Basic Linux Commands
April 3, 2010
These list of Linux commands will help you when you are working with the Terminal
A
- alias: Allows you to set aliases and view the current aliases.
- awk: Search for a pattern within a file
- alien: Converts .tgz and rpm's to .deb format.
B
- banner: Prints characters as a poster.
- badblocks: Searches a device for bad blocks.
- biff: Turns mail notification on and off.
- bg: Move a job running in the foreground to the background.
- bzip2: Used to compress and decompress files. Similar to gzip
- cardctl: Used to control PCMCIA cards.
- cfdisk: Used to partition a hard disk.
- cp: Copy
- chattr: Changes the attributes of a file or folder.
- chroot: Change the root directory for a command.
- chmod: Used to change permissions on a directory or file.
- chown: Used to change the owner of a file or directory.
- chgrp: Used to change the group a file belongs to.
- clear: Clears the screen
- cpio: Copies file.
- cat: Displays the content of a file
- chpasswd: Used to change a large number of passwords at once.
- cd: Changes directories.
- chage: Sets password aging parameters.
- cal: Displays a calendar.
- cron: Used to execute commands at a certain time.
- crontab: Allows you to view or edit the current cron jobs.
- dselect: A graphical front end for dpkg.
- dpkg: Installs packages on debain distro's.
- date: Prints current date to the screen
- du: Lists disk usage in a directory.
- df: Reports disk usage information. df -h
- dmesg: Used to view the kernel boot file.
- dump: Used for backing up.
- edquota: Sets quotas for specific users.
- env: Lists current environment variables.
- fdisk: Used to create/edit/delete partitions.
- fsck: Checks a file system for consistency.
- fg: Used to send jobs to the background.
- fuser: Checks to see what processes and users have open files.
- find: Searches for a file.
- free: Will show total memory, used memory, and free memory.
- gcc: Used to compile C, Assembler, and Preprocessed C source.
- gpasswd: Used to set a password for a group.
- grep: Used to search through a file for a specified pattern.
- getty: Set terminal type, modes, speed, and line discipline
- groupadd: Create new group account.
- groupdel: Deletes a group.
- groupmod: Used to modify a group.
- groups: Shows what groups a user is part of.
- gunzip: Uncompress files compressed by gzip.
- head: Displays the first 10 lines of a file to the screen.
- hdparm: Gets disk information.
- history: Lists recently executed commands.
- host: Used to get DNS info.
- htpasswd: Allows you to set usernames and passwords for your websever.
- id: Display information about yourself or another user.
- insmod: Installs modules.
- init: Used to change run levels.
- isapnp: Sets up ISA cards.
- icmpinfo: Intercept and interpret ICMP packets
- jobs: Used to show jobs running in the background.
- join: Join lines of two sorted.
- kill: Used to kill a process.
- killall: Kill processes by command name.
- kernelcfg: A graphical application configures Linux.
- klogd: Control which kernel messages.
- linuxconf: A command line GUI which lets you configure your linux
- lpc: Used to control a line printer.
- lpq: View the print spool queue.
- lpr: Send files to the printer spool queue.
- ls: Displays a directories contents.
- ln: Used to create hard and symbolic links.
- less: Display the contents of a file
- locate: Search for a file or directory.
- ldd: Shows what shared libraries a program is dependent on.
- ldconfig: Used to configure/view shared libraries.
- last: Lists logins and reboots.
- lastlog: Print the last login times for system accounts.
- lsmod: Lists loaded modules.
- lsattr: Lists the attributes for a file or folder.
- logrotate: Used to manipulate log files.
- mount: Used by itself, reports the currently mounted files.
- modinfo: Give info about the module.
- modprobe: Queries modules.
- man: Displays the Man page for a given command.
- mesg: Used to allow/not allow 'write'.
- manpath: Attempts to determine the path to a man page.
- mail: Used to send and receive mail.
- mkdir: Make directory
- mke2fs: Used to format a partition with the Ext2 file system.
- mv: Move/Rename
- merge: Merge multiple files together.
- more: Lets you page through text one screen full at a time.
- minicom: Great utility for troublshooting a modem.
- mkbootdisk: Used to make a boot disk.
- ntsysv: Used to select what services should automatically start.
- nice: Used to set process priorities.
- nslookup: Used to get DNS info from name servers.
- netstat: Shows active sockets.
- ps: Displays current processes.
- ping: Used to test connectivity between two hosts.
- pwd: Present Working Directory
- pwconv: Used to set up the /etc/shadow file.
- pnpdump: Determines settings for existing ISA cards.
- quota: Allows users to view their own disk quotas.
- quotaon: Turns on disk quotas for the system.
- quotaoff: Turns off disk quotas for the system.
- repquota: Provides reports of disk usage for various users.
- rmmod: Removes modules.
- rm: Remove
- rmdir: Remove directory
- rpm: (RedHat flavors only)Used to install RPM's
- rpcinfo: Used to see what rpc services are available.
- route: Used to view/change routes between you and other hosts.
- smbclient: Used to connect to Windows shares or Samba.
- smbadduser: Maps linux user names to Windows NT user names.
- smbpasswd: Used to update the smbpasswd file with new accounts.
- set: Used to read and write variables.
- setquota: Used to set disk quotas.
- sort: Sorts lines in a file by alphabetical order.
- sndconfig: Used to probe and configure a sound card.
- su: Change to Super User (root).
- spell: Checks for spelling errors in a file.
- startx: Start the X Server (GUI)
- shutdown: Shutdown machine
- suspend: Places a shell in the background.
- showmount: Shows mount information for an NFS server.
- swapon: Turns on the swapfile.
- swapoff: Turns off the swapfile.
- testparm: Used to troubleshoot Samba.
- tar: Used to compress multiple files.
- timeconfig: Used to set the timezone on your machine.
- tac: View a file from the last line up.
- touch: Creates an empty file.
- tail: Displays the last 10 lines of a file to the screen.
- talk: Used to chat with another user on the same machine.
- tr: Converts one set of characters to another.
- traceroute: Used to track the path a packet takes to a host.
- top: Shows information about the most CPU-intensive Apps.
- useradd: Add a user.
- usermod: Modify a user.
- userdel: Delete a user.
- umount: Removes a device from the filesystem.
- updatedb: Updates the locate database.
- uname: Determines OS name, version and machine name.
- vmstat: Lists information on memory usage.
- vi: A text editor
- whereis: Finds documentation files.
- who: Tells you who is logged into your server.
- whoami: Tells you your user information.
- wc: Print the number of bytes, words, and lines in files
- which: Finds the full path for a command.
- write: Used to send a message to another user.
- whois: Used to query servers for info on.
- wall: Writes a message to all logged in users.
- xman: Graphical interface for man pages.
- xf86config: Used to configure X.
- zcat: Read files that have been compressed with gzip.
Posted In : Terminal Commands