Ahmedabad University
School of Engineering and Applied Science [Link] (CSE),
Course: CSE404- Operating Systems
Linux Commands
★ Strongly Suggested: Please execute each command and read its manual page
using man <command> to understand how it works and explore its options.
Directory Commands
Command Description How to execute command
or write output observation
here
ls List the content of a
directory
pwd Print working directory
on the terminal
cd Change directory
mkdir Create a new directory
rmdir Remove a directory if
its empty
File Commands
Command Description How to execute command
or write output observation
here
touch Create a new file
cp Copy files
rm Remove files
mv Move or Rename files
or directories.
cat View complete file content.
ln Create soft link and
hard links
stat Display detailed
information about a file
file Identify file type
Terminal and Help Commands
Command Description How to execute command
or write output observation
here
echo Display a message or
variable value
clear Clear the terminal screen
man Show the manual
for a command
mv Move or Rename files
or directories.
cat View complete file content.
alias Create shortcuts for
commands
unalias Remove defined alias
Information Commands
Command Description How to execute command
or write output observation
here
history Show previously used
commands
hostname Show the computer’s name
who List logged-in users
whoami Display the current user
id Show user ID and group ID
wc Count lines, words,
and characters in a
file
whatis Display a one-line
description of a command
which Show the path of a
command
Process Management
Command Description How to execute command
or write output observation
here
ps Show currently
running processes
top Real-time system
process viewer
htop Enhanced interactive
process viewer
kill Terminate a process
using its PID
killall Terminate processes
by name
exec Replace the shell with
a command
nice Start a process with a
priority
renice Change priority of a
running process
Permission Management
Command Description How to execute command
or write output observation
here
chmod Change file permissions
chown Change file owner
chgrp Change file group
passwd Change user password
umask Set default permissions
for new files
System Information
Command Description How to execute command
or write output observation
here
uname -a Show all system
information
df -h Show disk space
usage
(human-readable)
du -sh Show space used by
files/folders
free -h Display memory
usage (RAM)
uptime Show system uptime
lscpu Show CPU
architecture details
iostat Report CPU and I/O
statistics
vmstat Report virtual
memory statistics
Filter and Text Processing
Command Description How to execute command
or write output observation
here
grep Search for patterns in files
sort Sort lines in a file
head Show first 10 lines of a file
tail Show last 10 lines of a file
find Search for files in a
directory hierarchy
cmp Compare two files byte
by byte
diff Show differences
between two files
cut Extract specific
columns from a file
uniq Filter out repeated lines in
a file
Shell Scripting and Text Utilities
Command Description How to execute command
or write output observation
here
awk Pattern scanning and
text processing
sed Stream editor for
filtering and
transforming text
read Read user input in a
shell script
printf Format and print data
test Evaluate conditions
in scripts