Most of the command line tools you use as a developer (like Git, Node and npm) will assume that you are in the root directory (i.e. top folder) of your project. We will cover the three system commands that help up us navigate the file system.
Notice: The examples below start with a $. DO NOT include this when typing commands; it's there to represent the command prompt.
Use the pwd command to see where you are when you open the terminal.
$ pwd
The starting directory for most systems will be your home directory.
/Users/YOUR-ACCOUNT-NAME
Your goal is to navigate to the root of your project. For example:
/Users/YOUR-ACCOUNT-NAME/Documents/projects/portfolio
List the contents of your current directory with the ls command:
$ ls
The -l flag lists extra information about the contents:
$ ls -l
Add the -a to list hidden files:
$ ls -a
You can also combine multiple options with a single flag. To list extra information and also all hidden files:
$ ls -la
Use the cd command to switch to another directory. Assuming you are currently in your home folder, you can move to your downloads folder with:
$ cd Downloads
OR, move there from anywhere on the system with an absolute path (replace username with your login handle):
$ cd /Users/username/Downloads
Move up one directory:
$ cd ..
OR move up many directories
$ cd ../../..
Move multiple directories "downstream":
$ cd some/path/relative/to/your/location
Combine ../ with a relative path for more flexibility. To move to a directory that adjacent to your _present working directory`:
$ cd ../adjacent-directory-name
If you get lost you can always move to your home directory:
$ cd
- The tab key auto-completes file names and directories.
- Use the Up Arrow to browse through the history of last used commands.
- Pro tip: type your command first and the Up Arrow will filter the history!