Tips and Tricks for Ubuntu
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Managing Packages with apt
apt update
Before we begin, we update our packages list with the following command:
sudo apt update
apt upgrade
When there are packages that can be upgraded, we can do so using the following command:
sudo apt upgrade
After running this command, you will be prompted to confirm whether or not you want to proceed with the updates. Simply press Y followed by ENTER.
Combining update and upgrade commands
To save time, you can also combine the apt update and apt upgrade commands into a single command:
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
The -y flag automatically answers Y to any prompts that may appear during the upgrade process.
Installing packages with apt
To install a package, use the following command:
sudo apt install packagename
Replace packagename with the name of the package you want to install. For example, if you wanted to install the filezilla FTP client, you would use the following command:
sudo apt install filezilla
Removing packages with apt
To remove a package and its configuration files, use the following command:
sudo apt remove packagename
Replace packagename with the name of the package you want to remove. For example, if you wanted to remove the filezilla FTP client, you would use the following command:
sudo apt remove filezilla
Purging packages with apt
If you want to remove a package as well as any configuration files that may have been created by it, use the following command:
sudo apt purge packagename
Replace packagename with the name of the package you want to remove. For example, if you wanted to remove the filezilla FTP client along with any associated configuration files, you would use the following command:
sudo apt purge filezilla
Cleaning up apt packages
To free up disk space by removing downloaded package files that are no longer needed, use the following command:
sudo apt clean
Moving and renaming files/directories
To move a file or directory to another location on your system, use the mv command followed by the source file or directory and its destination path. For example, if you wanted to move a file named sourcefile.txt from your home directory to the /home/destination/ directory, you would use the following command:
mv /home/sourcefile.txt /home/destination/
To rename a file or directory, use the same mv command followed by the source file or directory and its new name. For example, if you wanted to rename a file named sourcefile.txt to destfile.txt, you would use the following command:
mv /home/sourcefile.txt /home/destfile.txt
Copying files/directories
To copy a file or directory from one location on your system to another, use the cp command followed by the source file or directory and its destination path. For example, if you wanted to copy a file named sourcefile.txt from your home directory to the /home/destination/ directory, you would use the following command:
cp /home/sourcefile.txt /home/destination/
To create an empty file or directory, use the touch command followed by the path of the new item. For example, if you wanted to create an empty text file named newfile.txt in your home directory, you would use the following command:
touch /home/newfile.txt
To create a new directory with the specified name, use the mkdir command followed by the path of the new directory. For example, if you wanted to create a new directory named newfolder in your home directory, you would use the following command:
mkdir /home/newfolder
Removing files/directories
To remove a file or directory from your system, use the rm command followed by the path of the item to be removed. For example, if you wanted to remove a file named sourcefile.txt from your home directory, you would use the following command:
rm /home/sourcefile.txt
To remove a directory along with its contents, use the -r flag with the rm command followed by the path of the directory to be removed. For example, if you wanted to remove a directory named newfolder along with its contents from your home directory, you would use the following command:
rm -r /home/newfolder
Changing directories
To navigate to a different directory on your system, use the cd command followed by the path of the directory you want to move to. For example, if you wanted to change to the /home/destination/ directory from your current location, you would use the following command:
cd /home/destination/
To move up one level in the directory hierarchy, use the .. notation with the cd command. For example, if you were in the /home/destination/ directory and wanted to move back to your home directory, you would use the following command:
cd ..
Rebooting and shutting down your system
To restart your server, use the following command:
sudo reboot now
This will prompt your server to perform a graceful reboot. If you prefer, you can also use the following shorthand version of the command:
sudo reboot .
To shut down your server, use the following command:
sudo shutdown now
This will immediately initiate a system shutdown. Alternatively, you can use the following command to power off your machine:
sudo poweroff
Switching to the root user account
To switch to the root user account and gain full administrative privileges on your system, use either of the following commands:
su -
sudo su -
The first command will prompt you for the root password, while the second command will prompt you for the password of the current user.
Clearing the terminal screen
To clear all text from your terminal screen, use the following command:
clear
This will erase any output displayed on the screen, leaving only your system’s command prompt.
Forcing package upgrades
If a package is not being upgraded when you run the apt upgrade command, you can try using the following command to force an upgrade:
sudo apt dist-upgrade
This will attempt to resolve any dependencies that may be preventing a package from being upgraded.