[Motorola Atrix 2] Apex:
Android SDK Commands & Explanations

Adb has many built in commands. Some are interactive (meaning they keep running until you stop them) and some just perform a simple task. Below is a list of the commands in the 1.0 SDK version of adb.​

Android Debug Bridge version 1.0.20

-d - directs command to the only connected USB device
returns an error if more than one USB device is present.
-e - directs command to the only running emulator.
returns an error if more than one emulator is running.
-s <serial number> - directs command to the USB device or emulator with
the given serial number
-p <product name or path> - simple product name like 'sooner', or
a relative/absolute path to a product
out directory like 'out/target/product/sooner'.
If -p is not specified, the ANDROID_PRODUCT_OUT
environment variable is used, which must
be an absolute path.
devices - list all connected devices

device commands:
adb push <local> <remote> - copy file/dir to device
adb pull <remote> <local> - copy file/dir from device
adb sync [ <directory> ] - copy host->device only if changed
(see 'adb help all')
adb shell - run remote shell interactively
adb shell <command> - run remote shell command
adb emu <command> - run emulator console command
adb logcat [ <filter-spec> ] - View device log
adb forward <local> <remote> - forward socket connections
forward specs are one of:
tcp:<port>
localabstract:<unix domain socket name>
localreserved:<unix domain socket name>
localfilesystem:<unix domain socket name>
dev:<character device name>
jdwp:<process pid> (remote only)
adb jdwp - list PIDs of processes hosting a JDWP transport
adb install [-l] [-r] <file> - push this package file to the device and install it
('-l' means forward-lock the app)
('-r' means reinstall the app, keeping its data)
adb uninstall [-k] <package> - remove this app package from the device
('-k' means keep the data and cache directories)
adb bugreport - return all information from the device
that should be included in a bug report.

adb help - show this help message
adb version - show version num

DATAOPTS:
(no option) - don't touch the data partition
-w - wipe the data partition
-d - flash the data partition

scripting:
adb wait-for-device - block until device is online
adb start-server - ensure that there is a server running
adb kill-server - kill the server if it is running
adb get-state - prints: offline | bootloader | device
adb get-product - prints: <product-id>
adb get-serialno - prints: <serial-number>
adb status-window - continuously print device status for a specified device
adb remount - remounts the /system partition on the device read-write

networking:
adb ppp <tty> [parameters] - Run PPP over USB.
Note: you should not automatically start a PDP connection.
<tty> refers to the tty for PPP stream. Eg. dev:/dev/omap_csmi_tty1
[parameters] - Eg. defaultroute debug dump local notty usepeerdns

adb sync notes: adb sync [ <directory> ]
<localdir> can be interpreted in several ways:

- If <directory> is not specified, both /system and /data partitions will be updated.

- If it is "system" or "data", only the corresponding partition
is updated.

Common Use:​

Some of the more common commands in adb are push, pull, shell, install, remount, and logcat.

Push sends a file from your desktop computer to your Android device:

adb push test.txt /sdcard/test.txt

Pull pulls a file from your Android device to your desktop computer:

adb pull /sdcard/test.txt test.txt

Shell lets you run an interactive shell (command prompt) on the Android device:

adb shell

Install lets you install an android APK file to your Android device:

adb install myapp.apk

Remount remounts the /system partition as writable (or readonly if it is already writeable):

adb remount

Logcat lets you view the devices debug logs in real time (must press control+c to exit):

adb logcat