Common Simple Commands

Here are some basic commands useful for managing the filesystem and performing basic tasks:

Linux	Windows	Description
ls	dir	Lists the contents of a directory -- by default, the current directory, or the directories specified as arguments (or a specific file, if specified).
echo	echo	Places a message on the screen (the message is given as positional arguments)
cal		Displays a simple calendar
date	date /t time /t	Tells you the current date (or date/time)
who	quser	Displays information about the logged in user(s)
whoami	whoami	Displays the name of the current user
clear	cls	Clears the screen (terminal). Note: in the Bash shell, you can also clear the screen during command entry by typing Ctrl+L
tree	tree	Displays a "tree view" of the filesystem hierarchy starting at the current directory (or the given directory, if an argument is provided).
mkdir	mkdir	Make a directory/folder
rmdir	rmdir	Remove a directory/folder
rm	del	Removes/deletes one or more files. Specify ''-rf'' to recursively force delete a directory and its contents on Linux, or ''/s'' to recursively delete a directory and its contents on Windows.
	X:	(Where X is a drive letter) Switches to the selected drive.
cd	cd	Changes to the given directory, if one is given. If no directory is given, displays the current directory (Windows) or changes to your home directory (Linux). On Windows, a drive designator may be provided, in which case the current directory will be set on the indicated drive.
pwd	cd	Prints the current working directory.
cp	copy	Copy one or more files to a new name/location.
mv	move	Moves a file from one directory to another.
mv	ren rename	Renames a file (on Linux, the filename and location are considered to be the same thing)
cat	type	Dumps the contents of a text file on the terminal (if there is a lot of text, the display will scroll; if the file is a non-text file, the results are undefined!)
more less	more	Displays a file one screen at a time. (Linux: the less command is a more powerful version of the ''more'' command, which allows things like scrolling backwards)
cut		Selects specific columns from a text file
sort	sort	Sorts a text file
diff	comp fc	Shows the differences between (text) files
uniq		Displays identical consequtive lines only once
tr		Translates/replaces/deletes occurrences of characters
grep	find	Searches files for text
find		Searches for files
touch	copy NUL: //filename//	Creates an empty file (Linux: if the file exists, ''touch'' will just update the date/time of modification).