Handy Linux Commands
Below are a number of Handy Linux Commands arranged into various sections.
This article will be updated periodically.
Navigation and File Handling
List a directory
ls
Formatted List
ls -l
Formatted List show hidden files
ls-la
Change to the directory specified by <dirname>
cd dir
Change to parent directory
cd ..
Change to a directory specified by <dirname> in the parent
cd.. /dir
Change to home directory
cd
Change to root directory
cd /
Show current directory
pwd
Create a directory specified by<dirname>
mkdir <dirname>
Force Delete a file with name as specified by <filename>
rm -f <filename>
Delete a directory with name as specified by <dirname>
rm -r <dirname>
Force Delete a directory with name as specified by <dirname>
rm -rf <dirname>
Copy a file called file1 to a file called file2
cp file1 file2
Move a file called file1 to a file called file2
mv file1 file2
Move a file called file1 to a file called file2 in a directory called <dirname>
mv file1 <dirname>/file2
Create or update file specified by <filename>
touch <filename>
Output the contents of file specified by <filename>
cat <filename>
Write standard input to a file specified by <filename>
cat > <filename>
Append standard input to a file specified by <filename>
cat >> rm -r <filename>
Output contents of file specified by <filename> as it is updated
tail -f <filename>
Network
ping 8.8.8.8
whois <domainname>
dig <domainname>
dig -x <hostname>
wget <filename>
wget -c <filename>
wget -r <filename>
ip addr show cat /etc/resolv.conf curl <url>
curl -o output.html <url>
ssh user@hostname
ssh - port user@host
ssh -D user@host
System
date
uptime
whoami
w
cat /proc/cpuinfo
cat /proc/meminfo
free
du
du -sh
df
uname -a
Processes
ps
ps aux
kill pid
killall proc
Permissions
Modify permissions on file specified by <filename>
chmod xxx <filename>
Order for xxx as owner/group/world
Numbers represent Read/Write/Execute= 4/2/1
Modify RWX for Everyone
chmod 777
Modify RW for Owner, RX for group world
chmod 755
Misc
Search in the file <filename> for the words <searchword(s)>
grep <searchword(s)> <filename>
Search recursvely in the directory for <searchwords>
grep -r <searchword(s)> <directoryname>
Find a file called <filename>
locate <filename>
Where is the app located specified by <appname>
whereis <appname>
Show help pages
man
This page was inspired by a jpeg that I saw on LinkedIn. Sadly there was no credit attributed.
Last Updated: 10 July 2022