Basic Command-Line Skills and Tools

Owned by D. Brian Larkins
Last updated: Jan 22, 2024
2 min read

Command Line / Shell

When you SSH into the server and are logged in, you will be at a command-line prompt, called the shell. You will need to some some basic text commands to switch directories, create folders, rename files, edit files, run programs, etc.

Rather than try to cover such a large subject in this guide, we provide links to tutorials for using the shell. While you don’t need to complete the entire tutorials, you should at least be familiar with the basics of using the shell.

Editing Files

While you can do a lot of things with the shell, you will likely need to create and edit text files at some point in order to run software on the cluster system. To do this, you will need to use a text editor program to create/edit/save text files. There are two commonly used editors:

Nano

Nano is a simple text editor, designed to be easy to use. The screen typically displays common editor operations on the bottom, which minimizes the need to memory key combinations. You can master nano in just a few minutes with the help of a short tutorial.

VIM

Vim is a powerful text editor that has features like syntax highlighting, spell checking, auto-indentation, and much more. The learning curve for Vim can be steep, but it can be a great time saver in the long run. The simplest way to learn vim is to type vimtutor at the shell prompt. This will walk you through the basics of the editor, from within the editor. You may also wish to follow a web-based vim tutorial.

Saving Your Work Between Sessions (tmux)