Termux is a terminal emulator that brings some sort of "linux environment" to your android phone. It can allow you to install packages you wouldn't normally be able to install in an android phone such as python, git and nodejs. These are development tools that can aid in your development process if you do not have a laptop or a desktop. You can also use it to continue your development when you are away from your PC. Most of the essential command line tools used in linux are available in termux. You can get the app from Fdroid or from Google Playstore. I would recommend you opt for the version on Fdroid since the one available in the Playstore hasn't been updated in a long time. Using Fdroid, you will probably need to install the Fdroid app first and then search for termux terminal emulator, then install it. Run the following commands to update all packages to the latest version.

apt update && apt upgrade
or
apt update
apt upgrade

You can also run the following command just to be sure

apt install coreutils

You can then grant termux access to your storage by running the following command.
termux-setup-storage

Common termux commands

These commands are the same ones you would use in a linux bash shell with very few deviations.

ls

Lists the current directory's content.
Suppose you have a directory called app with the following files and folder;

  • index.js
  • index.css
  • manifest.json
  • modules

While at the directory app typing ls displays;

  • index.js
  • index.css
  • manifest.json
  • modules

The command ls is very important when you need to know what is in a certain directory.

cd

Used to change the current working directory. Typing the following code moves you to the directory app.

cd app

Please note that you must already have a directory called app in your current working directory.

mkdir

The command mkdir is used to make a new directory.

mkdir app

The code above creates a new directory called app.

rm

Removes a file. It could be empty or with content.

rm index.html

The code above removes the file index.html from the current working directory.

rmdir

Removes a directory without content. (An empty directory).
The below code removes the directory app only if it is empty, otherwise it throws an error.

rmdir app

rm -r

Removes a directory with or without content. The following code removes the directory app.

rm -r app

cat

Displays the contents of a file. The following code displays the contents of the file index.html.

cat index.html

pwd

Prints the working directory. Just type pwd to know the directory you are currently in.

whatis

Used to show an offline manual of a given command. The following command tells you what the command ls is.

whatis ls

man

Displays an detailed manual for a command.

man cat

The above code gives online information about the command cat

exit or logout

Used to exit the shell. Just type any of the commands exit or logout. You can also use ctrl + d .

clear

Clears the screen content. Using this command gives you a clean screen.

touch

Creates a new file. The following code creates a new file called manifest.json.

touch manifest.json

echo

Displays/prints arguments to the screen. All the following codes prints Hello World.

echo Hello World
echo "Hello World"
echo "Hello World" ;

top

Displays the current running processes.

apt install <package> / pkg install <package>

Installs a package. The following commands both install vim package. Vim is a programmers text editor.

apt install vim
pkg install vim

To show the power of termux, we are going to setup a nodejs server. Installing Nodejs automatically installs npm. To install nodejs, run the following command.

apt install nodejs

When prompted about the file taking some space, accept by typing the letter y and pressing enter. The installation will be completed within a short period of time. When done, confirm that nodejs and npm are installed by checking the versions as below.

node -v
or
node --version
and
npm -v
or
npm --version

By the time I was installing, nodejs version available in the apt repository was 20.2.0 while npm was version 9.6.6

A simple server in Nodejs

Create a file called server.js
I recommend installing vim which is a programmers text editor. Install it by running the following command.

apt install vim

To create or open a file in vim use;

vim filename

In our case using vim server.js creates a new file called server.js. To edit (insert content to) the file type the letter i.

After creating the file, copy the following simple code for a server.




const http= require ('http');
 
http.createServer((request, response) => {

response.writeHead(200, {

});

response.write('I just created my first server in Nodejs \n');

response.end();

}).listen(1337);

With vim, to save a file you press Esc then type :wq.
You can also use the following;
:wq - To save and Quit
:q -To quit without saving
You can now run the following code to activate your server.

node server.js

If everything worked fine, you can now open your browser at localhost:1337 . To stop the server in Termux use Ctrl + C .