Master the terminal with these essential commands that will transform your Linux experience from novice to power user.

1. ls — List Directory Contents

ls -la
ls --color=auto
ls -lh  # Human readable file sizes

2. cd — Change Directory

cd /path/to/directory
cd ~  # Go to home directory
cd -  # Go to previous directory

3. pwd — Print Working Directory

pwd

4. mkdir — Create Directories

mkdir new_directory
mkdir -p path/to/nested/directories

5. rmdir — Remove Empty Directories

rmdir empty_directory

6. rm — Remove Files and Directories

rm file.txt
rm -rf directory/  # Recursive and force

7. cp — Copy Files and Directories

cp source.txt destination.txt
cp -r source_dir/ destination_dir/

8. mv — Move/Rename Files and Directories

mv old_name.txt…