Appendix C. DOS to Linux Cheat Sheet

Many Linux commands you type at a shell prompt are not that different from the commands you would type either in MS-DOS or in Windows (from the MS-DOS prompt). In fact, some commands are identical.

DOS and Linux Commands

What follows are some common commands used at the MS-DOS prompt in Windows 9x, and in Linux, as well as a basic example of how the command is used at the Linux shell prompt. 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).

Table C-1. Similar Commands

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 prompt window	exit	exit	exit
Displays or sets date	date	date	date
Deletes files	del	rm	rm `thisfile.txt`
"Echoes" output on the screen	echo	echo	echo `this message`
Edits files with simple text editor	edit	pico[a]	pico `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 floppy	format a: (if floppy's 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`
Screens through a file	more	less[d]	less `thisfile.txt`
Renames a file	ren	mv	mv `thisfile.txt` `thatfile.txt`[e]
Shows 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 and use	mem	free	procinfo
Notes: a. Pico is a simple text editor; other editors you can use in place of `pico` include `emacs` and `vi`. b. This formats a disk for the DOS filesystem. c. Or you can use info for some commands. d. You can also another pager, called more, to scroll through a file a screen at at time. e. The mv command serves double-duty, because it can both move a file and, if you want to rename a file in the same directory, you "move" that file to the same directory with a new name, as in this example.