[v5] 〜う → 〜え (書く → 書け) [v1] 〜る → 〜ろ (食べる → 食べろ) [する → しろ] [来る → 来い (こい)]
The 命令形 is the imperative form: a bare order, "do it!". A う-verb changes its last sound from the う-row to the え-row, a る-verb swaps る for ろ, and the two irregular verbs become しろ and こい来い (こい).
Some verbs end in る and are still う-verbs, so their imperative ends in れ: かえる帰る → 帰れ, はしる走る → 走れ, とる取る → 取れ. Only a real る-verb takes ろ. くる来る is irregular and never takes ろ either.
Said to someone's face, the 命令形 is rough. You hear it in emergencies, from coaches and in the army, in angry speech, and mostly from men talking to friends or juniors. A learner talking to anyone else uses きごう〜てください, or きごう〜て among friends. きごう〜なさい is the form for parents and teachers.
These go beyond an order said to someone's face.
As a shout of support, the 命令形 is not rude at all. がんばれ頑張れ is the standard thing to call out to a runner or a team.
Inside a quotation with とゆう言う, the 命令形 only reports what was said, and the sentence stays as polite as its own ending.
Exam questions and some signs use an older written imperative: る-verbs end in よ and する becomes せよ.
The negative order is a separate pattern: the dictionary form plus な, as in さわる触るな ("don't touch").