this post was submitted on 06 Nov 2025
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Does Terminal use actually make sense in the real world? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works to c/linux@lemmy.world
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I know we all enjoy being nerds and using commands (H4ckerman). But now that everything is either a gui or web based, is there really any use to terminal commands?

For example, on windows I never used powershell or cmd hardly ever. I realize now I probably could have. But Linux just drives me to use it more, which i like anyway (because let's be honest, it makes us feel superior)

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[โ€“] HubertManne@piefed.social 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

So curiously I just did a post on realizing I could move some files around and realize it was quicker in the terminal. Basically I had a bunch of files in a folder and I needed to make some sub folders and move the files into them. The difference is not massive but its, to me, a bit easier in the terminal. mkdir "directoryname" instead of click new folder folder name. then like looking at a large amount of files with ls is sorta easier. ls -l resume then mv resume to ./jobs . In the gui I have to hunt around to multi select with shift and ctrl and pull them over. It likely does not sound easier but it is. terminal to is something that the more you use the easier it is doing things with it. Like using the mouse a lot does not make you quicker appreciably and moving or renaming or whatever but if you use the terminal more you do get appreciably faster. Im not even sure of the limit as I have never gotten that good but like I had a boss that could edit files so quickly in vi it was just nuts. since deleting lines is two keystrokes and repeating multiplines is even easier with no need to select. He was also crazy good with grep. Im going to make it a point of having the terminal up and think about using it before gui and then going to gui when I think it will be faster. Its kinda good for you when your in tech to. I hope to get back to my old better pace or better.

[โ€“] tal@lemmy.today 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

multi select with shift and control

There are cases where manually-selecting from a list of files to perform an operation on is desirable, but there are ways to do so in a terminal. Myself, I'd use dired on emacs: hit C-x d and select the directory in question, then tag the items you want (various tools to do this, but m will mark the current item) and then ! to invoke a specified command on all of them.

There are other terminal file managers out there including Orthodox File Manager-type programs like Midnight Commander and others like ranger. I don't use those, but I'm sure that they have similar "manually build set of files to perform operation on" functionality.