COMP 290 Commands and References

Based on popular demand, this short document summarizes the shell commands from COMP 290 that are useful!

Basic Shell Commands

Command	Description
pwd	Lists the shell's current working directory.
cd <filepath>	Change the current working directory to the supplied filepath.
ls	Lists the files in the current working directory. - -a: Shows hidden files. - -l: Shows details about files.
clear	Clears the current terminal window.
echo <text or env var>	Repeats the supplied text to the console.
echo <text> > <filepath>	Overwrite (or create) a file at the filepath with the text contents. Note: Environment variables should be preceded by $. For example: echo $PATH.
echo <text> >> <filepath>	Append to (or create) a file at the filepath with the text contents.
cat <filepath>	Print the contents of a file at the filepath to the shell.
export <env var>=<value>	Saves a new value to an environment variable.

Package Managers and fzf

Command	Description
brew install <pkg>	Uses homebrew (Mac package manager) to install external programs.
winget instal <pkg>	Uses winget (Windows package manager) to install external programs.
fzf	Opens the fzf fuzzy finding tool.

Git Commands

Command	Description
git init	Creates a git repository at the current working directory.
git add <filepath | .>	Adds modified files to the git's staging area (adds file to the next commit).
git commit -m <message>	Creates a git commit with a supplied commit message.
git status	Shows the current changes made in a repository and the state of the current draft commit.
git log	Shows the git history. - --all: Shows the entire git history. - --decorate: Decorates each commit with more information. - --oneline: Displays commit information on one line. - --graph: Displays the history in a graph structure. Remember the "a dog" acronym!
git checkout <id>	Changes the git repository to the state of the repository at the commit with the provided commit id.