Common Linux Commands

The Linux command line is a text interface to your computer. Often referred to as the shell, terminal, console, prompt or various other names, it can give the appearance of being complex and confusing to use. Yet the ability to copy and paste commands from a website, combined with the power and flexibility the command line offers, means that using it may be essential when trying to follow instructions online, including many on this very website!

File and Directory Management

• ls - List directory contents

  ls
  ls -l
  ls -a
  

• cd - Change directory

  cd /path/to/directory
  cd ..
  cd ~
  

• pwd - Print working directory

  pwd
  

• mkdir - Create a new directory

  mkdir directory_name
  mkdir -p /path/to/directory
  

• rmdir - Remove an empty directory

  rmdir directory_name
  

• rm - Remove files or directories

  rm file_name
  rm -r directory_name
  

• cp - Copy files or directories

  cp source_file destination_file
  cp -r source_directory destination_directory
  

• mv - Move or rename files or directories

  mv source_file destination_file
  mv old_directory_name new_directory_name
  

• touch - Create an empty file or update the timestamp of an existing file

  touch file_name
  

• find - Search for files in a directory hierarchy

  find /path/to/search -name "file_name"
  

File Viewing and Editing

• cat - Concatenate and display file content

  cat file_name
  

• less - View file content one screen at a time

  less file_name
  

• more - View file content one screen at a time

  more file_name
  

• head - Display the first few lines of a file

  head file_name
  head -n 10 file_name
  

• tail - Display the last few lines of a file

  tail file_name
  tail -n 10 file_name
  

• nano - Simple text editor in the terminal

  nano file_name
  

• vi or vim - Advanced text editor in the terminal

  vi file_name
  vim file_name
  

System Information and Management

• top - Display real-time system information

  top
  

• ps - Display information about active processes

  ps
  ps aux
  

• df - Display disk space usage

  df
  df -h
  

• du - Estimate file space usage

  du
  du -h
  du -sh directory_name
  

• free - Display memory usage

  free
  free -h
  

• uname - Display system information

  uname
  uname -a
  

Networking

• ping - Send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST to network hosts

  ping host_name_or_ip
  

• ifconfig - Configure a network interface (deprecated, use ip instead)

  ifconfig
  

• ip - Show/manipulate routing, devices, policy routing, and tunnels

  ip address
  ip link
  

• netstat - Network statistics (deprecated, use ss instead)

  netstat
  

• ss - Utility to investigate sockets

  ss
  ss -tuln
  

• scp - Securely copy files between hosts

  scp source_file user@remote_host:/path/to/destination
  

• wget - Non-interactive network downloader

  wget url
  

• lsof - List open files, useful to check ports

  lsof -i :port_number
  

• kill - Terminate a process by PID

  kill pid
  kill -9 pid
  

Package Management

• apt-get - APT package handling utility (Debian/Ubuntu)

  sudo apt-get update
  sudo apt-get install package_name
  sudo apt-get remove package_name
  

• yum - Package manager (Red Hat/CentOS)

  sudo yum update
  sudo yum install package_name
  sudo yum remove package_name
  

• dnf - Package manager (Fedora)

  sudo dnf update
  sudo dnf install package_name
  sudo dnf remove package_name
  

Permissions and Ownership

• chmod - Change file modes or Access Control Lists

  chmod 755 file_name
  chmod -R 755 directory_name
  

• chown - Change file owner and group

  chown user_name:group_name file_name
  chown -R user_name:group_name directory_name
  

Archiving and Compression

• tar - Store, list, or extract files in an archive

  tar -cvf archive_name.tar directory_name
  tar -xvf archive_name.tar
  tar -czvf archive_name.tar.gz directory_name
  tar -xzvf archive_name.tar.gz
  

• zip - Package and compress files

  zip archive_name.zip file1 file2
  zip -r archive_name.zip directory_name
  

• unzip - Extract compressed files from a ZIP archive

  unzip archive_name.zip
  

Miscellaneous

• echo - Display a line of text

  echo "Hello, World!"
  

• date - Display or set the system date and time

  date
  date -s "2024-07-31 12:34:56"
  

• whoami - Print the current user name

  whoami
  

• man - Display the manual for a command

  man command_name
  

• history - Display the command history

  history