No matter how good the Linux GUI is, I often resort to the commandline. Part of the reason for this is habit, but the command line is also very efficient. On top of that, when you need real power and flexibility, the command line can't be beat.

What about the file manager? It's hard to beat a good GUI for managing your files.

Also: Two tricks that make using the Linux command line a lot easier

This is Linux, so for every GUI feature, there's a command that can do the same thing. Take, for instance, the tree command.  

Most GUI file managers allow for a tree view. This lets you expand a folder to view the subfolders and files within without having to first navigate inside the root folder. I prefer this style of viewing because it saves me clicks. If you're navigating in and out of a file system throughout the day, the fewer clicks you have to make, the more time and effort you'll save.

Now, imagine you're doing this from the command line, and you need to check the contents of folders. If you have several folders and subfolders you have to peek in and out of, you could be using a combination of thecdand lscommands rather inefficiently. You don't have to do that much typing and guessing -- use the tree command.

Also: New to programming? My 5 favorite Linux toolswill get you up to speed faster

The tree command is a tool for recursively listing the contents of a folder. Tree adds a dash of color, so you know what's what at a glance (note that the colors are determined by the color palette configured for your terminal window). Using tree makes it very simple for you to view the layout of directories, so you're not having tocdin and out or usingls and spending too much time typing, when you only need to locate a file.

Let me show you easily you can use tree.

How to install and use tree

What you'll need: Not every Linux distribution includes the tree command. For instance, I've found tree installed by default on Fedora but not on Ubuntu. To install tree, you'll only need a running instance of Linux and a user with sudo privileges. 

sudo apt-get install tree -y

sudo dnf install tree -y

sudo pacman -S tree

tree

tree -C

You should see a tree view of the folders and files in the current working directory.

tree ~/Music/Rush

The tree command will only print out the hierarchy in the folder specified.

 There are other options you can use, such as:

• tree -d -list only directories
• tree -f -print the full path for each file
• tree -o NAME -send the output to a file (where NAME is the name of the file)
• tree -Q- place all file names in double quotes
• tree -D- print the date of the last file modification

You can read about all the options available for tree with the command:

man tree

Tree makes viewing files and folders on Linux very easy, even without a GUI. I use this tool regularly and highly recommend it as a way to make your work a bit more efficient and your files/folders easier to view within your drive's hierarchy.

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