242 lines
9.6 KiB
Markdown
242 lines
9.6 KiB
Markdown
---
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tags: HVAC, programming, software
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---
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# Introduction to Programming for HVAC Part-1
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This is part one of a series of articles to help HVAC technicians (or others) get started in developing their skills to program. This can
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help to automate everyday tasks or just familiarize themselves with some of the tools used by programmers.
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## Why
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I think if nothing else, this series can help gain knowledge, tips, and tricks to make you more comfortable with your computer. I hope that
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you will at least learn how to use your `terminal` application and more specifically `vim` motions and keybindings (more on that in another
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article).
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The goal of this article is to just get a machine setup with tools and to start exploring. I am a shill for `macOS`, so all of these will be
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specifically geared towards that and my workflows, most everything that is showcased should also work on `linux` machines (not sure about
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`windows`), although you may have to search for specific instructions on installing software for other platforms.
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What I have learned on my journey in programming is that the more you can lean on small software packages that focus on a single task, but
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do them well, the better. The less you use your mouse, the more productive you can be. The more you can work with `text` files and formats
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the more portable and transformable your workflows can be.
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## Getting Started
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The first thing that we will focus on is becoming familiar with the terminal application. On macOS the terminal application is located at
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`/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app`. However, rather than click around to find it, you can use the `⌘<space>` to pull up your spotlight
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search, then type `Terminal` to select the terminal application.
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### Terminal Overview
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Your terminal is a program that allows you to run programs by typing commands into it's window. There are a lot of built-in commands and a
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bunch that you can install. The terminal is very customizable (and once familiar, you will constantly be tweaking / adjusting to suit your
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needs). Right now customization is not what we will focus on, however in future articles I will provide tips and tricks on customizing it.
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Right now, we only need to know how to open it up and type in commands.
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Below is an image / explanation of what the default status line includes.
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### Learn Basic Commands (Built-in)
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Here are a few basic commands that you should familiarize yourself with, as you will use them often when working inside of a terminal.
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### Change Directory
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`cd` (change directory) is the command that allows you to move around your file system when inside the terminal.
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> **Note:** `~` is a representation of your `Home` directory.
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```bash
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cd ~/Documents
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```
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The above command will move you into your Documents directory.
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> **Note:** If there are spaces in the name of the directory you try to move to then the easiest way is to wrap the name in quotes.
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```bash
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cd "~/Documents/Product Concepts"
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```
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Some other things to understand when moving around / supplying arguments to the `cd` command.
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You can use `..` to go backwards / move up to the parent directory. For example, say we are in the `~/Documents` directory, to go back up to
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the home directory we could use the following:
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```bash
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cd ..
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```
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These can be chained together as well. For example say we are located in the `~/Documents/Product Concepts` directory, we could use the
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following to go up two directory levels back to the home directory.
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```bash
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cd ../..
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```
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> **Pro-Tip:** You can use the `<tab>` key when navigating to auto-complete, generally typing a few characters followed with the `<tab>` key
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> will auto-complete for you.
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### List files
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Use `ls` to output a list of files and directories where you are located.
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```bash
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ls
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```
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_Example Output when in my ~/Documents directory_
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```bash
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Estimates.app
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InkscapeDrawings
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KwikModel
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MyAparment
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NCISummit
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Personal
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Product Concepts
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Receipts.receipts
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RingCentral
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SketchUP
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Tech-Tips
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desktop.ini
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espanso-migrate-backup
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espanso-migrate-backup-2
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```
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Using options with `ls` to show more statistics and hidden files. There are often hidden files on your computer that are used for
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application support or other purposes, these files are not shown using the default command. Hidden files start with a `.`, below is an
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example of showing hidden files in your home directory.
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```bash
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ls -la ~/
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```
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> **Note:** Above I added the `~/` which will allow you to list the files in your home directory even if you currently are not there in your
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> terminal, if you were already there (for example by using `cd ~/` then you would not need to use that at the end of the command.
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_Example Output_
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```
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total 168
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drwxr-xr-x+ 46 michael staff 1472 Sep 22 10:45 .
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drwxr-xr-x 6 root admin 192 Sep 22 09:08 ..
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-r-------- 1 michael staff 7 Apr 8 2021 .CFUserTextEncoding
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-rw-r--r--@ 1 michael staff 14340 Sep 18 10:15 .DS_Store
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drwx------+ 5 michael staff 160 Sep 20 17:03 .Trash
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-rw-r--r-- 1 michael staff 186 Sep 12 15:20 .actrc
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drwxr-xr-x 4 michael staff 128 Dec 13 2021 .bin
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drwxr-xr-x 3 michael staff 96 Mar 6 2023 .bundle
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drwxr-xr-x 7 michael staff 224 Sep 12 11:40 .cabal
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drwxr-xr-x 7 michael staff 224 Sep 12 15:20 .cache
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drwxr-xr-x 13 michael staff 416 Aug 10 08:47 .config
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drwx------ 3 michael staff 96 Jun 21 2021 .cups
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drwxr-xr-x 12 michael staff 384 Sep 15 15:22 .docker
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drwxr-xr-x 20 michael staff 640 Sep 19 08:11 .dotfiles
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drwxr-xr-x 4 michael staff 128 Jul 26 2021 .gem
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drwxr-xr-x 3 michael staff 96 Oct 11 2021 .jssc
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-rw------- 1 michael staff 20 Sep 22 10:45 .lesshst
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drwxr-x--- 3 michael staff 96 Mar 29 08:47 .lldb
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drwxr-xr-x 8 michael staff 256 Mar 1 2023 .local
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drwxr-xr-x 4 root staff 128 Apr 12 2021 .newtek
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drwxr-xr-x 5 michael staff 160 Dec 13 2021 .npm
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-rw------- 1 michael staff 27436 Apr 10 10:21 .psql_history
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drwxr-xr-x 7 michael staff 224 Apr 18 2022 .ssh
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drwxr-xr-x 6 michael staff 192 Sep 21 09:06 .swiftpm
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lrwxr-xr-x 1 michael staff 25 Dec 27 2021 .tmux.conf -> .dotfiles/tmux/.tmux.conf
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drwxr-xr-x 8 michael staff 256 Mar 27 16:14 .twilio-cli
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drwxr-xr-x 6 michael staff 192 Sep 18 11:08 .vim
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-rw------- 1 michael staff 23086 Sep 21 09:45 .viminfo
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-rw-r--r-- 1 michael staff 254 Sep 21 09:32 .wget-hsts
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lrwxr-xr-x 1 michael staff 43 Jan 3 2022 .zshenv -> /Users/michael/.dotfiles/zsh/config/.zshenv
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drwxr-xr-x 8 michael staff 256 Dec 14 2021 AmazonWorkDocsCompanion
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drwx------@ 4 michael staff 128 Dec 13 2021 Applications
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lrwxr-xr-x 1 michael staff 40 Jun 6 12:00 Applications (Parallels) -> /Volumes/Bucket/Applications (Parallels)
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drwx------@ 30 michael staff 960 Sep 21 08:54 Desktop
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drwx------@ 19 michael staff 608 Sep 14 10:15 Documents
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drwx------@ 21 michael staff 672 Sep 21 09:43 Downloads
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drwx------+ 115 michael staff 3680 Sep 14 10:04 Library
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drwxr-xr-x 3 michael staff 96 Sep 8 13:06 LocalProjects
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lrwxr-xr-x 1 michael staff 29 Dec 30 2021 Movies -> /Volumes/Bucket/Videos/Movies
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lrwxr-xr-x 1 michael staff 21 Dec 30 2021 Music -> /Volumes/Bucket/Music
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drwx------@ 2 michael staff 64 Mar 6 2023 Parallels
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drwx------@ 7 michael staff 224 Sep 14 09:52 Pictures
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drwxr-x---+ 4 michael staff 128 Apr 8 2021 Public
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drwxr-xr-x+ 3 michael staff 96 Sep 14 09:52 Sites
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drwxr-xr-x 3 michael staff 96 Jun 7 2021 WorkDocs Drive
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drwxr-xr-x 3 michael staff 96 Sep 18 11:36 go
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```
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As you can see, I have a lot of hidden files and folders, your output will probably look much different than mine.
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### Clearing the Terminal
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Often times you may want to clear the terminal screen. You can use the `clear` command to clear the screen of the terminal.
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```bash
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clear
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```
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Or use a keyboard shortcut `⌃l` (`<control>l`)
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### Creating Directories
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Use `mkdir` (make directory) to create a directory.
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First, let's move into the `tmp` directory, the `tmp` directory is a directory on your file system that is typically used for applications
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to write temporary logs / files to, it get's erased everytime your computer is restarted. We can use the `cd` command that we learned
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earlier.
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```bash
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cd /tmp
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```
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Next, let's create a new directory called "MyDirectory".
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```bash
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mkdir MyDirectory
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```
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#### Gotcha's with 'mkdir'
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By default you can't create directories that are multiple levels deep, unless the directories already existed or we provide the `-p` option.
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For example, if we want to create a directory at `/tmp/MyOtherDirectory/Nested/Deeply` then we could use the following command when inside
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the `tmp` directory.
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```bash
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mkdir -p MyOtherDirectory/Nested/Deeply
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```
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Now, try out using the `<tab>` key with the `cd` command to navigate to the `Deeply` folder.
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```bash
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cd MyOther <tab> <tab> <tab>
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```
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### Open Command
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You can use the open command to open files or folders in the default application for the file type.
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For example, if we want to open a `Finder` window while in the `/tmp` directory, we can use the following command:
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```bash
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open .
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```
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### Manual Pages
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Lastly, to learn more about commands you can use the `man <command>`. To bring up the manual pages for the command in the terminal. You can
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use the arrow keys to navigate around the manual pages and type the letter `q` to quit / close the manual pages.
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```bash
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man ls
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```
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That is it for the first installment in this series. I hope you learned something and have better understanding of using your terminal.
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