There are many "flavors" of shell, as there are of almost every type of software. We will be using the "Bourne again shell" (bash) whose name reflects the humorless seriousness of the Linux community. :-)
There are a huge number of bash commands, most of which you will not need to know for the TSI workshops. I have made up a short list of the ones you may need to know, and a brief description of each one's use, with a link to its more detailed and official definition given elsewhere.
| COMMAND | ACTION or MEANING | alias | Create an alias (a customized command of your own). | apropos | Search Help manual pages (man -k) without having to know the command you're looking for. | bash | Run the GNU Bourne-Again SHell (in case you're in some other shell). | bzip2 | Compress or decompress named file(s). | cd | Change Directory. | chmod | Change access permissions. | chown | Change file owner and group. | clear | Clear terminal screen. | cp | Copy one or more files to another location. | df | Display free disk space. | diff | Display the differences between two files. | dir | Briefly list directory contents. | du | Estimate file space usage. | echo | Display message on terminal screen. | eject | Eject removable media. | exit | Exit the shell. Terminal window will close. | export | Set an environment variable. | find | Search for files that meet a desired criteria. | grep | Search file(s) for lines that match a given pattern. | gzip | Compress or decompress named file(s). | help | Display help for a built-in command. | jobs | List active jobs. | kill | Stop a process from running. | killall | Kill processes by name. | less | Display a text file one screen at a time and erase on exit. | ln | Make links between files. | locate | Find files anywhere on the system. | lpr | Send a file to a print queue. | lprm | Remove jobs from the print queue. | ls | List information about file(s). | man | Invoke the help manual. | mkdir | Create new folder(s). | more | Display a text file one screen at a time and leave visible. | mount | Mount a file system. | msrfft | Invoke the TRIUMF µSR Fast Fourier Transform program. | msrfit | Invoke the TRIUMF µSR fitting program. | musrgui | Invoke the Graphical User Interface for musrfit etc. | mv | Move or rename files or directories. | nice | Set the priority of a command or job. | passwd | Modify your login password. | printenv | Print environment variables. | ps | Inquire about status of processes. | pwd | Print Working Directory. ("Where am I?") | quota | Display disk usage and limits. | rm | Remove files. | rmdir | Remove folder(s). | rsync | Remote file copy. (Synchronize directory trees). | scp | Secure copy (remote file copy). | source | Run commands from a file (see also `.'). | spect | Invoke the TRIUMF µSR spectrum-plotting program. | ssh | Secure Shell client (remote login program). | tail | Output the last part of files. | tar | Tape ARchiver, used for backups (usually without tape). | touch | Change file timestamps. | top | List processes running on the system. | umount | Unmount a device. | unalias | Remove an alias. | units | Convert units from one scale to another. | unzip | List, test and extract compressed files in a ZIP archive. | which | Search the user's $PATH for a program file. | wget | Retrieve web pages or files via HTTP, HTTPS or FTP. | zip | Package and compress (archive) files. | . | Run a command script in the current shell. | # | Comment / Remark |
| ^C (Ctrl-C) | Abort current application. |
Note: a description of the syntax of most commands can be obtained with the bash command
man <cmd>
where <cmd> is the command in question.