0.4

Practice Exercises

Hands-on practice to build confidence

🏋️ Practice ⏱️ ~20 minutes

Reading about terminal commands is one thing. Actually using them is another. These exercises will help you build muscle memory so navigation becomes automatic.

Open Terminal now and work through these exercises. Don't just read them—type the commands yourself.

🏃 Warm-Up Exercises

1 Find Your Starting Point

When you open a new Terminal window, where do you start? Find out.

Hint: Which command tells you where you are?
pwd
You should see something like /Users/yourname — your home folder.

2 Explore Your Home

List all the folders in your home directory, including hidden ones.

Hint: You need the ls command with flags for "all" and "long format."
ls -la
You'll see folders like Desktop, Documents, Downloads, plus hidden files starting with dots.

3 Visit Desktop

Navigate to your Desktop folder. Confirm you're there. Then list what's on it.

Hint: Three commands in sequence: move, confirm location, list contents.
cd Desktop
pwd
ls
You should see the same files you'd see if you looked at your actual desktop.

4 Go Home

From wherever you are, go back to your home folder using the shortcut.

Hint: What symbol represents "home"?
cd ~
Or just cd with no argument — both take you home.

🏗️ Building Exercises

5 Create a Projects Folder

If you don't already have one, create a "Projects" folder in your Documents.

Hint: First navigate to Documents, then create the folder.
cd ~/Documents
mkdir Projects
ls (to confirm it was created)

6 Set Up a Test Project

Inside your Projects folder, create a folder called "terminal-practice" and navigate into it.

Hint: You can do this from anywhere if you use absolute paths.
cd ~/Documents/Projects
mkdir terminal-practice
cd terminal-practice
pwd (should show the full path to your new folder)

7 Navigate Up and Down

From your terminal-practice folder, go up two levels, then back down into terminal-practice using relative paths.

Hint: .. means "up one level." You can chain folder names with slashes.
cd ../.. (now you're in Documents)
pwd (confirm)
cd Projects/terminal-practice
pwd (back where you started)

🎯 Real-World Exercise

🏆 The Full Workflow

This exercise simulates exactly what you'll do when starting a Claude Code project. Complete each step in order:

  1. Open a fresh Terminal window
  2. Navigate to your Projects folder (create it if needed)
  3. Create a new folder called "my-first-app"
  4. Go into that folder
  5. Confirm your location with pwd
  6. Clear the screen
  7. Run ls -la (it should be empty except for . and ..)

If you completed all seven steps, you're ready for Claude Code. This is exactly how you'll start every new project.

✨ You Did It!

If you worked through these exercises, you now have hands-on experience with every command you need. The terminal isn't scary anymore—it's just a tool you know how to use.

🚀 What's Next

You've completed Module 0: Terminal Comfort. You can now:

  • Open Terminal without hesitation
  • Navigate to any folder on your computer
  • Create new project folders
  • Check where you are at any time

In the next module, we'll install Claude Code and have our first conversation with it. The terminal skills you just learned will make that process smooth.

🎉 Module 0 Complete!

You've conquered the terminal. Time to meet Claude Code.

Module 0 Complete • Up Next: Module 1 – Hello, Claude Code