I think it’s just a matter of getting used to it. I had the same issue at first and the more I used the command line, the more I started to prefer it to GUI apps for certain tasks.

A couple things that I use all the time:

• tab completion is incredible
• cd - goes back to the last directory you were in (useful for bouncing back and forth between locations)
• !$ means the last argument. So if you ls ~/Downloads and then decide you want to go there, you can cd !$.
• :h removes the last piece of a path. So I can do vim /etc/network/interfaces and then cd !$:h will take me to /etc/network.

You're pressing the tab key for auto completion right?

Learn to use pushd and popd

Others have mentioned using interactive tools like zoxide to easily get to frequently visited directories.

In addition, I also use nnn (https://github.com/jarun/nnn), which is a terminal file manager that you can navigate through. You can create shortcuts, snippets and bookmarks with this. I use this and zoxide + fzf regularly on CLI to navigate.

Some here also mention ranger, which is another terminal file manager. In my limited experience with ranger, I feel like the start up time is much slower than nnn; but I haven’t tried much. Tho with ranger + graphic-accelerated terminals like kitty, I believe you can preview images and files, which seems to be a great feature. So it depends on your need.

I am old and I like ‘mc’ (Midnight Commander) a lot when doing many/complex file operations

Something I haven't seen mentioned here is Ctrl + R on the command line to quick-search history. You start typing/backspacing and it shows the most recent matching history entry. Press Ctrl + R or Ctrl + Shift + R to navigate up and down through matching entries. Press Enter to pick an entry, Ctrl + C to cancel.

• ls / cd for basic stuff

• fzf if I want to find my way through the history

• broot if I want to search for a file

• ripgrep if I want to find a file with specific contents.

I know that the last 3 are not available by default, but they are good pieces of software, so I'm just going to install them.

I simply use ls and spam cd xyz cd .. etc

Not strictly file browsing advice, but you can quickly search for previously issued commands by hitting ctrl-r and starting to type. (and you can press it again to search further back)

I did 4 things, that helped me a lot:

1. Make aliases for the most visited directories

alias cem=’cd /home/drops/.config/emacs’

2. Make aliases for moving up the tree tree:

alias. .=’cd. . && ls’

Three points for two levels up, etc...

3. Name all directories lowercase, 3-5 letters long, and try to avoid directories with the same starting letter as siblings That way you can use tab completion with just a single letter

4. Use the option to jump to subdirectories of /home/user from everywhere.

The Linux Command Line is a book I still go back and look stuff up in.

I just use ls, cd, tree and tab completion. Sometimes I will use rg to find files which contains specified string, and use locate to find files which I known name but path.

For navigating files quickly fzf is pretty much crucial to my workflow. Being able to get my home directory to the directory of the project I want to work on in two seconds flat is such a nice feeling after manually typing the path in for months. https://github.com/junegunn/fzf

Check out ranger fm, helps navigate through files very quickly, also has a ton of features

To navigate quickly between directories in ssh, I recommend you using zoxide as cd replacement.

Zoxide remembers the directories you visited, then you can jump to them very quickly.

What file structure? I just put everything in /home and then try to vaguely remember part of the filename and glob *part-of-filename*.

Ok, actually, every couple of years, I move all my files into a new directory, /home/old. I think I'm up to /home/old/old/old/old/old right now. I recommend using find to look for files in there.

There are a few directory structures I have memorized, like my programming projects for instance. For everything else, I use the GUI. That's what it's there for. Mixing and match to get the best of both worlds. Some handy tips:

• xdg-open will act like clicking on a file in the GUI, and is an easy way to open folders from the terminal when you want to browse them.
• Use sshfs or even just whatever is built into your desktop environment to connect to remote servers and browse them
• Most terminals let you drag files or folders into them to paste their paths

i have broot, an interactive tree

Use the fish shell... No, seriously it's autocomplete and tab functionality makes browsing directories through the terminal so much easier

Not necessarily navigation, but ncdu will give the total size of your directories. It's a simple but very useful tool

Useful one I find is the z program you can install it with package manager and it's also included with zsh shell. It's basically like a smart cd command. Instead of having to type the entire path for cd, when using z you can just type the destination folder and if it's in your history it will resolve the path by itself.

Try a TUI like mc (midnight commander)

cd, ls, and the tab key are the basic tools of terminal filesystem navigation

I use ls and ranger, to find files i use find -name and remember that * is used as a wildcard so you can use it when searching for stuff with in incomplete filename or when copying or moving files/directories. You could also use colorls to add some flare to your ls, and oh-my-zsh for syntax highlighting and tab autocomplete

pushd and popd may be useful

I tend to use walk or midnight commander. zoxide is nice as well. It also helps to have bash aliases. https://github.com/antonmedv/walk

https://github.com/ajeetdsouza/zoxide https://midnight-commander.org/ https://www.hostinger.com/tutorials/linux-commands

Just using "cd -" to go back where you were is useful.

history command and ! and the number in history, like

!123

For instance, it's useful

Look into your shell’s tab completion abilities, the find command, and fzf. There’s also stuff like midnight commander but I find that to be a little overkill for my tastes.

I just type ls everytime I cd into something. It's not that efficient honestly but I usually remember where I want to go after going there a couple times. Also if you hit tab twice after typing cd and a space, it shows all of the files in the directory.

Old school, but I really like midnight commander or mc. Fast and easy.

Another good one is ranger - more concise, but great.