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COMMAND LINE
for Designers
Lauren Pittenger

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ABOUT
LAUREN ● Front end designer &
developer at LBDesign, a global
communications consultancy
● Instructor for the Women's
Coding Collective
● TA & volunteer for Girl Develop
It

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ABOUT YOU
● Designer who codes
● Want to bridge the gap between
design & development skills
● Interested in using tools that are
available on the command line

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WHAT WE’LL
COVER ● What is the command line?
● Why use the command line?
● Anatomy of the prompt
● Basic commands
● Exercise: setting up a local
WordPress install

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LET’S GO!
Don’t worry, it won’t be too scary!

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WHAT IS THE COMMAND
LINE?

“
http://www.davidbaumgold.com/tutorials/command-line/
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The command line is, at its heart, simply a
place where you type commands to the
computer.

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WHAT CAN IT
DO? ● Download & install WordPress
core, themes and plugins
● Setup & manage local database
● Compile Sass
● Version control
● Make ASCII art
● Automate tasks
● and more!

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BUT I’M A
DESIGNER ● Reduce the number of programs
running simultaneously
● Serves as a "home base" when
working on unfamiliar
computers
● Gives us access to functionality
otherwise unavailable to us
● Gives us access to other tools
● Can help save us a lot of time

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WHERE TO
FIND IT ON A MAC
Applications › Utilities › Terminal
ON WINDOWS
Start › All Programs › Accessories ›
Command Prompt

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COMMAND LINE

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ANATOMY OF THE PROMPT

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COMPUTER NAME

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COMPUTER NAME

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CURRENT DIRECTORY

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OSX USERNAME

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BASIC COMMANDS

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LIST DIRECTORY CONTENTS
$ ls

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CHANGE DIRECTORIES
$ cd nameofdirectory

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TAB TO AUTOCOMPLETE

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CHANGE DIRECTORIES
TO ROOT
$ cd /
$ cd ..
CHANGE DIRECTORIES
ONE LEVEL UP

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IS DESKTOP CURRENT
DIRECTORY?
$ pwd

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CREATE A NEW DIRECTORY
$ mkdir mynewdirectory

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CHECK DESKTOP

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CHECK FINDER

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CHANGE DIRECTORY TO
mynewdirectory
$ cd mynewdirectory

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LET’S DOWNLOAD
WORDPRESS
$ curl -O https://wordpress.org/latest.zip

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OOPS I ENTERED IT WRONG

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DOWNLOADING...

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EXTRACT!
$ unzip latest.zip

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CHANGE DIRECTORIES AGAIN
$ cd wordpress

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CREATE WP-CONFIG.PHP
$ cp wp-config-sample.php wp-config.php

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FINISHING UP
$ open wp-config.php

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BEWARE OF THESE
COMMANDS!
$ rm filename
$ rmdir directoryname
These commands will immediately and
permanently delete files and folders!

RESOURCES
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● Fosswire Unix/Linux Command Reference
Cheatsheet
● WP-CLI: A command line interface for
WordPress
● Git: Getting Started
● Lifehacker: A Command Line Primer for
Beginners
● Getting Started with Sass and Compass
● The designer’s guide to the OSX command
prompt
● Learn Code the Hard Way: Command Line
Crash Course

BEFORE WE GO
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$ banner -w 30 THX!

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QUESTIONS?
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@laurenpittenger
lepittenger@gmail.com
laurenpittenger.com