A few basic commands in Linux

The common  file system commands that would make a beginner get started with linux are the following:

ls:command that lists all the files in the current directory
Variations in the use of the ls command would be found as the ls -l,ls -t...
cp source dest:command that is used to copy file 'source' to file 'dest'
mv source dest:moves the file 'source' to file'dest'
rm files:command used to remove a particular file
These commands when invoked would be looked in the directory /usr/bin
To check the presence of the 'cp' command use:
which cp
You would get back /usr/bin
There is a case where the use of a paricular command (say cp)would display in a message as follows
bash:cp command not found
Make use of the 'which' command to see if the cp command is present in the directory
which cp
There might be no response
Therefore the coreutil package needs to be reinstalled
apt-get install coreutils --reinstall coreutils
This would fix the problem.
The other basic commands would include the commands for printing the text:
cat filename:
pr filename:

Directories in linux contain files and subdirectories.Each user will be having his own home directory to whih he logs in at the beginning of a session.The user may then move on work in other directories which becomes his current directory.

The basic commands that are used in regard with the directories include the following

mkdir dirname:creates a new directory
cd dirname:change to the particular directory(provided that you are in the correct place)
To check whether you are in the correct place use
pwd
You would get back the 'current directory'
cd ..: is used to go the previous directory.
cd: moves to the home directory.