A wobbly guide to the command line
Boss your computer around with tiny words.
These words were invented in 1971. They still work today on Macs, Linux, Raspberry Pis and most of the computers that run the internet. Learn them once, use them for life.
Grab a letter. Squish it. Fling it.
The big picture · 1 of 2
The whole game
Follow one command, ls, all the way down to the disk and back up. Press Next. Drag to spin it, scroll to zoom, double-click to straighten up.
The big picture · 2 of 2
Press Enter, then peek backstage
Someone types at the green screen. Then it flips around, and you see the crew inside putting the command together.
Front: the green screen
JELLY-TERM 3000
Backstage: the crew
THE SHELL
/bin
KING KERNEL
DISK
Ready? Press Enter on your keyboard (or click the yellow key) and watch what happens inside the computer.
Burn this into your brain
kid@jelly: ~
The file tree Tap a folder to type its
cd- The story
- Remember it
- Mission
Wrap up