Lab

Lab: Terminal Navigation Walkthrough

Objective

Demonstrate that you can use the terminal inside Codex to navigate the filesystem, create folders and files, inspect visible and hidden names, use common path shortcuts, recall commands, save simple command output into a file, and document what you learned in a short reflection file.

Success Criteria

You have successfully completed this lab when you can:

Create or select a dedicated Codex project folder for this lab.
Open the terminal tab inside Codex.
Explain that ~ refers to your home folder.
Use terminal commands to identify your current folder.
Use terminal commands to list visible files and folders.
Show hidden files and folders when you choose to.
Explain that names beginning with . are hidden from ordinary listings, but are not secret or protected.
Create folders from the terminal.
Create empty files from the terminal.
Move into a folder from the terminal.
Move up to a parent folder from the terminal.
Explain the difference between an absolute path and a relative path.
Explain what . and .. mean in a path.
Use Tab completion to finish a file or folder name.
Use the up arrow or command history to recall a previous command.
Search your command history for a previous command.
Redirect simple command output into a file.
Create a reflection.md file that answers the required reflection prompts.
Explain why checking where you are before creating files or folders matters.
Create a ZIP file of your completed lab directory and submit it with your lab submission.

Instructions

Open Codex.
Create a new Codex project for this lab.

When Codex asks you to choose a folder, create or select this lab folder inside your course labs folder:

~/labs/terminal-navigation-walkthrough

If your labs folder does not exist yet, create it when choosing the project folder. The goal is for this lab project to live at:

labs/terminal-navigation-walkthrough

In Codex, click the terminal tab to open the project terminal.

The rest of this lab uses the terminal inside Codex. Do not ask Codex to do the commands for you. Type the commands yourself in the terminal tab.

Show your current location:

pwd

Your path should end with:

labs/terminal-navigation-walkthrough

If it does not, move into the correct folder before continuing. For example:

cd ~/labs/terminal-navigation-walkthrough
pwd

Before continuing, explain what ~ means and why this path points to your lab folder inside your home folder.

Show what is currently inside your lab folder:

ls

It is okay if the folder is empty at first.

Create a practice folder named terminal-practice.
Show the contents of your lab folder again and verify that terminal-practice exists.
Move into the terminal-practice folder.
Show your current location and confirm that you are inside terminal-practice.
Write down or say out loud whether the path you see is an absolute path or a relative path. Explain how you can tell.
Create two visible folders named notes and experiments.
Create three visible files with different names. At least one file name should include the word name.
Show the ordinary listing for your current folder and verify that the visible folders and files appear.
Show the long-format listing for your current folder. Notice how it gives more detail than the ordinary listing.
Create one hidden-example folder named .hidden-example and one hidden-example file whose name starts with ..
Show the ordinary folder listing and notice whether your dot-prefixed folder and file appear.
Show all files and folders, including hidden ones. Confirm that your dot-prefixed folder and file appear in this listing.
Show all files and folders in long format. Compare this with the ordinary listing and explain what changed.
Move into notes, show your current location, then move back up to terminal-practice and show your current location again.
Explain what . means as a path and what .. means as a path. Use your current location and parent folder as the example.
Use Tab completion to help type the name of one folder or file you created. Explain what happened when you pressed Tab.
Use the up arrow to recall a previous command. Before pressing Enter, read the recalled command and explain what it would do.
Search your command history for a command you used in this lab. Choose a search term that makes sense for a command you actually ran.
Save the output of a simple location or listing command into a file named lab-location.txt or lab-files.txt.
Show the contents of the file you created in the previous step and confirm that the command output was saved.
Return to the main terminal-navigation-walkthrough lab directory and show your current location. Your current path should end with terminal-navigation-walkthrough.
Create a file named reflection.md in the main terminal-navigation-walkthrough lab directory. You may create it from the Codex file pane/editor or from the terminal.

In reflection.md, answer these questions in your own words:

Where is your labs folder?
What does ~ mean?
What is the difference between . and ..?
What is one absolute path from your lab?
What is one relative path from your lab?
What did your hidden file or hidden folder demonstrate?
What command output did you redirect into a file?
Why is guessing in the terminal risky?

Show the contents of reflection.md and confirm that your answers are saved.

Required Deliverables

Submit a short video demonstration showing Codex and explaining:

Your Codex project folder for this lab.
How you opened the terminal tab inside Codex.
Where your labs parent folder is.
Where your terminal-navigation-walkthrough lab folder is.
What ~ means.
Which commands you chose for each task.
How you verified that your folders and files were created.
How ordinary listings and hidden-file listings are different.
What your dot-prefixed folder and file demonstrate.
How moving into notes and moving back up are different.
What absolute and relative paths mean.
What . and .. mean.
How Tab completion helped you.
How you searched your command history.
Which command output you redirected into a file and how you verified the file contents.
How you created and checked reflection.md.
Why guessing in the terminal is risky.

Also submit a ZIP file of your completed lab directory. Your ZIP file should include your created folders, visible files, dot-prefixed hidden examples, redirected-output file, and reflection.md.

Submit Your Lab Directory as a ZIP File

Before you submit, make sure your completed lab directory is named:

terminal-navigation-walkthrough

The ZIP file you submit should be named:

terminal-navigation-walkthrough.zip

Mac Terminal Instructions

In the Codex terminal or macOS Terminal, run:

cd ~/labs
zip -r terminal-navigation-walkthrough.zip terminal-navigation-walkthrough

Then submit the new terminal-navigation-walkthrough.zip file.

Windows WSL Terminal Instructions

In your WSL terminal, run:

cd ~/labs
zip -r terminal-navigation-walkthrough.zip terminal-navigation-walkthrough

Then submit the new terminal-navigation-walkthrough.zip file.

Stretch

Stretch: Unix Pipelines Field Guide

Objective

Research how Unix-style pipelines let one command send its output into another command, then build a small field guide of useful command pipelines you can actually explain and run.

Instructions

Start in your completed terminal-navigation-walkthrough lab folder.
Create a file named pipeline-field-guide.md.
Do a little research on Unix command pipelines. Focus on these ideas:

What the pipe operator | does.
Why many Unix commands are designed to do one small job well.
How one command's output can become another command's input.
How pipelines are different from redirecting output into a file with >.

In pipeline-field-guide.md, write a short explanation of pipelines in your own words.
Build five useful pipeline examples. Each example must include:

The exact command pipeline.
A short description of what each command in the pipeline does.
The useful result you got from the pipeline.
A sentence explaining when a developer might use that pattern again.

At least three of your five examples must use two or more pipe operators, such as:

command | command | command

Your five examples may use commands such as ls, find, grep, sort, uniq, wc, head, tail, cut, awk, sed, cat, tr, ps, du, or history.

Choose commands that are safe to run in your lab folder. Do not delete files, overwrite files, or run commands you cannot explain.

Include at least one pipeline that analyzes files or folders in your lab directory. For example, you might count files, find names that match a pattern, sort a list, or summarize file sizes.
Include at least one pipeline that uses text from a file you created in the main lab, such as reflection.md, lab-location.txt, or lab-files.txt.
Save the output from your most useful pipeline into a file named best-pipeline-output.txt.
Add a final section to pipeline-field-guide.md named What I Understand Now. In that section, answer:

Which pipeline was most useful?
Which command was hardest to understand?
What changed when you added a second pipe?
How is | different from >?
What is one pipeline you could imagine using in a real project?

Stretch Deliverables

Submit your updated lab ZIP file. It should include:

pipeline-field-guide.md
best-pipeline-output.txt
Any files used as input for your pipeline examples

In your lab video, briefly demonstrate one of your five pipelines and explain how data moves from the first command to the final result.