Basic Linux Commands
Last modified by Administrator on Thu, 02/13/2020, 5:31 PM
Table of Contents
The following are some of the Linux commands and their purposes:
Command Prompt Basics
| Command | Description |
| pwd | show current working directory |
| man man | displays manual information on the manual command |
| man <command> | displays manual information on <command> |
| clear | clears the screen |
| exit | exits the command interpreter |
| history | show which commands you ran |
Manipulating Directories
| Command | Description |
| cd | go to home directory |
| cd .. | go to the previous/parent directory |
| cd <directory> | go to specific directory |
| mkdir <directory> | create directory |
| rmdir <directory> | remove empty directory |
Listing Files
| Command | Description |
| ls | list files and sub directories in the current directory excluding hidden files |
| ls -a | list all files and sub directories, including hidden files |
| ls -l | long list of files and sub directories displaying the permissions, owner, group, size, date, time, name |
| ls -lh | long list of files and subdirectories with human-readable size |
| ls -lt | long list of files and sub directories sorted by time |
| ls -lr | long list of files and sub directories in reverse order |
| ls -ltrh | long list of files and sub directories sorted by time, in reverse order, with human readable size |
Moving Files
| Command | Description |
| mv <source> <dest> | move file/directory <source> to a file/directory <dest> |
| mv -i <source> <dest> | move file/directory <source> to a file/directory <dest> prompt before overwriting if it exists |
| mv -f <source> <dest> | move file/directory <source> to a file/directory <dest> overwrite <dest> if it exists |
| mv <file-old> <file-new> | change file/directory name to a new file/directory name |
Removing Files
| Command | Description |
| rm <file> | remove file <file> |
| rm -i <file> | remove file <file> prompt before removing |
| rm -r <directory> | remove directory <directory> |
| rm –rf <directory> | remove all sub directories and files |
Copying Files
| Command | Description |
| cp <source> <dest> | copy file <source> to file <dest> |
| cp -i <source> <dest> | copy file <source> to file <dest> prompt before overwriting <dest> if it exists |
| cp -r <source> <dest> | copy directory <source> to directory <dest> copy all sub directories and files |
Viewing Files
| Command | Description |
| cat <file> | concatenate file/s and print on screen |
| more <file> | view single page at a time |
| less <file> | view single page at a time with scrolling |
| head <file> | print top of file on screen |
| tail <file> | print bottom of file on screen |
| tailf | Print bottom of file on screen then follows new input appended to the file |
Text Editor
| Command | Description |
| nano <file> | edit file using nano |
| Ctrl+O | write out |
| Ctrl+X | exit editor |
| vim <file> | edit file using vim/vi |
| i | insert text |
| Esc u | undo the last change |
| Ctrl+R | redo the last change |
| Esc dd | delete current line |
| Esc :x | exit, saving changes |
| Esc :q | exit as long as there have been no changes |
| Esc :q! | exit and ignore any changes |
| Esc :set nu | show line numbers |
| Esc /<text> | search |
Extract and Compress Files
| Command | Description |
| tar -xvzf <file.tar.gz> | extract gzip files verbosely |
| tar -xvjf <file.tar.bz> | extract bzip2 files verbosely |
| tar -xvJf <file.tar.xz> | extract xz/lzip files verbosely |
| tar -cvf <file.tar> <file/folder-to-compress> | compress tar file verbosely |
| unzip <file.zip> | unzip zip file |
Downloading Files from the Internet
| Command | Description |
| wget <URL> | download |
| wget -c <URL> | resume download |
| wget -i <filename> | download multiple files Note: Filename should contain all URLS for the files |
Transferring of Files from Local Machine to Server (Vice Versa)
| Command | Description |
| rsync | remote and file synchronization tool |
| rsync -avhP <user@ip-address:/src/path> <dst-path> | copying files from a remote server to a local machine -v verbose mode -h human-readable -P progress |
| rsync -avhP <src-path> <user@ip-address:dst-path> | copying files from local to remote server |
| rsync -avhP -partial <src-path> <dst-path> | ensuring copy won’t start again after disconnection |
| scp | secure copy (remote file copy program) |
| scp –rv <user@ip-address:src-path> <dst-path> | copying files from a remote server to a local machine -r recursively copy entire directories -v verbose mode |
| scp -rv <src-path> <user@ip-address:dst-path> | copying files from local to remote server |
Multiplexer for Terminal Sessions on One Window
| Command | Description |
| screen –S <name> | create screen session |
| screen -ls | list active screen sessions |
| screen –dr <id/name> | reattach to screen |
| screen -S <id> -X quit | kill complete screen session |
| Once inside screen shell, this will now be controlled by keyboard shortcuts | |
| Ctrl+\+c | add a session |
| Ctrl+\+k | kill a session |
| Ctrl+\+n | move to next session |
| Ctrl+\+p | go back to previous session |
| Ctrl+\+d | detach screen session |
| Ctrl+\+[ | copy/scroll mode |
| Ctrl+\+] | paste buffer |