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Nash provides all the fundamental Unix commands you need for navigating directories, managing files, and working with environment variables.
1

List directory contents

Use ls to see what’s in your current directory:
user@nash:/home/user$ ls
Desktop/  Documents/  Downloads/  welcome.txt
Show hidden files and detailed information:
user@nash:/home/user$ ls -la
drwxr-xr-x  5 user  user   160 Dec 10 14:30 .
drwxr-xr-x  3 root  root    96 Dec 10 14:30 ..
drwxr-xr-x  2 user  user    64 Dec 10 14:30 Desktop
drwxr-xr-x  2 user  user    64 Dec 10 14:30 Documents
drwxr-xr-x  2 user  user    64 Dec 10 14:30 Downloads
-rw-r--r--  1 user  user   142 Dec 10 14:30 .nashrc
-rw-r--r--  1 user  user    52 Dec 10 14:30 welcome.txt
2

Navigate directories

Change to a different directory:
user@nash:/home/user$ cd Documents
user@nash:/home/user/Documents$ pwd
/home/user/Documents
Go back to your home directory:
user@nash:/home/user/Documents$ cd
user@nash:/home/user$ pwd
/home/user
Return to the previous directory:
user@nash:/home/user$ cd /tmp
user@nash:/tmp$ cd -
user@nash:/home/user$
3

Print working directory

Always know where you are:
user@nash:/home/user$ pwd
/home/user
The cd command without arguments always takes you back to $HOME, and cd - toggles between your current and previous directory.

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File Management

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Creating Files and Directories

user@nash:/home/user$ touch notes.txt ideas.md
user@nash:/home/user$ ls
Desktop/  Documents/  Downloads/  ideas.md  notes.txt  welcome.txt

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Removing Files and Directories

user@nash:/home/user$ rm notes.txt
user@nash:/home/user$ ls
Desktop/  Documents/  Downloads/  ideas.md  projects/  welcome.txt  work/
Use -r for recursive deletion of directories, and -f to force deletion without prompts. Combine them as -rf for maximum power.

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Text Output

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Echo Command

The echo command prints text to stdout: 
user@nash:/home/user$ echo hello world
hello world

user@nash:/home/user$ echo "Hello, $USER!"
Hello, user!

user@nash:/home/user$ echo -n "No newline"
No newlineuser@nash:/home/user$
Use -e to enable escape sequences: 
user@nash:/home/user$ echo -e "Line 1\nLine 2\nLine 3"
Line 1
Line 2
Line 3

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Cat Command

Display file contents: 
user@nash:/home/user$ cat welcome.txt
Welcome to Nash!

This is your virtual home directory.

user@nash:/home/user$ cat ideas.md
# Project Ideas

- Build a CLI tool
- Write documentation
- Learn Rust
Concatenate multiple files: 
user@nash:/home/user$ cat welcome.txt ideas.md
Welcome to Nash!

This is your virtual home directory.
# Project Ideas

- Build a CLI tool
- Write documentation
- Learn Rust

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Environment Variables

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Viewing Environment

user@nash:/home/user$ env
USER=user
LOGNAME=user
HOME=/home/user
SHELL=nash
TERM=xterm-256color
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8
PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin
PWD=/home/user
HOSTNAME=nash
SHLVL=1

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Setting Environment Variables

user@nash:/home/user$ export API_KEY=secret123
user@nash:/home/user$ export DEBUG=true
user@nash:/home/user$ export LOG_LEVEL=info

user@nash:/home/user$ echo $DEBUG
true

user@nash:/home/user$ env | grep -E '(API_KEY|DEBUG|LOG_LEVEL)'
API_KEY=secret123
DEBUG=true
LOG_LEVEL=info
Unset variables: 
user@nash:/home/user$ unset DEBUG
user@nash:/home/user$ echo $DEBUG

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Real Terminal Session

Here’s a complete example showing common tasks: 
user@nash:/home/user$ pwd
/home/user

user@nash:/home/user$ mkdir -p projects/myapp
user@nash:/home/user$ cd projects/myapp

user@nash:/home/user/projects/myapp$ touch README.md
user@nash:/home/user/projects/myapp$ echo "# My App" > README.md
user@nash:/home/user/projects/myapp$ cat README.md
# My App

user@nash:/home/user/projects/myapp$ mkdir src tests docs
user@nash:/home/user/projects/myapp$ ls -l
drwxr-xr-x  2 user  user    64 Dec 10 15:00 docs
-rw-r--r--  1 user  user     9 Dec 10 15:00 README.md
drwxr-xr-x  2 user  user    64 Dec 10 15:00 src
drwxr-xr-x  2 user  user    64 Dec 10 15:00 tests

user@nash:/home/user/projects/myapp$ export PROJECT_NAME=myapp
user@nash:/home/user/projects/myapp$ echo "Building $PROJECT_NAME..."
Building myapp...

user@nash:/home/user/projects/myapp$ cd
user@nash:/home/user$ pwd
/home/user

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Command Reference

CommandDescriptionCommon Flags
lsList directory contents-l (long), -a (all/hidden)
cdChange directorycd (home), cd - (previous)
pwdPrint working directory
mkdirCreate directories-p (create parents)
touchCreate empty files
rmRemove files/directories-r (recursive), -f (force)
echoPrint text-n (no newline), -e (escapes)
catDisplay file contents
envList environment variables
exportSet environment variable
unsetRemove environment variable

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