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I just found the Terminal and I want to know which commands I can run, and what they do.

Is there a command that would list me the available commands?

Is there a command that tells me how to use the commands (like "help" in the Windows command prompt)

jksoegaard
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Pyrde Pavkki
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  • Welcome to Ask Different :) In the current format, the question is pretty broad. It would help get good answers if you can narrow it down to ask specific questions(s). I'd advise you to start by spending some time going through the help center article What topics can I ask about here?. If your questions are regarding usage of Terminal.app or a specific shell, edit your question and state it. If it's about software development in general on Apple platform, please consider mentioning it. – Nimesh Neema Apr 20 '19 at 18:36
  • Some pointers to get you started: https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/OpenSource/Conceptual/ShellScripting/shell_scripts/shell_scripts.html, http://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashFAQ, https://www.bash.academy, https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/105774/mac-os-x-unix-oriented-tutorial – nohillside Apr 20 '19 at 18:55
  • I found one way was to read a book about Unix from cover to cover - only 2" thick... enjoy. – Solar Mike Apr 20 '19 at 19:49
  • We’ve got about 5 great questions on using compgen and suck to enumerate all commands. No worries this is closed as dupe. If you have a different question, be sure to read the help about asking good and narrow questions and showing your research. – bmike Apr 20 '19 at 21:04
  • https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/12645/listing-the-terminal-commands-available-for-mac-os and https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/244398/is-there-a-way-to-list-all-available-commands-in-terminal – bmike Apr 20 '19 at 21:05

1 Answers1

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You can get a list of all the available commands by pressing the TAB key twice, and confirming that you want the list by pressing y.

For help on what each command does, use the man command to lookup manuals: 

man <command>

You’ll probably want to google a cheat sheet of the most useful commands as there’s hundreds and hundreds of commands even on a freshly installed system.

By the way - using the command line is not actually called “coding”. This term is usually only used when you create something that runs multiple “commands” following an algorithm (i.e. something that includes conditionals and/or loops).

jksoegaard
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