From your first prompt
to a one-line script.

Land at the prompt, run your first commands, and read errors without flinching.

1. L.1.1
   What is a terminal?

   Run a command, read its output, and recognize the basic prompt shape.

2. L.1.2
   Your first commands

   Use echo, pwd, and clear to run small commands with confidence.

3. L.1.3
   Anatomy of a command

   Recognize tools, flags, short options, long options, and arguments.

4. L.1.4
   When things go wrong

   Read command errors, spot typos, and build intuition for exit codes.

5. L.1.5
   History and recall

   Reuse recent commands with history, up-arrow, and bang expansion.

Always know where you are, and reach any folder without guessing the path.

1. L.2.1
   Where am I?

   Use pwd and path segments to identify your current location.

2. L.2.2
   Listing what's around

   Use ls and common flags to inspect nearby files and folders.

3. L.2.3
   Changing directories

   Move between directories with cd, parent folders, home, and previous locations.

   requires2.1
4. L.2.4
   Absolute vs. relative paths

   Choose between root, current-folder, parent-folder, and home paths.

   requires2.12.3
5. L.2.5
   Tab completion

   Use tab completion to type paths faster and make fewer mistakes.

   requires2.22.3
6. L.2.6
   Sneak peek at the tree

   Preview nested folders with recursive listing and tree-style output.

   requires2.2
7. L.2.7
   Navigation maze

   Navigate a small filesystem using relative and absolute paths.

   requires2.12.32.4

Create, copy, move, and clean up files without panicking about what you might wreck.

1. L.3.1
   Reading files

   Inspect file contents with cat, less, head, and tail.

   requires2.2
2. L.3.2
   Making files and folders

   Create files and nested directories with touch and mkdir.

   requires2.3
3. L.3.3
   Copying

   Copy files and directories while understanding overwrite risk.

   requires3.2
4. L.3.4
   Moving and renaming

   Use mv for both relocation and renaming.

   requires3.2
5. L.3.5
   Deleting safely

   Remove files and directories while avoiding destructive habits.

   requires3.2
6. L.3.6
   File names that bite

   Handle spaces, hidden dotfiles, and escaped file names.

   requires3.13.2
7. L.3.7
   Inspecting files

   Use wc, file, and du to count text, identify file type, and estimate directory size.

   requires3.1
8. L.3.8
   Clean a messy folder

   Organize a small folder with safe preview, copy, move, and delete habits.

   requires3.23.33.43.53.6

Solve your own problems with the help, history, and error messages already in front of you.

1. L.4.1
   Local help first

   Use --help, man, man -k, and pager search before guessing.

   requires1.3
2. L.4.2
   What is this command?

   Use type, which, and command -v to understand command resolution.

   requires1.3
3. L.4.3
   Search and ask well

   Ask better questions with exact errors, shell context, and safe boundaries.

   requires1.4
4. L.4.4
   Verify advice safely

   Check exit codes and inspect suggested commands before running advice.

   requires1.43.54.3
5. L.4.5
   Quick lookup and recall

   Combine history search and known-good commands to move faster.

   requires1.5

Chain small commands together to do real work in one line.

1. L.5.1
   Wildcards and globbing

   Match groups of files with *, ?, character classes, and braces.

   requires2.23.2
2. L.5.2
   Redirecting output

   Send command output into files with > and >> safely.

   requires3.1
3. L.5.3
   Reading from a file

   Feed file contents into commands using input redirection.

   requires5.2
4. L.5.4
   Pipes

   Pass one command's output into the next command.

   requires3.15.2
5. L.5.5
   stdout vs. stderr

   Separate regular output from error output when redirecting.

   requires5.2
6. L.5.6
   Chaining commands

   Use ;, &&, and || to control command sequences.

   requires1.43.13.2
7. L.5.7
   Putting it together

   Build a small log report with globs, pipes, redirects, and counting.

   requires5.15.25.4

Find any line in any file or log, and trim a stream down to what you actually need.

1. L.6.1
   grep basics

   Search text with grep and its most common flags.

   requires3.1
2. L.6.2
   find for files

   Locate files by name, type, and size.

   requires2.3
3. L.6.3
   Counting and slicing

   Count rows, extract CSV fields, and sample the start or end of a text file.

   requires5.4
4. L.6.4
   Sorting and dedupe

   Sort lines and collapse repeated values with uniq.

   requires5.4
5. L.6.5
   The classic top-10 pipeline

   Build a frequency-counting pipeline from small pieces.

   requires6.36.4
6. L.6.6
   Find + grep together

   Combine file discovery and text search across a tree.

   requires6.16.2
7. L.6.7
   A taste of regex

   Use light regular expressions for more precise matches.

   requires6.1
8. L.6.8
   Find the incident

   Use find, grep, and counting to investigate a small log folder.

   requires6.16.26.46.5

Stop retyping the same things. Set up aliases, PATH tweaks, and a tiny script of your own.

1. L.7.1
   Variables

   Set shell variables and understand quoting differences.

   requires1.3
2. L.7.2
   The environment

   Inspect and export environment variables.

   requires7.1
3. L.7.3
   The PATH

   Understand how the shell finds commands.

   requires7.24.2
4. L.7.4
   Aliases

   Create and remove shortcuts for common commands.

   requires7.1
5. L.7.5
   Configuring .zshrc

   Persist simple shell customizations without opening an editor.

   requires7.4
6. L.7.6
   bash vs. zsh: what to know

   Recognize portable shell basics and common differences.

   requires7.2
7. L.7.7
   A one-line script

   Run a tiny executable script from your terminal.

   requires5.27.6
8. L.7.8
   Fix command not found

   Diagnose a command lookup problem with direct paths and PATH inspection.

   requires7.3

Put it all together — navigate, search, redirect, script, and vet a shaky command before you run it.

1. L.8.1
   Terminal confidence check

   Combine navigation, file inspection, search, redirection, script execution, and safe advice verification.

   requires3.54.45.76.87.7

Read who can do what to a file, and peek at the processes behind your prompt.

1. L.O.1
   Reading permissions

   Read owner, group, and permission bits from ls -l output.

   requires2.2
2. L.O.2
   Changing permissions

   Use chmod notation to adjust permissions intentionally.

   requiresO.1
3. L.O.3
   Looking at processes

   Recognize process listings and basic kill behavior.

   requires1.3
4. L.O.4
   Background and foreground

   Understand job-control vocabulary for long-running commands.

   requiresO.3