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If you use Linux on a daily basis, you know that the command line is the most dominant tool when working with files, installing and configuring system software, and running them. It becomes even more systematic if you run two or more commands at the same time on the command line and save a great deal of time.
Here, we will look at the different methods in which we can productively merge and run multiple Linux commands on a single line.
Option one: the semicolon operator (;)
The semicolon (;) operator allows you to run multiple commands in succession, regardless of whether each previous command succeeds. For example, open a Terminal window (Ctrl + Alt + T on Ubuntu and Linux Mint). Then type the following three commands on one line,
separated by semicolons and press Enter. This will give you a list of the current directory (ls), find out what directory you are currently in (pwd), and display your login name (whoami) in one go.
ls; pwd; who I am
You also don’t have to put spaces between the semicolons and the commands. You can enter all three commands as ls; pwd; whoami. However, spaces make the combined command more readable, which is especially useful if you are placing a combined command in a shell script.
Option two: the logical AND operator (&&)
If you want the second command to run only if the first command is successful, separate the commands with the logical AND operator, which is two symbols and (&&). For example, we want to create a directory called MyFolder and then change to that directory, provided it was created correctly. So, we type the following on the command line and hit Enter.
mkdir MyFolder && cd MyFolder
The folder was created successfully so the cd command was run and now we are in the new folder.
We recommend using the logical AND operator instead of the semicolon operator most of the time (;). This ensures that you don’t do anything disastrous. For example, if you run a command to change to a directory and then force delete everything in that directory recursively (cd / some_directory; rm -Rf *), you could end up messing up your system if the directory change didn’t happen. Not that we recommend that you run a command to unconditionally delete all files in a directory at once.
Option three: the logical OR operator (||)
Sometimes you may want to run a second command only if the first command doesn’t work. To do this, we use the logical OR operator, or two vertical bars (||). For example, we want to check if the directory MyFolder ( ) and create it if you don’t (mkdir ~ / MyFolder). So, we type the following command at the command prompt and hit Enter.
|| mkdir ~ / MyFolder
Make sure there is a space after the first bracket and before the second bracket or the first command that checks if the directory exists will not work.
In our example, the MyFolder directory does not exist, so the second command creates the directory.
Combine multiple operators
You can also combine multiple operators on the command line. For example, we first want to check if a file exists ( ). If so, we print a message on the screen indicating it (echo “The file exists”). If not, we create the file (tap ~ / sample.txt). So, we type the following at the command prompt and hit Enter.
&& echo “The file exists”. || tap ~ / sample.txt
In our example, the file did not exist, so it was created.
Here is a useful summary of each of the operators used to combine commands:
- TO ; B – Run A and then B, regardless of A’s success or failure
- A && B – Run B only if A was successful
- A || B – Run B only if A failed
All of these command join methods can also be used in shell scripts on both Linux and Windows 10.
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