /' followed by all the sub-directories, separated with ' /' leading to the file, e.g., ' /usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.7.0_07/bin/'. An absolute path can also begin with the current user's home directory (starts with '~').

Card reader for a mac. For example, ' ~/Downloads/jdk/' is the same as ' /Users//Downloads/jdk/' in Mac OS. • Relative Pathname: A relative path is relative to the so-called current working directory.

A relative path does NOT begin with ' /' or ' ~'. For example, if the current working directory is ' /usr/lib/jvm/', then the relative pathname ' jdk1.7.0_07/bin/' refers to ' /usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.7.0_07/bin/'. Unix system is case sensitive, a rose is NOT a Rose, and is NOT a ROSE. Basic Commands pwd (Print Current Working Directory) The Terminal session maintains a so-called current working directory. All relative pathnames/filenames are relative to the current working directory. To display the current directory, issue command ' pwd' (print working directory): // Print Current Working Directory $ pwd. When a Terminal is launched, it sets the initial working directory to the home directory of the current login user (denoted as ' ~').