Ubuntu: Navigating folders and directory commands in Terminal

Initial line in Terminal. Note that ~ represents the Home Folder.

username@machinename:~$ 

To know your current working directory:

username@machinename:~$ pwd

home/rootfolder 

To know the list of items inside the path (or can also use command dir):

username@machinename:~$ ls

Folder1  Folder2  Folder3

To change directory:

username@machinename:~$ cd Folder1 

username@machinename:~/Folder1$

To return back to Home Folder:

username@machinename:~/Folder1$ cd ~ 

username@machinename:~$

To go to root filesystem:

username@machinename:~$ cd /

username@machinename:/$ ls 

bin    dev   initrd.img  media  root     srv  usr

boot   etc   lib         mnt    sbin     sys  var

cdrom  home  lost+found  proc   selinux  tmp  vmlinuz

To go up one level (notice there is a space, unlike in DOS where it is "cd.."):

username@machinename:/media$ cd ..

username@machinename:/$

To go up one level and to a specific folder name in that directory:

username@machinename:/media$ cd ../boot

 username@machinename:/boot$

Ubuntu: The following packages have been kept back

 To force update on packages that have been "kept back":


sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Ubuntu: Remove old kernel

Removing old kernel is part of system maintenance. Basically to clear up the boot space and tidy up the grub menu. Steps as below:

• In terminal, type: uname -r. Take note of the kernel version
• Go to System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager
• Search for linux-image
• Select the older version kernel (which is not equal to first step above) with green box, right-click and select Mark for Removal
• Click on Apply

Ubuntu: Regular cleanup maintenance

After each installation of updates etc. do the following steps for maintenance:


1) Launch terminal by going to Applications > Accessories > Terminal
2) Below are the 2 commands:

• sudo apt-get autoclean
• sudo apt-get autoremove

3) Since you're using sudo, enter sudo password. Depending if there are anything to be cleaned/removed, you will need to confirm by pressing y/n.


username@desktop:~$ sudo apt-get autoclean
[sudo] password for username:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree    
Reading state information... Done
username@desktop:~$ sudo apt-get autoremove
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree    
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  linux-headers-2.6.35-22
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 284 not upgraded.
After this operation, 80.1MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
(Reading database ... 133710 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing linux-headers-2.6.35-22 ...
username@desktop:~$

So, 80.1 MB of free space is now available!