Linux Commands with Explanations
File and Directory Management
ls: Lists files and directories in the current directory.
ls -l: Long listing format (permissions, ownership, size, modification time).
ls -a: Lists all files including hidden (.) files.
pwd: Prints the current working directory.
cd: Changes the current directory. Example: cd /home/user
mkdir: Creates a new directory. Example: mkdir new_folder
rmdir: Removes an empty directory.
rm: Removes files or directories. Example: rm [Link], rm -r dir_name
cp: Copies files or directories. Example: cp [Link] [Link]
mv: Moves or renames files or directories. Example: mv [Link] [Link]
touch: Creates a new empty file or updates timestamp.
cat: Displays the contents of a file.
more / less: Views file content page-by-page.
find: Searches for files/directories. Example: find . -name "*.txt"
File Permissions and Ownership
chmod: Changes file permissions. Example: chmod 755 [Link]
chown: Changes file owner. Example: chown user:user [Link]
chgrp: Changes group ownership. Example: chgrp developers [Link]
umask: Sets default permissions for new files/directories.
Viewing and Editing Files
nano: Opens file in Nano text editor.
vim / vi: Opens file in Vim editor.
head: Displays first lines of a file. Example: head -n 5 [Link]
tail: Displays last lines of a file. Example: tail -f [Link]
wc: Counts words, lines, and characters. Example: wc -l [Link]
Process Management
ps: Shows current processes.
top: Displays real-time system processes.
htop: Interactive process viewer (requires install).
kill: Sends signal to a process. Example: kill 1234
killall: Kills all processes with a given name. Example: killall firefox
nice / renice: Sets process priority.
Disk Usage
df: Shows disk space usage. Example: df -h
du: Shows disk usage of files/folders. Example: du -sh folder
mount: Mounts a filesystem.
umount: Unmounts a filesystem.
Networking
ping: Checks connectivity to a host. Example: ping [Link]
ifconfig / ip a: Displays IP address and network info.
netstat: Shows active network connections (deprecated, use ss).
ss: Displays socket statistics and connections.
curl: Fetches data from URL. Example: curl [Link]
wget: Downloads files from the internet.
scp: Secure copy over SSH. Example: scp [Link] user@host:/path
ssh: Secure Shell to remote machine. Example: ssh user@host
Package Management (APT)
apt update: Updates the package list.
apt upgrade: Installs available updates.
apt install package: Installs a package.
apt remove package: Removes a package.
dpkg -i [Link]: Installs a .deb package manually.
Package Management (YUM / DNF)
dnf install package: Installs a package.
dnf update: Updates all packages.
rpm -i [Link]: Installs an .rpm package.
User Management
adduser / useradd: Adds a new user.
passwd: Changes user password.
deluser / userdel: Deletes a user.
groupadd: Creates a new group.
usermod: Modifies a user. Example: usermod -aG sudo user
System Information
uname -a: Shows kernel and system info.
uptime: Shows how long the system has been running.
hostname: Displays system hostname.
free -h: Displays memory usage.
lscpu: Displays CPU architecture info.
lsblk: Lists block devices.
dmesg: Kernel ring buffer messages (boot log).
Archiving and Compression
tar -cvf [Link] file: Create a tar archive.
tar -xvf [Link]: Extract tar archive.
tar -czvf [Link] folder: Create gzip-compressed tar archive.
gzip file: Compress file using gzip.
gunzip [Link]: Decompress a gzip file.
zip [Link] file1: Create zip file.
unzip [Link]: Extract zip file.
Search and Text Processing
grep "text" file: Searches for text in file.
awk '{print $1}' file: Pattern scanning and processing.
sed 's/old/new/' file: Stream editor (substitute text).
cut -d':' -f1 /etc/passwd: Cuts sections of text.
sort: Sorts lines of text.
uniq: Removes duplicate lines.
diff file1 file2: Shows difference between files.
Other Useful Commands
history: Shows command history.
alias: Creates shortcut for commands. Example: alias ll='ls -l'
echo: Displays message.
date: Displays or sets date and time.
cal: Displays calendar.
man command: Shows manual page of command.
whoami: Displays current user.
sudo: Executes command with superuser privileges.