Maven Basic

Maven Phases
Although hardly a comprehensive list, these are the most common default life cycle phases executed.
-validate: validate the project is correct and all necessary information is available
-compile: compile the source code of the project
-test: test the compiled source code using a suitable unit testing framework. These tests should not require the code be packaged or deployed
-package: take the compiled code and package it in its distributable format, such as a JAR.
-integration-test: process and deploy the package if necessary into an environment where integration tests can be run
-verify: run any checks to verify the package is valid and meets quality criteria
-install: install the package into the local repository, for use as a dependency in other projects locally
-deploy: done in an integration or release environment, copies the final package to the remote repository for sharing with other developers and projects.
There are two other Maven life-cycles of note beyond the default list above. They are
-clean: cleans up artifacts created by prior builds
-site: generates site documentation for this project

An interesting thing to note is that phases and goals may be executed in sequence.

-mvn clean dependency:copy-dependencies package
This command will clean the project, copy dependencies, and package the project
(executing all phases up to package, of course).