How To Use Linux Terminal In Android

​Did you know that Android is based on Linux kernel? I bet you didn’t. Although many Linux users know it and no matter how hard Google denies it, they still have to accept it that what they modified and used in Android was Linux Kernel. But we are not here to fight on some unsolvable problems. As you know where is Linux, there is Terminal.   ​

The terminal is most of the time termed as Swiss-Knife of Linux-based OS, cause through the power of terminal you can do almost anything on an OS, you can even play games on it, install software and much more cool stuff. However, the power of the terminal isn’t that powerful in Android. Still, you can do many cool things on android using the Linux terminal. Here is a small guide featuring some of the best uses of the terminal. Let’s go.  

How to install terminal in Android?

​This might be the first question you will think. The answer is simply Play store. Yeah, play store has almost all kinds of apps, so you can head over to it and get terminal app easily. Some of the most used are below –

​The most commonly used Terminal apps are the first two i.e. Terminal Emulator and Terms. I had used both of them many times and found them great. If you are having a custom ROM or not, you can find this pre-installed on your device ( Android 6.0 or higher mostly). Go to settings > about device > build number. Tap build number multiple times like a madman until you see a toast saying you have successfully turned on development settings. Now head into development settings (usually in main settings screen) and search for an option saying enable local terminal. If you find it great! Turn it on.

​Now, you have successfully installed Terminal on your Android device.

Some Cool Commands

​Hereby I am mentioning some of the cool commands that you can hit in a terminal.

su - Gain root rights ( Requires you to be rooted)
cd - Change the directory
Uname -a - Get information about your device architecture.
exit - Exit the current shell.
ls - List the directory contents.
chmod - Change directory permissions. (One of the famous command)
tar - Create, compress zip files. 

Simply! Many of the famous Linux commands that you daily use in terminal works great on android too, due to Linux Kernel.

Some Good Discussions

XDA Developers:- Thread 1 Thread 2

As the topic is on android there are many chances that you will find most of the information in XDA developers. XDA developers mostly focus on Android, so getting a nice bunch of information from there is good.

Conclusion

​Today Android is emerging as a great free and open-source software. There is work getting done from Android. We Linux users should be proud that android is powered by Linux Kernel. Most Linux commands work on Android as well. Even it is used many times for complex works like I unlocked my Z00L bootloader using Termux, not any PC, which shows how much Linux is powerful on mobiles too. There is a nice amount of work you can do via terminal on android, still, be careful with what you mess. If you are not an android geek, stay in a safe zone. We at LinuxAndUbuntu are always here if you mess with any problem. Comment and let us know!.