It is my hope that these beginner Linux commands will provide you with a good start to your Linux command line adventures.
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All of these beginner Linux commands should work from your command prompt (regardless which shell you’re using). Just in case some folks were not aware, you MUST press enter to invoke the command, and I try to cover the Linux commands I use most often such as cd, pwd, finger and man.TIP 2:
For this summary, please note that the EX: stands for example and is not part of the command. Commands are denoted in courier type font.TIP 3:
If you need help understanding what the options are, or how to use a command, try adding this to the end of your command: –help For example, for better understanding of the df command’s options, type:
df –help |
So, you have installed your favorite linux distro and you are sitting in front of it. Probably you must have heard a lot of frightening things about its console. Here you will see some basic linux commands which will help you to get familiar with linux command line. So let’s continue with the linux commands cheatsheet.
But first a few words about a very basic command called man. man comes from manual and it works like this man command_name. With this command you can view information on how to use any command of your system. There is even a man page for man! Try typing man man and you ll get the point. So if want further information and details on a command listed below just type man command_name
Viewing, copying, moving and deleting files
| ls | Display the contents of the current directory |
| ls -a | Display also hidden files and hidden directories |
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| cp filename /path/dir_name | Copy filename into directory /path/dir_name |
| cp -r dir_name /path/dir_name2 | Copy the entire dir_name into /path/dir_name2 |
| cp filename1 filename2 /path/dir_name | Copy filename1 and filename2 into /path/dir_name |
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| rm name | Remove a file or directory called name |
| rm -r name | Remove an entire directory as well as its included files and subdirectories |
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| mv filename /path/dir_name | Move filename into /path/dir_name |
| mv filename1 filename2 | Rename filename1 to filename2 |
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| cat filename | Display filenames contents |
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| more filename | Display filename in pages. Use spacebar to view next page |
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| head filename | Display filenames first 10 lines |
| head -15 filename | Display filenames first 15 lines |
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| tail filename | Display filenames last 10 lines |
| tail -15 filename | Display filenames last 15 lines |
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| pwd | Display current directory |
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| cd /path/dir_name | Change to directory /path/dir_name |
| cd .. | Go 1 directory up |
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| mkdir dir_name | Create directory dir_name |
| rmdir dir_name | Delete directory dir_name |
Finding files and text within files
| updatedb | Update (create first time used) a database of all files under the root directory / |
| locate filename | Find file filename searching in the database |
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| find / -name filename | Starting from the root directory search for the file called filename |
| find / -name *filename | Same as above but search for file containing the string filename |
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| grep string /path/dir_name | Starting from /path/dir_name search for all files containing string |
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| which application_name | Search $path for application app_name |
| whereis application_name | Search $path, man pages and source files for application_name |
Archived files
Decompress
| tar -xzf filename.tgz | Decompress tzg file |
| tar -xzf filename.tar.gz | Decompress tar.gz file |
| tar -xjf filename.tar.bz2 | Decompress tar.bz2 file |
Compress
| tar -czf filename.tar /path/dir_name | Compress directory /path/dir_name to filename.tar |
| gzip -c filename > filename.gz | Compress /path/dir_name to filename.tar.gz |
| bzip2 -c filename > filename.bz2 | Compress /path/dir_name to filename.tar.bz2 |
Using rpm files
| rpm -hiv package.rpm | Install rpm called package.rpm |
| rpm -hiv –force package.rpm | Install rpm called package.rpm by force |
| rpm -hUv package.rpm | Upgrade rpm called package.rpm |
| rpm -e package.rpm | Delete rpm called package.rpm |
| rpm -qpil package.rpm | List files in not-installed rpm called package.rpm |
| rpm -ql package.rpm | List files in installed rpm called package.rpm |
| rpm -q str | List installed rpms containing the string str |
| rpm -qf /path/application_name | Display the rpm that contains application application_name |
Starting and Stoping
| startx | Start the X system |
| shutdown -h now | Shutdown the system now and do not reboot |
halt | Same as above |
| shutdown -r now | Reboot |
| reboot | Same as above |
| shutdown -r +10 | Reboot in 10 minutes |
Mounting filesystems
| mount -t vfat /dev/sd(a)(1) /mnt/c_drive | Mount the first partition 1 of the first hard disk drive a which is in fat32 vfat dormat under /mnt/c_drive directory |
| mount -t iso9660 /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom | Mount cdrom under /mnt/cdrom directory |
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| umount /mnt/hda1 | Unmout the above |
User administration
| users | Display users currently logged in |
| adduser username | Create a new user called username |
| passwd username | Define password for user called username |
| who | List logged-in users |
| whoami | Display current user |
| finger username | Displays info about user username |
| su | Log in as root from current login |
| su – | Log in as root from current login and take root’s path |
| exit | Exit from console login (ie, logout). |
Processes
| command | Execute command in the foreground |
| command & | Execute command in the background |
| ctrl+z | Suspend a program |
| ctrl+c | Interrupt a program |
| ps | List all processes |
| kill -9 pid | Kill process with id pid |
| top | Monitor processes in real time |
Networking
| hostname | List the system’s hostname |
| ifconfig | Set/Display network information |
| host ip | Resolves ip’s hostname |
| ping ip/hostname | Check if ip/hostname is reachable |
| traceroute ip/hostname | Find network path to ip/hostname |
System Information
| uname -a | General system information |
| fdisk -l | List partition tables |
| cp filename /path/dir_name | Copy filename into directory /path/dir_name |
| df -T -h | List filesystem disk space usage |
| lspci | List PCI devices |
| lsusb | List USB devices |
| free -m | Display RAM+Swap usage |
Program Compile
| gcc -o output file.c | Compile a C program |
| ./output | Run a C program you have compiled |
| g++ -o output file.cpp | Compile a C++ program |
| ./output | Run a C++ program you have compiled |
| ./configure && make && su -c ‘make install’ | Configure, compile and install a program with Makefile |