@HelloAndrew You can also use ls (list) (or sometimes dir (directory)) to list the files in the current directory.
python parser.py
This is the command to run python (a program that executes scripts written in the Python programming language) followed by the name of the script (which will be in the directory you cded into). You will need to install Python to use it.
https://missing.csail.mit.edu/2020/course-shell/ might also be useful.
Hope this helps.
@dorward thank you so much for spending so much time trying to help me understand this I think if I could find the time to go through everything you’re saying it would be pretty straightforward. my biggest disappointment with my experience in Mastodon so far has been that the community seems way more technically advanced than I am and I thought I was a very advanced computer user but apparently I’m not. maybe I’m too old to learn the stuff I need to wait for it to be turned into easy websites