Course

Command Line for Data Science

In this course, you’ll learn how to use the command line, an essential skill for data analysts and data scientists, to process text data or to clean data. You’ll learn about the command line and why it’s useful as you begin working in data science.

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Part of the Data Analyst (Python), and Data Scientist (Python) paths.

4.8 (359 reviews)

23,706 learners enrolled in this course.

Intermediate friendly
4 hours
Self paced
5 lessons

“The intuitive learning process on Dataquest was refreshing. I never became frustrated with technical problems, or had to waste time watching a video before getting on with coding. If I hit a wall, the community was there to help.”

Michael Knight-Roberts

Data Engineering Team Lead @Mango Solutions

Command Line for Data Science

Enroll For Free

Course overview

In this course, you’ll learn how to navigate the filesystem, how to alter permissions for different users, and how to create and run a Python script from the command line. You’ll also learn how to use the terminal on UNIX machines and how to use the command line’s powerful text processing tools like awk and sed. The lack of a graphical user interface (GUI) also makes the command line faster than other approaches for many tasks.
Best of all, you’ll learn by doing — you’ll practice and get feedback directly in the browser. When you finish the course, you’ll have enough hands-on practice that you’ll be comfortable using the command line in your day-to-day data analysis tasks.

Key skills

Navigating the command line environment
Running bash and Python programs from the command line
Modifying the behavior of commands with options
Managing users and permissions

Course outline

Command Line for Data Science [5 lessons]

Introduction to the Command Line 1h

Lesson Objectives

Employ the command line for data science
Employ the filesystem from the command line
Modify commands using options
Access command history

The Filesystem 1h

Lesson Objectives

Inspect directories
Navigate the filesystem
Employ filesystem navigation shortcuts

Modifying the Filesystem 1h

Lesson Objectives

Create directories
Delete directories and files
Copy directories and files
Move and rename directories and files

Glob Patterns and Wildcards 1h

Lesson Objectives

Define glob patterns and wildcards
Employ wildcards
Search for files

Users and Permissions 2h

Lesson Objectives

Define the concept of user
Identify the purpose of groups
Identify the importance of permissions
Modify permissions
Define the superuser
Manage file ownership

The Dataquest guarantee

Dataquest has helped thousands of people start new careers in data. If you put in the work and follow our path, you’ll master data skills and grow your career.

We believe so strongly in our paths that we offer a full satisfaction guarantee. If you complete a career path on Dataquest and aren’t satisfied with your outcome, we’ll give you a refund.

Master skills faster with Dataquest

Go from zero to job-ready

Learn exactly what you need to achieve your goal. Don’t waste time on unrelated lessons.

Build your project portfolio

Build confidence with our in-depth projects, and show off your data skills.

Challenge yourself with exercises

Work with real data from day one with interactive lessons and hands-on exercises.

Showcase your path certification

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Aaron Melton

Business Analyst at Aditi Consulting

“Dataquest starts at the most basic level, so a beginner can understand the concepts. I tried learning to code before, using Codecademy and Coursera. I struggled because I had no background in coding, and I was spending a lot of time Googling. Dataquest helped me actually learn.”

Jessica Ko

Machine Learning Engineer at Twitter

“I liked the interactive environment on Dataquest. The material was clear and well organized. I spent more time practicing then watching videos and it made me want to keep learning.”

Victoria E. Guzik

Associate Data Scientist at Callisto Media

“I really love learning on Dataquest. I looked into a couple of other options and I found that they were much too handhold-y and fill in the blank relative to Dataquest’s method. The projects on Dataquest were key to getting my job. I doubled my income!”