Command Result Raspbian OS Terminal cat [name] Show the contents of the file [name] cd .. Change to parent directory cd [path] Move to the directory at [path] cd / Change to root directory cd ~ Change to your home directory - usually "/home/" chmod [who][+,-,=][permissions] [name] Change the permissions for a file chmod 777 [name] Allow all users to read, write and execute the file [name] chmod u+x [name] Allow the user to execute [name] cp -r [from] [to] Copy all files and subdirectories from source [from] to destination [to] cp [from] [to] Copy a file from source [from] to destination [to] find Search for files and their contents grep ‘string’ [name] Search inside one or more files for occurrences of ‘string’ head [name] Return all occurrences of 'string' within file [name] ls List the contents of the current directory ls -a List all files including hidden files ls -l List the contents of the current directory with more file information ls [path] List the contents of the directory found at [path] man [command] Open the manual/help page for [command] man man Open the manual/help page for the ‘man’ command (helpception) mkdir [name] Create a directory called [name] in the current working directory mv -r [from] [to] Move all files and directories from source [from] to destination [to] mv [from] [to] Move a file from source [from] to destination [to] pwd Show the name of the current working directory python/python3 --version Shows you what version of Python you currently have installed rm -r * Remove all files and directories from the current working directory rm [name] Remove the specified file rm * Remove all files from the current working directory rmdir [name] Remove the empty directory [name] from the current working directory sudo [command] Superuser do. Execute [command] with elevated privileges (Allows you to do things you usually wouldn't have access to) sudo apt-get ​install [package] Install a package sudo apt-get update Update the list of packages sudo apt-get upgrade Upgrade the installed packages - must be run after sudo apt-get update sudo ​chown pi:root [name] Change the owner of the file [name] to user 'pi' and set the group to 'root' ​sudo raspi-config Launch the Raspberry Pi configuration menu sudo reboot Safely restart your Pi sudo shutdown -h now Safely shutdown your Pi immediately sudo su Places you in the root directory with root user access - be careful with this! tail [name] Show the end of file [name] tar -cvzf [name] [path] Create compressed file [name] from the contents of [path] tar -xvzf [name] Extract the contents of the compressed file [name] wget [uri] Download the file found at [uri] on the internet RPi.GPIO Library import RPi.GPIO as GPIO Import the RPi.GPIO module into the python sketch GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BCM) Use Broadcom pin numbers (GPIO 14, GPIO 15 etc) GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BOARD) Use board pin numbers (4,5, 8 etc) GPIO.getmode() Returns current pin numbering mode (BCM, BOARD, or None) GPIO.setup([pin number], GPIO.IN) Set up the pin at [pin number] to be an input GPIO.setup([pin number], GPIO.IN, pull_up_down=GPIO.PUD_DOWN) Set up the pin at [pin number] to be an input with internal pull down resistance GPIO.setup([pin number], GPIO.IN, pull_up_down=GPIO.PUD_UP) Set up the pin at [pin number] to be an input with internal pull up resistance GPIO.setup([pin number], GPIO.OUT) Set up the pin at [pin number] to be an output GPIO.setup([pin number], GPIO.OUT, initial=1) Set up the pin at [pin number] to be an output with the initial value '1' GPIO.output([pin number], 1) Set [pin number]'s value to 1. Note that 1, GPIO.HIGH and True are the same thing GPIO.output([pin number], 0) Set [pin number]'s value to 0. Note that 0, GPIO.LOW and False are the same thing i = GPIO.input([pin number]) Set the variable i to the value of [pin number] if GPIO.input([pin number]): Use the value of [pin number] as a boolean in code GPIO.cleanup() Reset all GPIO pins (good practice to call before leaving any program) GPIO.VERSION Returns current RPi.GPIO version GPIO Zero Library LEDs from gpiozero import LED Import the LED section of the gpiozero library led = LED(17) Assign the 'led' variable to an LED on pin GPIO 17 led.on() Turn on the LED stored in the 'led' variable led.off() Turn off the LED stored in the 'led' variable led.toggle() Toggle the LED stored in the 'led' variable (if it's off, turn it on and vice versa) Motors from gpiozero import Motor Import the Motor section of the gpiozero library motor = Motor(17, 18) Assign the variable 'motor' to a Motor object containing the forward and backward drive pin numbers motor.forward() Activate the forward pin of the variable 'motor' motor.backward() Activate the backward pin of the variable 'motor' motor.reverse() Reverse the current motor direction motor.stop() Stop the motor Buzzer from gpiozero import Buzzer Import the Buzzer section of the gpiozero library bz = Buzzer(3) Assign the variable bz to a Buzzer on pin GPIO3 bz.on() Turn the buzzer on bz.off() Turn the buzzer off bz.toggle() Toggle the buzzer's state (if it's off, turn it on and vice versa) Servo from gpiozero import Servo Import the Servo section of the gpiozero library servo = Servo(17) Assign the 'servo' variable to a Servo on GPIO 17 servo.min() Move the servo to its minimum value servo.mid() Move the servo to its middle value servo.max() Move the servo to its maximum value servo.value = 0.5 Move the servo to a set numerical point (min = -1, max = 1) Raspi Camera Image raspistill Command to take a still image with attached camera, modify with arguments below --width, -w Set image width --height, -h Set image height --quality, -q Set JPEG quality <0 to 100> (75 is most common) --raw, -r Inserts raw Bayer data from the camera into the JPEG metadata --output, -o Output filename (required for saving) --latest, -l Add latest frame to filename --verbose, -v Verbose debugging information during run --timeout, -t Set a time to wait before capturing an image. --encoding, -e Encoding to use for output file - jpg, gif, bmp, or png Raspi Camera Video raspivid Command to take a video using attached camera, modify with arguments below --width, -w Set image width (between 64px - 1920px) --height, -h Set image height (between 64px - 1080px) --bitrate, -b Set bitrate in bits per second (i.e 15 Mbits/s = 15000000) --output, -o Output filename (required for saving) --verbose, -v Verbose debugging information during run --timeout, -t Set a time to wait before capturing video --framerate, -fps Specify the frames per second for recording Expand Your Knowledge With Linux