Terminals & Shells Cheat Sheets

Shells, terminal apps, package managers and editors that run in a terminal.

13 sheets
633 entries

apt & dpkg (Debian/Ubuntu) apt installs packages from repositories and handles dependencies. dpkg works with individual .deb files. Most commands need sudo. 40 entries · 7 sections Bash (Debian / Linux) The standard Linux shell. Use man command or command --help for details on any command. 91 entries · 12 sections dnf / pacman / zypper Package managers for the other big Linux families: dnf (Fedora, RHEL, Rocky, Alma), pacman (Arch, Manjaro, EndeavourOS), zypper (openSUSE). All need sudo for changes. For Debian/Ubuntu see the apt sheet. 31 entries · 5 sections Git Bash A Bash shell for Windows, installed with Git for Windows. You get Linux commands (ls, grep, ssh…) on your Windows files. For Git commands, see the Git cheat sheet. 43 entries · 8 sections macOS Terminal / iTerm2 The default macOS shell is zsh (config in ~/.zshrc). Most Linux commands work too; see the Bash sheet. This page covers the Mac-specific parts. 51 entries · 6 sections Nano A simple terminal text editor. You can type straight away. In the help bar, ^ means Ctrl and M- means Alt (or Esc). 30 entries · 7 sections PowerShell PowerShell pipes objects between commands, not text. Commands follow a Verb-Noun pattern. Works on Windows PowerShell 5.1 and PowerShell 7+ (pwsh). 71 entries · 11 sections SSH & SCP Log in to remote machines securely and copy files between them. Works the same on Linux, macOS, Git Bash, WSL and Windows 10+ (OpenSSH is built in). 35 entries · 8 sections tmux A terminal multiplexer: split panes, several windows, and sessions that keep running after you disconnect (great over SSH). Every shortcut starts with the prefix Ctrl + b, then the key. Written below as prefix + key. 37 entries · 7 sections Vim / Neovim A modal editor. Normal mode is for moving and commands, Insert mode is for typing, Visual mode is for selecting. When in doubt, press Esc. To learn, run vimtutor (Vim) or :Tutor (Neovim). 64 entries · 9 sections Windows Command Prompt The classic Windows shell. Commands are not case-sensitive. Add /? to any command for help (for example dir /?). 69 entries · 9 sections Windows Terminal One app for PowerShell, cmd, WSL, Git Bash and SSH with tabs and split panes. These are the default keybindings; change them under Settings → Actions. 43 entries · 8 sections WSL Run a real Linux distro inside Windows. Run these commands from PowerShell or cmd. Inside the distro, use the Bash and apt sheets. 28 entries · 7 sections