OSMC is based on Debian which allows us to deliver a very powerful and expansive system. While OSMC can be fully managed and configured via a graphical interface, we have preserved access to the unfettered level of
configuration that a full Linux system promises, giving you complete access and control over your device. For newcomers, this can be quite daunting – however with some patience and guidance, you can pick up how to use the command line. If you have any suggestions or questions, let us know. Here are a few commands to get you started:
ls
This command is used to list files and folders in current directory. In
order to view hidden files and filepermissions us ls -al. You can also
list files and folders in a remote directory, ls /etc/apt
cd
Short for change directory, cd .kodi or if you like to jump multiple
directories in one command, cd .kodi/userdata. And to hop a directory
back use cd ..
You can directly jump to the current users home folder with cd ~
mkdir
This is how you make a new folder. mkdir newfoldername creates a new
folder in the folder you’re standing in. You can also create a remote folder
in the filesystem mkdir /home/osmc/newfoldername
cp
The first command listed here that need two arguments, cp is for file copying.
cp sourcefile destinationfile and as always you can copy with paths.
cp /home/osmc/mytextfile ./texts/ this will copy mytextfile into the
folder texts in current directory(./). To copy a folder, you need to add an option to the cp command, like this cp -r foldername foldercopyname.
mv
The command to rename and/or move files and folders, to rename a file use this
mv old-file-name new-file-name, and to move mv myfile.pdf ./pdfs/. This
will move the myfile.pdf to the pdfs folder located in your current folder. And to move
and rename at the same time mv myfile.pdf ./pdfs/mycharts.pdf
rm
To delete a file you use rm filename or to delete a folder rmdir foldername. Rmdir warns if there is files inside the folder or use the second more unforgiving rm -r foldername. Last alternativ deletes folder and all the containing files.
wget
Download a file from the web to your current folder.
wget https://github.com/zjoasan/x11-osmc/raw/master/install_x11.zip
df -h
Used to see how much used/freespace there is on connected media, including your SD-card.
top
This is an interactive process viewer, which you exit with q. If you want more information about top, pressh while it’s running.
nano
A simple text editor, nano filename opens the texteditor and lets you do the what you need to do. Use CTRL+x to exit. If there were any changes made you will be prompted if you want to save the file and a filename for the saving.
sudo
Sometimes you need higher priveliges then osmc user has, like when you need to edit a systemfile. For example adding a new source in /etc/apt/sources.list, this can not be done by osmc user, so you have to get root(system administrator) filerights. This is done via sudo like sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list.
All these commands, except cd, have a some help information. To access this you
type this “command --help”.