Linux Command

Name Full Form Use Example Explanation

Alias Alias Creates shortcuts for Alias ll=‘ls -la’. This create a shortcut ll for the ls
commands. -la command.
Apt-get Advance packaging Tool- Get Manages software packages Sudo apt-get install git Installs Git on your system.
in Debin-based systems
Bzip2 Burrows-Wheeler Block Compresses le using bzip2 Bzip2 le.txt Compresses le.txt to le.txt.bz2
Sorting Compression algorithm.
Algorithm
Cat Concatenate Displays le contents, Cat le1.txt Displays the contents of le1.txt
combines les.
Cd Change directory Navigates between Cd /home/user Changes the current directory to /
directories. home/user
Chmod Change mode Changes le permissions. Chmod +x script.sh Sets x permissions for script.sh
Chown Change ownership Changes the owner of a le Chown user:group le.txt Changes ownership of le.txt to
or directory. user and group to group
Cp Copy Copies les or directories. Cp le1.txt le2.txt Copies le1.txt to le2.txt
CRON Command run on notice Automates tasks Crontab -e Opens the cron editor for
scheduling tasks.
Cut Cut Extracts sections of text Cut -d’:’ -f1 /etc/passwd Extracts the rst eld
from les or input. (usernames) from /etc/passwd
Date Date Displays or sets the system Date “+%Y-%m-%d” Displays the date in YYYY-MM-
date and time DD formate.
Declare Declare Declares variables in Bash Declare -I num=10 Declares an integer variable num.
scripts.
df Disk free Displays disk space usage. Df -h Shows disk space in a human-
readable formate
Di Di erence Compares two les line by Di le1.txt le2.txt Shows di erence between
line. le1.txt and le2.txt
Dbkg Debian package Installs, removes, or Dpkg -I package.deb Installs the speci ed Debian
queries .deb packages package.
Echo Echo Prints text to the terminal. Echo “Hello world” Outputs Hello world
Env Environment Displays or modi es env Shows all environment variables.
environment variables
eval Evaluate Executes a command stored Eval $CMD Runs the command stored in
in a variable $CMD
exec Execture Replaces the shell with a Exec ls Executes ls and replace the shell
speci ed command.
exit Exit Exits the shell or script Exit 0 Exits with status code 0
export export Sets environment variables. Export PATH=$PATH:/new/ Adds /new/path to the system
path PATH.
Find Find Searches for les and Find /home -name “ le.txt” Searches for le.txt in the /home
directories based on criteria directory.
Free Free Displays memory usage. Free -h Shows memory usage in a
human readable format.
gawk GNU AWK A pattern scanning and Gawk ‘{print $1}’ le.txt Prints the rst column of le.txt.
processing language.
Grep Global regular expression print Searches for patterns in text Grep “hello” le.txt Finds lines containing hello in
le.txt
gzip GNU zip Compresses les using gzip Gzip le.txt le.txt to le.txt.gz
algorithm
head Head Displays the rst few lines of Head -n 5 le.txt Shows the rst 5 les of le.txt.
a le.
history History Displays command history. History | grep “ls” Finds all ls commands in the
history.
Kill kill Sends signals to precesses, Kill -9 1234 Forcibly terminates the process
typically to terminate them. with PID 1234
Last Last login Displays login history Last Shows recent logins for all users.
less less Displays les contents one Less le.txt Opens le.txt for scrolling.
screen at a time.
Ln Link Creates hard or symbolic Ln -s le.txt link.txt Creates a symbolic link link.txt to
links. le.txt
locate Locate Quickly nds les using a Locate le.txt Finds le.txt in the system.
pre-built database.
Ls List List les and directories Ls -l Displays les in a detailed list
format.
Man manual Displays the manual for a Man ls Shows the manual for the ls
command. command.
mkdir Make directory Creates new directories. Mkdir holla Create a directory name holla
more More Displays le contents one More le.txt Opens le.txt for scrolling.
screen at a time.
Mv move Moves or renames les. Mv le1.txt le2.txt Rename le1.txt to le2.txt
passwd password Changes the user’s passwd Prompts the user to change their
password password.
paste Paste Merge lines of les. Paste le1.txt le2.txt Combines lines from le1.txt and
le2.txt
Ping Package internet groper Test network connectivity Ping google.com Pings google server to test
connectivity.
Ps Process status Displays running processes. Ps -aux Shows detailed information about
processes.
Pwd Print working directory. Displays the current Pwd Outputs the full path of the
directory. current directory.
Read read Reads input from the user. Read name Prompts the user to input a
values for name.
Rm remove Deletes les or directories Rm le.txt Deletes le.txt
rmdir Remove directory Deletes empty directories Rmdir empty_folder Deletes the empty_folder
directory.
Rsyns Remote Sync Syncs les between Rsync -av source/ Copies les from source/ to
locations. destination/ destination
screen Screen Creates detachable terminal screen Starts a new screen session.
sessions
Sni Side-by-side di erence Compares les side by side Sni le1.txt le2.txt Shows di erences between
le1.txt and le2.txt
Sed Stream editor Modi es text streams or Sed ’s/old/new/g’ le.txt Replaces all occurrences of “old”
les. with “new” in le.txt
Shutdown Shutdown Powers o or restarts the Sudo shutdown -h now Shuts down the system
system immediately.
slocate Secure locate Searches les using an slocate le.txt Finds le.txt securely.
updated database with
security features.
sort Sort Sort lines in text les. Sort le.txt Sorts the lines in le.txt
lexicographically.
SSH and SCP Secure shell and secure copy Ssh logs into remote servers ssh user@host , scp le.txt - connects to remote host. -
protocol securely; sap copies les user@host:path copies le.txt to remote server.
over SSH.
su Switch user Switches to another user Su root Switches to the root user
account. account.
Sudo Super user do Executes commands with Sudo apt-get update Updates system packages with
administrative privileges. root permissions.
tail Tail Displays the last few lines of Tail -n 10 le.txt Shows the lat 10 lines of the
a le. le.txt
top Top Displays real-time top Shows system resources usage
information about running and active processes
proecesses
tr Translate Translates or deletes Echo “hello" | tr ‘a-z’ ‘A-Z’ Converts lowercase to uppercase
characters in a text stream
uname Unix name Displays system information Uname -a Shows details system information
Uniq Unique Filters out duplicates lines Sort le.txt | uniq Displays unique lines from le.txt
from the sorted data/
unrar UnRAR Extracts les from a .rar unrar x archive.rar Extracts archive.rar to the current
archives directory.
unzip Unzip Extracts les from a .zip les Unzip archive.zip Extracts archive.zip to the current
directory.
uptime Uptime Displays how long the uptime Shows the current time, system
system has been running uptime and load averages.
vi Visual editor Opens the vi text editor Vi le.txt Opens le.txt for editing
Wc Word count Counts lines, words, and Wc -l le.txt Count the number of lines in
characters in a le. le.txt
Wget and curl Web Get, client URL Downloads les from the Wget http://example.com curl
web(wget), fetches and -0 http://example.com
transfer data(curl):
who Who Displays logged-in users Who Lists all current logged-in users
whoami Who am I Displays the current whoami Outputs the current user’s
username username
whereis Where is Locates the binary, source, Whereis ls Finds the binary, source, and man
and manual of a command. page for ls.
xargs Extended arguments Passess output of one Find . -name “*.txt” | xargs rm Finds and deletes all .txt les in
command as argument to the current directory.
another.
&,fg,and nohup &:Background process, &: Runs a command in the Sleep 100 &, fg %1, nohup Runs the sleep command in the
fg:foreground process, background, fg: brings a command & background ,Brings job 1 to the
nohup:No hangup backdrop process to the foreground, Runs command in
foreground, nohup: Runs the the background, even after
command immune to logout.
hangup signals.
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