Lesson 2.3: Navigating in the Terminal

1Learn the Four Commands

A terminal is just a place to type instructions to your computer. You only need four commands to move around and see what's there — everything else in Module 3 builds on these. Read them once before typing anything.

Command	What It Does	Example
pwd	Shows what folder you're currently in	Type pwd, press Enter
ls	Shows all files and folders in your current location	Type ls, press Enter
cd FolderName	Moves you INTO a folder	cd Documents
cd ..	Moves you UP one folder level	cd ..

Same on Mac

These four commands work identically in Mac's built-in Terminal app — no changes needed. Every example below uses the same syntax on Windows and Mac.

Nothing Runs Until You Press Enter

Typing a command does nothing on its own — the terminal waits for Enter. You can always fix a typo before running it, and a typo just produces an error. You cannot break anything this way.

2Run the Practice Exercise

Now you type. This moves you to your home folder, creates a practice folder with two subfolders, and lists them. Type one line, press Enter, read the result, then move to the next.

cd ~
pwd
mkdir ai-practice
cd ai-practice
mkdir shared
mkdir candidate-review
ls

3Confirm What You Built

Reading the output tells you each command worked. Here's what each line did:

Command	What It Did
cd ~	Moved you to your home folder
pwd	Showed you where you are
mkdir ai-practice	Created a new folder called "ai-practice"
cd ai-practice	Moved you into that folder
mkdir shared	Created a subfolder called "shared"
mkdir candidate-review	Created a subfolder called "candidate-review"
ls	Showed you the folders you just created

You now have this structure under your home folder:

ai-practice/
├── shared/
└── candidate-review/

Cross-Check With File Explorer

Open File Explorer (Finder, on Mac), go to your home folder, and find ai-practice. Seeing the same folders you made in the terminal proves the commands did exactly what you typed.

That's the Whole Skill

This is everything you need. When you reach Module 3, typing commands in a terminal will already feel routine.

Verification

You can state which folder you're in using pwd

ls lists shared and candidate-review inside ai-practice

You can move into a folder and back up one level without looking at the table

Practice Once More

Open a terminal, run pwd and ls, then cd into a folder and back out with cd ... Repeating the loop once more locks in the muscle memory before Module 3.

Related Resources

claude.ai — The Claude AI platform
Claude documentation — Official documentation
Claude support — Help center and troubleshooting

Terminal basics done

Typing commands in a terminal and browsing an editor will already feel routine when you reach Module 3. Two more optional lessons here cover creating an AWS account and deploying a real site — or skip straight to Module 3 if you're ready.