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Kali Linux Basic Commands

Kali Linux command is a powerful penetration testing distribution by offensive security.
It is available in 32-bit, 64-bit and ARM flavors. With the help of the Kali Linux features, we
can easily create custom complex images. Kali Linux offers various certifications such as
OSCP, OSWE, OSEP, OSWP, OSEE, and KLCP. The testing tools of the Kali Linux
commands can be categorized into information gathering, password attacks,
vulnerability assessment, web applications, exploitation tools, sniffing and spoofing,
maintaining access, system services and reporting tools.

Kali Linux comprises various tools that can be used for wireless attacks, hardware
hacking, forensics, stress testing, and reverse engineering. A USB disk, hard disk, or
Live DVD can be used to install it. Network services are HTTP, MYSQL, and SSH. These are
quite useful when using the Kali Linux commands.

Kali Linux operates on some android devices. Its predecessor is Backtrack which was
carried over to Kali via Live Boot. The system becomes easy to use once the users get the
command over it.

Kali Linux Basic Commands

The following is the list of Kali Linux basic commands:

1. Date Command
2. Cal Command
3. Cd command
4. Cp command
5. Whoami Command
6. Ls command
7. cat command
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8. mkdir command
9. rm command
10. mv command
11. Uname command
12. Uptime command
13. Users Command
14. Less command
15. More command
16. Vi Command
17. Free Command
18. Sort Command
19. History Command
20. Pwd Command

1. Date Command
In Kali Linux, the 'date' command is used to display the system date and time. In order to
display the date, we have to use the following command:

Syntax:

# date

2. Cal Command
The cal command displays the current month's formatted calendar on our terminal
screen. If we require a more advanced version of cal, we can install the ncal package on our
Linux machine, which displays the calendar vertically and provides additional options.

Syntax

# Cal

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3. Cd Command
The 'cd' command is also called chdir (Change Directory). We used this command to
change or switch the current working directory.

4. cp Command
In Kali Linux, the 'cp' command is used to copy files or a group of files or directories that
create an exact image of a file on a disk with a different file name.

5. whoami Command
The 'whoami' command is used to print the effective user ID whereas the who command
prints information regarding users who are presently logged in.

The "w" command can also be used to view who is logged on and what they are doing.

6. Ls Command
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One of the most useful commands in Kali Linux is the 'ls' command. The ls command lists
the directory contents of files and directories. With the help of the ls command, we can
easily list out every hidden file of a directory with the -a attribute, and for more detailed
output, we can use the -l attribute.

Syntax

# ls -al

7. Cat Command
The 'cat' (concatenate) command is one of Kali Linux's most commonly used commands,
permitting us to create single or many files, concatenate files and redirect, view contain of
file output in terminal or files.

Usually, we use the cat command to display the content of a file.

Syntax

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# cat filename

8. mkdir Command
The 'mkdir' command is used to create directories. For example, if we wish to create a
directory named 'Penetration testing' under the 'Documents' directory, then we have to
open a terminal and enter the below command:

cd Documents
mkdir Penetration testing

9. rm Command
In Kali Linux, the 'rm' command is used to delete files. It can be used to delete directories
when we use them recursively.

The removal process separates a file name form its associated data in a file system and
identifies that space in the storage device as available for future writes. In other words,
when we erase a file. the data inside it remains unchanged, but it is no longer linked to a
filename.

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10. mv Command
With the help of the 'mv' command, we can move or renames files and directories on our
file system.

11. uname Command

The 'uname' command displays the current system's information. We can view system
information about our Linux environment with the uname command in Linux. With the
uname -a command, we can learn more about our system, including Kernel Name, Node
Name, Kernel Release, Kernel Version, Hardware Platform, Processor, and Operating
System.

Syntax

# uname

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12. uptime Command

The 'uptime' command displays the amount of time the system has been running.
Uptime's basic usage is simple: simply type the name of the command and click Enter.

Use the -p command-line option if we merely want to know how long the system has been
up for and in a more human-readable format.

Syntax

# uptime

13. users Command

The 'users' command is used to display the login names of users logged in on the system.

Syntax

# users

14. less Command

In Kali Linux, the 'less' command is used to view files instead of opening the file. The less
command is a more powerful variant of the "more" command which is used to show

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information one page at a time to the terminal.

We can view any text file with the help of the "less" command simply by typing the
following command into a terminal window:

Syntax:

# less /etc/passwd

15. more Command

The "more" command permits us to show output in the terminal one page at a time. This is
particularly beneficial when using a command that requires a lot of scrolling, such as the 'ls'
command or the 'du' commands.

The 'more' command works with any applications that output to the screen. A good way to
test this is to type the following command into a terminal window:

Syntax:

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# moreetc/passwd

16. vi Command
The 'vi' editor is a screen editor that comes with practically every UNIX system. The
command mode and the insert mode are the two most common nodes in vi.

In order to start entering text in an empty file, we have to first switch from the command
mode to the insert mode. To accomplish this, start typing the letter i. When we start typing,
anything then the type will be entered into the file.

Type some short lines, then press Return at the end of each. Vi does not use word wrap like
other word processors. It will break a line at the screen' edge. If we make a mistake, we can
undo it by pressing the Backspace key. If the Backspace key on our computer is not
working, then try the ctrl + h key combination.

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17. free Command

In Kali Linux, the 'free' command provides us the useful information about the amount of
RAM available on a Linux machine. It also displays the entire amount of physical memory
used and available space, as well as swap memory with kernel buffers.

Syntax:

# free

If we use the free command with the -t option, it would list the total line at the end.

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18. sort Command

Using the 'sort' command, we can sort the content of the text file, line by line. Sort is a
standard command-line program which prints the lines of its input or concentration of all
files listed in its argument list in sorted order.

Syntax:

# sort file name

We can reverse the order of any file's contents by using the -r sort.

Syntax

# sort -r

19. history Command

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The 'history' command is one of Kali Linux's most commonly used commands. The history
command in the bash shell saves a history of commands entered that can be used to
repeat commands.

We can run the history command by itself, and it will just print the current user's bash
history on the screen, as shown below:

Syntax:

# history

20. Pwd Command

In Kali Linux, the 'Pwd' command is used to print working directory. It gives us
information about the directory we are now in. This is especially useful if we need to access
the directory while in the middle of a complicated process.

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