Lesson 5 of 6 · About 6 minutes
Your first terminal commands
Learn the concept.
The terminal becomes less mysterious when each command has one clear job. Start with commands that let you observe before you change anything.
Let one observation lead to the next
A small, repeatable reading workflow.
- pwd
Confirm the current folder.
- ls → cd cases
Locate the case directory and enter it.
- cat brief.txt
Read the brief without editing it.
Read the visualWhich command displays a short text file in this lab?
cat displays the file’s contents. cd changes directory, while pwd shows your current directory.
Read the command as a sentence
In cat brief.txt, cat is the command and brief.txt is its argument. In ls -l, -l is an option requesting a longer listing.
Build a small toolkit
Use pwd to locate yourself, ls to list, cd to navigate, and cat to display a short text file. Use help in this simulation to see exactly which forms it supports.
Understand before pasting
Real shells can modify files and run programs. Do not paste unfamiliar command chains into a real machine. Our lab supports only a small set of inspection commands, with no installation or access to your files.
Put it in context
Your task is to read the Harbor Books case brief. You check pwd, list the current folder, enter cases, and read brief.txt. Each result tells you what to do next; no copied “magic command” is needed.
Make a decision.
Explore the practice space, then answer the check-in below. A correct answer lets you save this lesson to your progress.
YOUR PRACTICE SPACE
Try the idea for yourself.
Enable JavaScript to explore this fictional exercise. The explanation and visual above remain available.
Take this with you.
Locate, list, navigate, read. Let the output guide your next step.
Next lesson: Finding clues in a log file