Linux Terminal Commands

Part of the [[Linux]] sub stack of notes.

Linux Terminal Commands List

Command	Description
`ls`	Lists the content of a directory
`pwd`	Prints the working directory
`cd`	Changes directory
`mkdir`	Creates directories
`cp`	Copies files and directories
`mv`	Moves (renames) files and directories
`rm`	Removes files and directories
`touch`	Creates empty files or updates access/modification times
`cat`	Displays file contents
`head`	Displays the first lines of a file
`tail`	Displays the last lines of a file
`less`	Displays file contents one screen at a time interactively
`more`	Displays file contents one screen at a time
`grep`	Searches for lines matching a pattern within files
`find`	Searches for files and directories based on specified criteria
`chmod`	Changes file permissions
`chown`	Changes file owner and group
`sudo`	Executes commands with administrative privileges
`man`	Displays the manual page for a command
`uname`	Shows Linux system information
`uptime`	Shows system uptime and load average
`date`	Displays the current date and time
`cal`	Shows a calendar with the current date highlighted
`hostname`	Displays the system host name
`df`	Displays free disk space
`du`	Estimates file space usage
`free`	Displays memory usage
`ps`	Reports the status of shell processes
`top`	Shows an overall system view of processes
`htop`	An interactive process viewer and manager
`kill`	Terminates a process by specifying its PID
`killall`	Sends a kill signal to all instances of a process by name
`ping`	Tests network connectivity
`ssh`	Provides secure command-line access to remote Linux systems
`scp`	Transfers files securely between machines
`rsync`	Synchronizes files and directories between two locations
`wget`	Retrieves files from the internet over HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, and FTPS
`curl`	Transfers data using various network protocols
`systemctl`	Central management tool for controlling the init system
`journalctl`	Queries the systemd journal for logs
`clear`	Clears the terminal screen
`alias`	Defines or displays aliases for commands
`unalias`	Removes alias definitions
`which`	Returns the full binary path of a program
`whereis`	Locates the binary, source, and manual page files for a command
`apropos`	Searches help manual pages for keywords
`locate`	Finds files by name
`find`	Searches for files based on various criteria
`tar`	Creates and extracts archive files
`gzip`	Compresses or decompresses named files
`bzip2`	Compresses or decompresses named files
`mount`	Mounts a file system to a directory
`umount`	Unmounts a file system
`df`	Displays free disk space
`du`	Estimates file space usage
`lscpu`	Displays information about the CPU architecture
`lsblk`	Lists block devices
`lspci`	Lists all PCI devices
`lsusb`	Lists USB devices
`lshw`	Lists hardware information
`cat /proc/cpuinfo`	Displays detailed CPU information
`cat /proc/meminfo`	Displays detailed memory information
`cat /proc/mounts`	Shows mounted file systems
`sudo dmidecode`	Provides detailed system hardware information
`hdparm`	Retrieves information about hard disk drives
`badblocks`	Checks for bad blocks on a device
`fsck`	Checks and repairs file system consistency
`id`	Prints user and group IDs
`who`	Shows who is logged in
`w`	Shows who is logged in and what they are doing
`last`	Shows a list of the last logged-in users
`finger`	Displays information about a user
`useradd`	Creates a new user account
`userdel`	Deletes a user account
`usermod`	Modifies an existing user account
`passwd`	Changes a user's password
`groupadd`	Adds a new user security group
`groupdel`	Deletes a group
`groupmod`	Modifies a group
`groups`	Prints the group names a user is in
`sudo`	Executes commands with administrative privileges
`su`	Switches to another user account
`apt`	Manages software packages on Debian/Ubuntu systems
`apt-get`	Manages software packages on Debian/Ubuntu systems
`aptitude`	Manages software packages on Debian/Ubuntu systems
`yum`	Manages software packages on Red Hat/CentOS systems
`dnf`	Manages software packages on Fedora/RHEL systems
`rpm`	Manages software packages on RPM-based systems
`dpkg`	Manages software packages on Debian/Ubuntu systems
`shutdown`	Shuts down the system
`reboot`	Restarts the system
`halt`	Stops the system immediately
`exit`	Exits the current shell session
`echo`	Displays lines of text
`wc`	Counts words, lines, and characters in files
`source`	Executes commands from a file in the current shell
`set`	Displays or sets shell variables and options
`export`	Sets an environment variable
`env`	Runs a command in a modified environment
`jobs`	Lists active jobs
`bg`	Sends a job to the background
`fg`	Sends a job to the foreground
`wait`	Suspends script execution until background jobs are terminated
`nohup`	Runs a command immune to hangups
`sleep`	Suspends program execution for a specified time
`crontab`	Schedules commands to run at a later time
`cron`	Daemon to execute scheduled commands
`at`	Schedules a command to run once at a specific time
`dig`	Performs DNS lookups
`nslookup`	Queries DNS for information
`netstat`	Displays network connections, routing tables, and interface statistics
`ss`	Investigates sockets
`ifconfig`	Configures network interfaces
`ip`	Manages routing, devices, and tunnels
`route`	Manages the kernel's IP routing table
`ping`	Tests network connectivity
`traceroute`	Traces the route packets take to a network host
`mtr`	Network diagnostics combining ping and traceroute
`nmap`	Scans networks for open ports and services
`iptables`	Manages firewall rules
`firewall-cmd`	Manages firewall rules on systems using firewalld
`nft`	Manages packet filtering and classification
`dmesg`	Prints the kernel ring buffer messages
`journalctl`	Queries the systemd journal
`systemctl`	Controls the systemd init system
`hostnamectl`	Shows or sets the system hostname
`timedatectl`	Shows or sets system date, time, and NTP
`localectl`	Shows or sets locale and keyboard layout

Command Line Examples

Install inxi, a provider for information on your software and hardware:

sudo apt install inxi -y