You Don't Need GUI

It's for noobs :)

Graphical user interfaces are super friendly to computer users. They were introduced in reaction to the perceived steep learning curve of command-line interfaces (CLIs).

However, they often require more resources, are less powerful and hard to automate via scripting.

As a computer expert, we want to be more efficient and do our jobs better. We know that command words may not be easily discoverable or mnemonic, so we try to list some common tasks that you might be tempted to do in GUI.

Quick links

1. copy a file
2. duplicate a file
3. copy a folder
4. duplicate a folder
5. move a file
6. rename a file
7. move a folder
8. rename a folder
9. merge folders
10. create a new file
11. create a new folder
12. show file/folder size
13. open a file with the default program
14. zip a folder
15. unzip a folder
16. remove a file
17. remove a folder
18. list folder contents
19. tree view a folder and its subfolders
20. find a stale file
21. show a calendar
22. find a future date
23. use a calculator
24. force quit a program

copy a file

STOP DRAG AND DROP A FILE, OR CMD/CTRL + C, CMD/CTRL + V A FILE 👎

Copy readme.txt to the documents folder

cp readme.txt documents/

duplicate a file

STOP RIGHT CLICK AND DUPLICATE A FILE 👎

cp readme.txt readme.bak.txt

copy a folder

STOP DRAG AND DROP A FOLDER, OR CMD/CTRL + C, CMD/CTRL + V A FOLDER 👎

Copy myMusic folder to the myMedia folder

cp -a myMusic myMedia/
# or
cp -a myMusic/ myMedia/myMusic/

duplicate a folder

STOP RIGHT CLICK AND DUPLICATE A FOLDER 👎

cp -a myMusic/ myMedia/
# or if `myMedia` folder doesn't exist
cp -a myMusic myMedia/

move a file

STOP DRAG AND DROP A FILE, OR CTRL + X, CTRL + V A FILE 👎

mv readme.txt documents/

Always use a trailing slash when moving files, for this reason.

rename a file

STOP RIGHT CLICK AND RENAME A FILE 👎

mv readme.txt README.md

move a folder

STOP DRAG AND DROP A FOLDER, OR CTRL + X, CTRL + V A FOLDER 👎

mv myMedia myMusic/
# or
mv myMedia/ myMusic/myMedia

rename a folder

STOP RIGHT CLICK AND RENAME A FOLDER 👎

mv myMedia/ myMusic/

merge folders

STOP DRAG AND DROP TO MERGE FOLDERS 👎

rsync -a /images/ /images2/

create a new file

STOP RIGHT CLICK AND CREATE A NEW FILE 👎

touch 'new file'
# or
> 'new file'

create a new folder

STOP RIGHT CLICK AND CREATE A NEW FOLDER 👎

mkdir 'untitled folder'
# or
mkdir -p 'path/may/not/exist/untitled folder'

show file/folder size

STOP RIGHT CLICK AND SHOW FILE/FOLDER INFO 👎

stat -x readme.md
# or
du -sh readme.md

open a file with the default program

STOP DOUBLE CLICKING A FILE 👎

xdg-open file   # on Linux
open file       # on MacOS

zip a folder

STOP RIGHT CLICK AND COMPRESS FOLDER 👎

zip -r archive_name.zip folder_to_compress

unzip a folder

STOP RIGHT CLICK AND UNCOMPRESS FOLDER 👎

unzip archive_name.zip

remove a file

STOP RIGHT CLICK AND DELETE A FILE PERMANENTLY 👎

rm my_useless_file

IMPORTANT: The rm command deletes my_useless_file permanently, which is equivalent to move my_useless_file to Recycle Bin and hit Empty Recycle Bin.

remove a folder

STOP RIGHT CLICK AND DELETE A FOLDER PERMANENTLY 👎

rm -r my_useless_folder

list folder contents

STOP OPENING YOUR FINDER OR FILE EXPLORER 👎

ls -la my_folder

tree view a folder and its subfolders

STOP OPENING YOUR FINDER OR FILE EXPLORER 👎

tree                                                       # on Linux
find . -print | sed -e 's;[^/]*/;|____;g;s;____|; |;g'     # on MacOS

find a stale file

STOP USING YOUR FILE EXPLORER TO FIND A FILE 👎

Find all files modified more than 5 days ago

find my_folder -mtime +5

show a calendar

STOP LOOKING UP WHAT THIS MONTH LOOKS LIKE BY CALENDAR WIDGETS 👎

Display a text calendar

cal

find a future date

STOP USING WEBAPPS TO CALCULATE FUTURE DATES 👎

What is todays date?

date +%m/%d/%Y

What about a week from now?

date -d "+7 days"                                          # on Linux
date -j -v+7d                                              # on MacOS

use a calculator

STOP USING CALCULATOR WIDGET 👎

Want to use a calculator?

bc

force quit a program

STOP FORCE QUIT A PROGRAM USING GUI 👎

killall program_name

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Remember, you can always google or man the commands you are not familiar with.