⌨️ Terminal is Not Scary

📖 Story Hook

🎯 Command #1: pwd — "where am I"

Open the terminal. Type:

pwd

Response:

/home/kali

pwd = "Print Working Directory". Shows your current folder.

This is your home folder. Similar to "C:\Users\Your Name" in Windows.

🎯 Command #2: ls — "what's around me"

ls

Will show you the files and folders in your current directory:

Desktop  Documents  Downloads  Music  Pictures  Public  Templates  Videos

Options (always after the command, separated by a space):

ls -l       # detailed (size, date, permissions)
ls -a       # including hidden files (starting with .)
ls -la      # both at once
ls -lh      # size in human-readable format (KB / MB / GB)

Try: ls -la. You'll see many more files.

🎯 Command #3: cd — "move to another folder"

cd Documents

You've entered the Documents folder. Check:

pwd
# /home/kali/Documents

Special symbols:

cd ..       # one level up (parent folder)
cd ~        # home (=/home/kali)
cd /        # system root
cd -        # previous folder (like Back)

💡 Tab Life Hack: start typing a folder name → press Tab → the terminal will auto-complete. This will save you hours over your career.

🎯 Command #4: cat — "show file contents"

cat /etc/hostname

Will show you "kali" (your computer's name).

cat /etc/os-release

Will show you system info (Kali version, ID, etc.).

For long files:

less /etc/passwd     # scroll with arrows, exit with q
head -10 file.txt    # first 10 lines
tail -10 file.txt    # last 10 lines
tail -f /var/log/auth.log  # follow changes in real-time

🎯 Command #5: grep — "find text in a file"

This is a super-important command for hackers. Searches for lines containing specific text.

grep "kali" /etc/passwd

Will show you lines in /etc/passwd containing "kali".

Useful options:

grep -i "PASSWORD" config.txt    # case-insensitive
grep -r "secret" /var/www/        # recursive search
grep -n "error" log.txt           # with line numbers
grep -v "INFO" log.txt            # exclude matches

Real-life example: you've hacked a site, downloaded base.tar.gz, and need to find the database password:

grep -ri "DB_PASSWORD\|db_pass\|database.*password" extracted_files/

🎯 Command #6: find — "find files"

find / -name "passwd" 2>/dev/null

Will find all files named "passwd" on the entire system. 2>/dev/null ignores access errors.

Useful patterns:

find . -name "*.conf"              # all .conf files in the current and subfolders
find /home -type f -size +10M      # files larger than 10MB in /home
find / -perm -4000 2>/dev/null     # all SUID files (important for privilege escalation!)
find / -mtime -1                   # files modified in the last 24 hours

🎯 Command #7: mkdir / rm / mv / cp

mkdir test_folder           # create a folder
mkdir -p path/to/deep/dir   # create nested folders

cp file.txt backup.txt      # copy a file
cp -r folder1 folder2       # copy a folder recursively

mv old.txt new.txt          # rename (or move)
mv file.txt /tmp/           # move to /tmp

rm file.txt                 # delete a file
rm -rf folder/              # delete a folder with all contents (BE CAREFUL!)

⚠️ rm -rf / will delete EVERYTHING. Never run this command. And don't trust code from unverified sources that contains it.

🎯 Command #8: chmod — "change permissions"

More details in Lesson 2.3, but the basics:

chmod +x script.sh    # make executable
chmod 755 file        # rwx for owner, r-x for others
chmod 644 config.txt  # rw for owner, r for others

🎯 Command #9: pipes (|) and redirects (>, >>)

This is Unix magic. Connects multiple commands:

# Pipe (|): output of one command → input of another
ls -la | grep "kali"          # ls + search for lines with "kali"
cat log.txt | grep "ERROR" | head -10   # last 10 errors

# Redirect (>): save output to a file
ls -la > files.txt            # overwrite
ls -la >> files.txt           # append

# Stderr (2>): redirect errors
find / -name "secret" 2>/dev/null   # ignore access errors

Real-life example: find all .php files containing "mysql_query":

find /var/www -name "*.php" | xargs grep -l "mysql_query" 2>/dev/null

🎯 Command #10: sudo — "run as admin"

sudo apt update         # update package list
sudo apt install nmap   # install nmap
sudo -i                 # become root (exit with exit)

sudo = "Super User DO". Asks for your password (your regular one, for kali). After entering the password, the command runs with root privileges.

💡 Life Hack: sudo remembers your password for ~15 minutes. Enter it once, and subsequent sudo commands will run without asking for a password.

🏆 Final Exercise

🤖 Vibe-task: ask Claude

I've just learned 10 basic Linux commands:
pwd, ls, cd, cat, grep, find, mkdir/rm/mv/cp, chmod, pipes, sudo.

Give me 5 practical tasks with a difficulty level from easy to medium
that I can complete right now in my Kali Linux to reinforce my skills.
Each task — 1 sentence with what to do + expected result.

💡 Cheat Sheet (print it)