Linux Commands Cheat Sheet
02 February 2025 -
5 mins read time
Tags:
Linux
Basic Linux Command Cheatsheet
File and Directory Navigation
| Command |
Description |
pwd |
Display the current directory |
ls |
List the contents of a directory |
ls -l |
List detailed information of files/directories |
ls -a |
List all files, including hidden ones (.) |
cd <directory> |
Change to a specific directory |
cd .. |
Go back to the previous directory |
cd ~ |
Change to the home directory |
cd - |
Go back to the previous directory |
File and Directory Manipulation
| Command |
Description |
touch <file> |
Create a new file |
mkdir <directory> |
Create a new directory |
rm <file> |
Remove a file |
rm -r <directory> |
Remove a directory and its contents |
mv <file1> <file2> |
Move/rename a file |
cp <file> <directory> |
Copy a file to another directory |
cp -r <dir1> <dir2> |
Copy a directory and its contents |
Viewing File Contents
| Command |
Description |
cat <file> |
Display the contents of a file |
less <file> |
Display the contents of a file page by page |
head <file> |
Display the first 10 lines of a file |
tail <file> |
Display the last 10 lines of a file |
tail -f <file> |
Display the continuously updated contents of a file (e.g., log) |
4. File and Text Searching
| Command |
Description |
find /path -name "file.txt" |
Search for a file by name |
grep "text" file.txt |
Search for text within a file |
grep -r "text" /directory/ |
Search for text within all files in a directory |
locate <file_name> |
Search for a file using the updatedb database |
which <command> |
Display the location of a command (binary) |
whereis <command> |
Display the location of the binary, source, and manual |
Process Management
| Command |
Description |
ps aux |
Display a list of running processes |
top |
Display processes in real-time |
htop |
Interactive version of top (needs installation) |
kill <PID> |
Terminate a process by PID |
killall <process_name> |
Terminate all processes by name |
pkill <process_name> |
Terminate processes by name |
User and Permission Management
| Command |
Description |
whoami |
Display the current logged-in user |
who |
Display the list of currently logged-in users |
chmod 755 <file> |
Change file permissions |
chown user:group <file> |
Change file/directory ownership |
Networking
| Command |
Description |
ip a |
Display IP address information |
ifconfig |
Display network information (deprecated) |
ping <host> |
Check connectivity to a host |
netstat -tulnp |
Display open ports and listening services |
curl -I <URL> |
Check HTTP headers of a URL |
wget <URL> |
Download a file from a URL |
iftop |
Display bandwidth usage on an interface by host |
Package Management
| Command |
Description |
apt update |
Update the package list (Debian/Ubuntu) |
apt upgrade |
Upgrade all packages (Debian/Ubuntu) |
apt install <package> |
Install a package (Debian/Ubuntu) |
apt remove <package> |
Remove a package (Debian/Ubuntu) |
dnf install <package> |
Install a package (Fedora) |
pacman -S <package> |
Install a package (Arch Linux) |
Archiving and Compression
| Command |
Description |
tar -cvf file.tar file/ |
Create a .tar archive |
tar -xvf file.tar |
Extract a .tar archive |
tar -czvf file.tar.gz file/ |
Create a compressed .tar.gz archive |
tar -xzvf file.tar.gz |
Extract a .tar.gz archive |
zip file.zip file/ |
Create a .zip archive |
unzip file.zip |
Extract a .zip archive |
Miscellaneous
| Command |
Description |
history |
Display command history |
clear |
Clear the terminal screen |
alias ll='ls -la' |
Create an alias for a command |
date |
Display the current date and time |
uptime |
Display system uptime |
df -h |
Display disk space usage |
du -sh <directory> |
Display the size of a directory |