Linux Commands: Explanation and Practical Examples

Davoud Azari
Contents
Linux Commands: Explanation and Practical Examples ........................................................................ 1
1. File and Directory Management .................................................................................................... 3
2. File Viewing and Editing ................................................................................................................ 5
3. Process Management........................................................................................................................ 6
4. Disk Management ............................................................................................................................. 8
5. Networking........................................................................................................................................ 9
6. User and Group Management ........................................................................................................ 11
7. System Information and Monitoring .............................................................................................. 12
8. Archiving and Compression ......................................................................................................... 13
9. Package Management (Depends on Distribution) .......................................................................... 14
10. System Services and Daemon Management ............................................................................. 16
11. Scheduling Tasks ......................................................................................................................... 17
12. File Permissions and Security .................................................................................................... 17
13. System Backup and Restore ....................................................................................................... 18
14. System Diagnostics and Troubleshooting ................................................................................. 19
15. Networking & Remote Management ......................................................................................... 21
16. Text Processing Utilities ............................................................................................................. 23
17. System Shutdown and Reboot ................................................................................................... 25
18. File System Mounting and Management .................................................................................. 25
19. Filesystem Permissions and Security......................................................................................... 26
1. File and Directory Management

 ls – List directory contents:

ls
ls -l # detailed list
ls -a # includes hidden files
ls -h # human-readable file sizes
ls -R # recursive listing
ls -S # sort by file size
ls -t # sort by modification time

 cd – Change directory:

cd /path/to/directory
cd .. # move up one directory
cd ~ # go to home directory
cd - # go to previous directory

 pwd – Print working directory:

pwd

 cp – files and directories:

cp file1.txt /path/to/destination
cp -r folder1 /path/to/destination # directory recursively
cp -i file1.txt /path/to/destination # prompt before overwriting
cp -u file1.txt /path/to/destination # only if source is newer
cp -v file1.txt /path/to/destination # verbose output

 mv – Move or rename files and directories:

mv file1.txt /path/to/destination # move file

mv oldname.txt newname.txt # rename file
mv -i file1.txt /path/to/destination # prompt before overwriting
mv -u file1.txt /path/to/destination # move only if source is newer

 rm – Remove files or directories:

rm file1.txt
rm -r directory_name # remove directory recursively
rm -f file1.txt # force remove, skip confirmation
rm -i file1.txt # prompt before removing
rm -v file1.txt # verbose output

 mkdir – Make directories:

mkdir new_directory
mkdir -p /path/to/directory # create parent directories if not exist
mkdir -v new_directory # verbose output
 rmdir – Remove empty directories:

rmdir directory_name
rmdir -v directory_name # verbose output

 touch – Change file timestamps or create empty files:

touch newfile.txt # create empty file if not exists

touch -c file1.txt # do not create file if it does not exist
touch -t 202502191210.30 file1.txt # set specific timestamp

 find – Search for files in a directory hierarchy:

find /path/to/directory -name "file*.txt"

find /path/to/directory -type f # find files only
find /path/to/directory -type d # find directories only
find /path/to/directory -size +100M # find files larger than 100MB
find /path/to/directory -mtime -7 # files modified in the last 7 days
find /path/to/directory -exec rm {} \; # find and delete files

 locate – Find files by name:

locate filename
locate -i filename # case insensitive search

 tree – Display directories in a tree-like format:

tree
tree -L 2 # limit depth to 2 levels
tree -d # list directories only
tree -f # show full path of files

 chmod – Change file permissions:

chmod 755 file1.sh # owner can read/write/execute, others can

read/execute
chmod +x script.sh # add execute permission
chmod -R 755 directory # apply recursively
chmod u+x file1.sh # add execute permission to the user
chmod g-w file1.txt # remove write permission from the group

 chown – Change file owner and group:

chown user:group file1.txt

chown -R user:group directory # recursively change owner and group

 chgrp – Change group ownership:

chgrp group_name file1.txt

chgrp -R group_name directory # recursively change group ownership
  stat – Display file or file system status:

stat file1.txt

2. File Viewing and Editing

 cat – Concatenate and display file content:

cat file.txt
cat -n file.txt # number the lines
cat -b file.txt # number non-blank lines only
cat -A file.txt # show all control characters

 tac – Concatenate and display file content in reverse:

tac file.txt

 more – View file content interactively (page by page):

more file.txt
more +10 file.txt # start viewing from line 10

 less – View file content interactively (scrollable):

less file.txt
less +G file.txt # go to end of file
less +/pattern file.txt # search for pattern

 head – Output the first part of a file:

head file.txt
head -n 20 file.txt # first 20 lines
head -c 50 file.txt # first 50 bytes

 tail – Output the last part of a file:

tail file.txt
tail -f file.txt # follow file as it's being updated
tail -n 20 file.txt # last 20 lines
tail -c 100 file.txt # last 100 bytes

 nano – Text editor (terminal-based):

nano file.txt
nano -w file.txt # disable line wrapping
nano -v file.txt # start in view-only mode

 vim / vi – Advanced text editors:

vim file.txt
 vi file.txt
vim -y file.txt # read-only mode
vim -R file.txt # open in read-only mode

 emacs – Text editor:

emacs file.txt
emacs -nw file.txt # start in terminal mode (no GUI)

 grep – Search text using patterns:

grep "pattern" file.txt

grep -i "pattern" file.txt # case insensitive
grep -r "pattern" /path/to/dir # search recursively
grep -v "pattern" file.txt # exclude matching lines
grep -l "pattern" *.txt # show filenames containing pattern

 sed – Stream editor for filtering and transforming text:

sed 's/old/new/g' file.txt # replace 'old' with 'new' in the file

sed -i 's/old/new/g' file.txt # in-place edit
sed '1,5d' file.txt # delete lines 1 to 5

 awk – Pattern scanning and processing language:

awk '{print $1}' file.txt # print the first column of each line
awk -F, '{print $1}' file.txt # specify a delimiter (comma)

 cut – Remove sections from each line of files:

cut -d',' -f1 file.txt # extract first field of CSV file

cut -f1-3 file.txt # extract fields 1 to 3

 sort – Sort lines of text files:

sort file.txt
sort -r file.txt # reverse order
sort -n file.txt # numerical sort

 uniq – Report or omit repeated lines:

uniq file.txt
uniq -c file.txt # count occurrences of each line
uniq -d file.txt # show only duplicate lines

3. Process Management

 ps – Report a snapshot of current processes:

ps
ps -e # list all processes
 ps -ef # full-format listing
ps -aux # user-oriented format
ps -u user # processes by specific user

 top – Display Linux tasks:

top
top -u user # show processes for a specific user
top -d 5 # update every 5 seconds
top -p pid # monitor specific process ID

 htop – Interactive process viewer (advanced top):

htop
htop -u user # show processes of a specific user
htop -d 5 # set refresh delay

 kill – Send a signal to a process, typically to terminate:

kill pid # terminate process by PID

kill -9 pid # force kill (SIGKILL)
kill -SIGTERM pid # send specific signal

 killall – Terminate processes by name:

killall process_name # terminate all processes by name

killall -9 process_name # force kill all processes

 bg – Resume a suspended job in the background:

bg job_number # resume a specific job

bg %1 # resume the first job

 fg – Bring a job to the foreground:

fg job_number # bring a specific job to the foreground

fg %1 # bring the first job to the foreground

 jobs – List active jobs:

jobs
jobs -l # list jobs with PID

 nice – Run a program with modified scheduling priority:

nice -n 10 command # run a command with lower priority

nice -n -10 command # run a command with higher priority

 renice – Alter priority of running processes:

 renice -n 10 -p pid # change priority of a process by PID
renice -n -10 -p pid # change priority to higher for a process

 uptime – Show how long the system has been running:

uptime

 time – Measure program running time:

time command

4. Disk Management

 df – Report file system disk space usage:

df
df -h # human-readable format
df -T # show file system type
df /path/to/directory # disk space of a specific directory

 du – Estimate file space usage:

du file.txt # space used by a file

du -sh /path # human-readable summary
du -a /path # show space used by all files
du -h /path # human-readable format

 fdisk – Partition table manipulator for Linux:

fdisk -l # list all partitions

fdisk /dev/sda # manipulate partitions on /dev/sda

 lsblk – List information about block devices:

lsblk
lsblk -f # show filesystem type
lsblk -o NAME,FSTYPE,SIZE,MOUNTPOINT # custom output

 mount – Mount a file system:

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt # mount device to /mnt

mount -t ext4 /dev/sda1 /mnt # specify filesystem type

 umount – Unmount a file system:

umount /mnt
umount /dev/sda1

 parted – A partition manipulation program:

 parted /dev/sda
parted -l # list partitions
parted /dev/sda mkpart primary ext4 1GB 10GB # create a partition

 mkfs – Create a file system:

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1 # create ext4 file system

mkfs.xfs /dev/sda1 # create XFS file system

 fsck – File system consistency check and repair:

fsck /dev/sda1 # check and repair the file system

fsck -f /dev/sda1 # force check even if the system thinks it's
clean

 blkid – Locate/print block device attributes:

blkid
blkid /dev/sda1 # get attributes for specific device

5. Networking

 ifconfig – Configure network interfaces:

ifconfig
ifconfig eth0 up # bring interface eth0 up
ifconfig eth0 down # bring interface eth0 down
ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.10 netmask 255.255.255.0 # set IP and netmask
ifconfig -a # show all interfaces, even inactive ones

 ip – Show/manipulate routing, devices, and tunnels:

ip addr # show IP addresses

ip link # show network interfaces
ip route # show routing table
ip link set eth0 up # bring interface eth0 up
ip addr add 192.168.1.10/24 dev eth0 # assign IP address

 ping – Send ICMP Echo requests to network hosts:

ping 192.168.1.1 # ping IP address

ping -c 4 google.com # send 4 ICMP packets to google.com
ping -i 0.5 192.168.1.1 # set interval between pings to 0.5 seconds

 netstat – Network statistics:

netstat # show network connections

netstat -tuln # show listening ports and associated processes
netstat -i # show network interface statistics
netstat -r # show routing table
 ss – Socket statistics (faster than netstat):

ss # display all sockets

ss -tuln # show listening TCP/UDP ports
ss -p # show process using the socket

 traceroute – Trace the route packets take to a network host:

traceroute google.com # trace route to google.com

traceroute -m 20 google.com # set max hops to 20

 nslookup – Query Internet name servers interactively:

nslookup google.com # look up the IP address for google.com

nslookup 8.8.8.8 # look up the domain for IP address 8.8.8.8

 dig – DNS lookup utility:

dig google.com # query DNS records for google.com

dig @8.8.8.8 google.com # query DNS using a specific DNS server
dig +short google.com # show only the IP address

 wget – Non-interactive network downloader:

wget http://example.com/file.tar.gz # download a file

wget -c http://example.com/file.tar.gz # continue a previously
interrupted download
wget -r http://example.com/ # download a website recursively

 curl – Transfer data with URLs:

curl http://example.com # fetch data from a URL

curl -O http://example.com/file.tar.gz # download file
curl -I http://example.com # show HTTP headers
curl -u user:password http://example.com # use basic authentication

 scp – Secure copy files between hosts:

scp file.txt user@remote_host:/path/to/destination

scp -r folder user@remote_host:/path/to/destination # copy directory
recursively

 ssh – Secure shell for remote login:

ssh user@remote_host # login to a remote machine

ssh -p 2222 user@remote_host # specify a different port
ssh -i /path/to/private_key user@remote_host # use an SSH key for
authentication

 ftp – File Transfer Protocol client:

 ftp example.com # connect to FTP server
ftp> ls # list files in the FTP server directory
ftp> get file.txt # download a file from the server
ftp> put file.txt # upload a file to the server

6. User and Group Management

 useradd – Add a user to the system:

useradd newuser # create a new user

useradd -m -s /bin/bash newuser # create a user with home directory
and bash shell

 usermod – Modify a user account:

usermod -aG groupname username # add user to a group

usermod -s /bin/zsh username # change user shell

 userdel – Delete a user account:

userdel username # delete user account

userdel -r username # delete user and their home directory

 groupadd – Add a group to the system:

groupadd newgroup # create a new group

 groupdel – Delete a group:

groupdel groupname # delete group

 passwd – Change user password:

passwd username # change password for a user

passwd # change the current user's password

 chage – Change user password expiry information:

chage -l username # display password expiration info

chage -E 2025-12-31 username # set password expiration date

 whoami – Print the current logged-in user:

whoami

 who – Show who is logged in:

who
  w – Show who is logged in and what they’re doing:

 id – Display user and group information:

id username # display user and group IDs

 groups – Show user’s groups:

groups username # show the groups a user belongs to

7. System Information and Monitoring

 uname – Print system information:

uname # basic system info (kernel name)

uname -a # all system information
uname -r # kernel version
uname -m # machine hardware name

 hostname – Show or set the system’s hostname:

hostname # show the current hostname

hostname new-hostname # set the system hostname

 uptime – How long the system has been running:

uptime

 dmesg – Boot and system messages:

dmesg # display boot and system messages

dmesg | grep error # filter dmesg output for errors

 free – Display memory usage:

free # display memory usage

free -h # human-readable format
free -m # display in MB
free -g # display in GB

 top – Display Linux tasks:

top # display tasks

top -u user # show processes of a specific user
top -p pid # monitor a specific process by PID
top -d 5 # update every 5 seconds

 vmstat – Report virtual memory statistics:

 vmstat # display virtual memory stats
vmstat 5 # update every 5 seconds

 lscpu – Display information about the CPU architecture:

lscpu # display CPU architecture details

 lsusb – List USB devices:

lsusb # list USB devices

lsusb -v # detailed information about USB devices

 lspci – List PCI devices:

lspci # list PCI devices

lspci -v # detailed information about PCI devices

 lshw – List hardware configuration:

lshw # list hardware configuration

lshw -short # show a summary of hardware
lshw -C network # show network devices only

8. Archiving and Compression

 tar – Archive files:

tar -cf archive.tar /path/to/directory # create a tarball

tar -xf archive.tar # extract tarball

o Compress files using gzip:

tar -czf archive.tar.gz /path/to/directory # create a gzipped

tarball
tar -xzf archive.tar.gz # extract gzipped tarball

 zip – Package and compress files into a ZIP archive:

zip archive.zip file1 file2 file3 # create a zip archive

zip -r archive.zip /path/to/directory # zip a directory recursively

 unzip – Extract files from a ZIP archive:

unzip archive.zip # extract the zip archive

unzip archive.zip -d /path/to/extract # extract to a specific
directory

 gzip – Compress files using the gzip algorithm:

gzip file.txt # compress a file

 gzip -d file.txt.gz # decompress a file

 gunzip – Decompress files compressed with gzip:

gunzip file.txt.gz # decompress a file

 bzip2 – Compress files using the bzip2 algorithm:

bzip2 file.txt # compress a file

bzip2 -d file.txt.bz2 # decompress a file

 bunzip2 – Decompress files compressed with bzip2:

bunzip2 file.txt.bz2 # decompress a file

 xz – Compress files using the xz algorithm:

xz file.txt # compress a file

xz -d file.txt.xz # decompress a file

 unxz – Decompress files compressed with xz:

unxz file.txt.xz # decompress a file

9. Package Management (Depends on Distribution)

Debian-based (e.g., Ubuntu)

 apt-get – APT package handling utility:

o apt-get install <package> – Install a package:

sudo apt-get install package_name

o apt-get update – Update package list:

sudo apt-get update

o apt-get upgrade – Upgrade installed packages:

sudo apt-get upgrade

o apt-get remove <package> – Remove a package:

sudo apt-get remove package_name

 apt-cache – Query APT cache:

o apt-cache search <package> – Search for a package:
 apt-cache search package_name

o apt-cache show <package> – Show package details:

apt-cache show package_name

Red Hat-based (e.g., CentOS, Fedora)

 yum – Package manager for RPM-based systems:

o yum install <package> – Install a package:

sudo yum install package_name

o yum update – Update installed packages:

sudo yum update

o yum remove <package> – Remove a package:

sudo yum remove package_name

 dnf – Next-generation package manager (Fedora, CentOS 8+):

o dnf install <package> – Install a package:

sudo dnf install package_name

o dnf update – Update installed packages:

sudo dnf update

o dnf remove <package> – Remove a package:

sudo dnf remove package_name

General Commands

 rpm – RPM package manager:

o rpm -i <package.rpm> – Install an RPM package:

sudo rpm -i package_name.rpm

o rpm -e <package> – Remove an RPM package:

sudo rpm -e package_name

 dpkg – Debian package manager:

o dpkg -i <package.deb> – Install a Debian package:
 sudo dpkg -i package_name.deb

o dpkg -r <package> – Remove a Debian package:

sudo dpkg -r package_name

10. System Services and Daemon Management

 systemctl – Control the systemd system and service manager:

o systemctl start <service> – Start a service:

sudo systemctl start service_name

o systemctl stop <service> – Stop a service:

sudo systemctl stop service_name

o systemctl restart <service> – Restart a service:

sudo systemctl restart service_name

o systemctl enable <service> – Enable a service to start on boot:

sudo systemctl enable service_name

o systemctl disable <service> – Disable a service from starting on boot:

sudo systemctl disable service_name

o systemctl status <service> – Check service status:

systemctl status service_name

 service – Older service management command (used in non-systemd systems):

o service <service> start – Start a service:

sudo service service_name start

o service <service> stop – Stop a service:

sudo service service_name stop

o service <service> restart – Restart a service:

sudo service service_name restart

o service <service> status – Check service status:

 sudo service service_name status

11. Scheduling Tasks

 cron – Daemon for running scheduled commands:

o crontab -e – Edit cron jobs for the current user:

crontab -e

o crontab -l – List the current user’s cron jobs:

crontab -l

o crontab -r – Remove the current user's cron jobs:

crontab -r

 at – Run commands at a specified time:

o at 09:00 – Schedule a command to run at 09:00 AM:

at 09:00
# Enter command to execute at 09:00

 batch – Run commands when the system load is low:

batch
# Enter commands to run when system load is low

 sleep – Delay for a specified time:

o sleep 5s – Sleep for 5 seconds:

sleep 5s

12. File Permissions and Security

 chmod – Change file permissions:

chmod 755 file.sh # owner can read/write/execute, others can

read/execute
chmod +x file.sh # add execute permission
chmod -x file.sh # remove execute permission

 chown – Change file owner and group:

chown user:group file.txt

 chgrp – Change the group ownership of a file:

 chgrp group_name file.txt

 umask – Set default permissions for new files:

umask 022 # set default permissions to rw-r--r--

 setfacl – Set file access control lists (ACL):

setfacl -m u:username:rwx file.txt # give user 'username'

read/write/execute permissions

 getfacl – Get file access control lists (ACL):

getfacl file.txt

 sudo – Execute a command as another user (usually root):

sudo command # execute command as root

sudo -u user command # execute command as specific user

 visudo – Edit the sudoers file safely:

sudo visudo # edit sudoers file with proper syntax checking

 passwd – Change a user’s password:

sudo passwd user # change password for specific user

 sudoers – Manage sudo access for users:

sudo visudo # add or modify sudo access for users

 gpasswd – Administer group password:

sudo gpasswd -a user group_name # add user to group

 ss – Display socket statistics (for secure network connections):

ss -tuln # display listening sockets

13. System Backup and Restore

 rsync – Remote file and directory synchronization:

o rsync -avz source/ destination/ – Synchronize files:

rsync -avz source/ destination/

 o rsync -avz -e ssh source/ user@remote:/destination/ – Sync over SSH:

rsync -avz -e ssh source/ user@remote:/destination/

 cpio – Copy files to and from archives:

cpio -o < file_list > archive.cpio # create an archive

cpio -i < archive.cpio # extract files from an archive

 dd – Low-level copying and backup of entire filesystems:

o dd if=/dev/sda of=/path/to/backup.img – Backup a disk/partition:

dd if=/dev/sda of=/path/to/backup.img

o dd if=/path/to/backup.img of=/dev/sda – Restore a disk/partition:

dd if=/path/to/backup.img of=/dev/sda

14. System Diagnostics and Troubleshooting

 dmesg – Print the kernel ring buffer messages (system boot and hardware-related
messages):

dmesg
dmesg | grep error # filter for error messages
dmesg -T # show human-readable timestamps

 journalctl – Query and view logs from systemd’s journal:

journalctl
journalctl -xe # show detailed error messages
journalctl -u service_name # show logs for a specific service
journalctl -f # follow logs in real-time

 strace – Trace system calls and signals:

strace <command> # trace a specific command's system calls

strace -p <pid> # trace a specific process by PID
strace -f <command> # follow child processes

 lsof – List open files (useful for debugging):

lsof # list all open files

lsof /path/to/file # show processes using a specific file
lsof -i :80 # list processes using port 80

 vmstat – Report virtual memory statistics:

vmstat # basic memory statistics

vmstat 5 # update every 5 seconds
 iostat – Report CPU and I/O statistics:

iostat # basic CPU and I/O stats

iostat -x # extended statistics

 mpstat – Report CPU usage statistics:

mpstat # basic CPU usage statistics

mpstat -P ALL # CPU usage per core

 pidstat – Report statistics by process:

pidstat # general process stats

pidstat -u # show CPU usage per process
pidstat -d # show disk I/O stats per process

 free – Display memory usage:

free # general memory usage stats

free -h # human-readable format
free -m # in MB

 uptime – How long the system has been running:

uptime # show uptime

 watch – Execute a program periodically, showing output:

watch -n 1 free # watch memory usage every second

watch -d ls # watch directory contents and highlight
changes

 lshw – List hardware configuration:

lshw # list hardware configuration

lshw -short # concise summary of hardware
lshw -C network # show network devices only

 htop – Interactive process viewer (better than top):

htop # interactive process viewer

htop -u user # show processes of a specific user
htop -d 2 # set refresh interval to 2 seconds

 netstat – Network statistics (deprecated in favor of ss):

netstat # general network statistics

netstat -tuln # show listening ports and associated
processes
netstat -r # show routing table
  ss – Show socket statistics (more efficient than netstat):

ss # basic socket statistics

ss -tuln # show listening TCP/UDP ports
ss -p # show process using the socket

15. Networking & Remote Management

 ifconfig – Configure network interfaces (older command, replaced by ip):

ifconfig # show network interfaces

ifconfig eth0 up # bring eth0 interface up
ifconfig eth0 down # bring eth0 interface down
ifconfig -a # show all interfaces

 ip – A more modern alternative for managing network interfaces and routing:

o ip addr – Show IP addresses:

ip addr # show IP addresses

ip addr show eth0 # show IP for specific interface

o ip link – Show or manipulate network interfaces:

ip link # show interfaces

ip link set eth0 up # bring interface eth0 up
ip link set eth0 down # bring interface eth0 down

o ip route – Show or manipulate routing tables:

ip route # show routing table

ip route add 192.168.1.0/24 via 192.168.0.1 # add a route

 ss – Display socket statistics (useful for diagnosing network issues):

ss # general socket stats

ss -tuln # show listening TCP/UDP ports

 nmap – Network exploration tool (can be used for security auditing):

nmap 192.168.1.1 # scan a specific IP address

nmap -p 80 192.168.1.1 # scan port 80 of a specific IP
nmap -sP 192.168.1.0/24 # ping scan to discover live hosts

 telnet – User interface to the TELNET protocol (less common nowadays):

telnet example.com # connect to a host using TELNET

 nc (Netcat) – Network utility for reading and writing from network connections:
o nc -l -p 1234 – Listen on port 1234:
 nc -l -p 1234

o nc <host> <port> – Connect to a host and port:

nc example.com 1234

 iptables – Administration tool for IPv4 packet filtering and NAT (Network Address
Translation):

sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT # allow SSH

sudo iptables -L # list current rules
sudo iptables -F # flush all rules

 firewalld – Frontend for managing firewall rules (used in some distros like Fedora and
CentOS):

sudo firewall-cmd --add-port=80/tcp --permanent # allow HTTP

sudo firewall-cmd --reload # apply changes

 ufw – Uncomplicated firewall (front-end for iptables):

o ufw enable – Enable firewall:

sudo ufw enable

o ufw allow <port> – Allow traffic on a specific port:

sudo ufw allow 80/tcp # allow HTTP

 tcpdump – Command-line packet analyzer:

sudo tcpdump -i eth0 # capture packets on eth0 interface

sudo tcpdump -i eth0 port 80 # capture HTTP traffic

 curl – Transfer data from or to a server using various protocols (HTTP, FTP, etc.):

curl http://example.com # fetch data from a URL

curl -O http://example.com/file.txt # download a file
curl -I http://example.com # fetch headers only

 wget – Download files from the web via HTTP, HTTPS, FTP:

wget http://example.com/file.txt # download a file

wget -c http://example.com/file.txt # continue a paused download

 scp – Secure copy over SSH (used to copy files between systems):
o scp file.txt user@remote:/path/to/destination/ – Copy file to remote server:

scp file.txt user@remote:/path/to/destination/

  rsync – Remote file and directory synchronization (often used for backups):
o rsync -avz /local/path/ remote:/remote/path/ – Sync directories:

rsync -avz /local/path/ remote:/remote/path/

16. Text Processing Utilities

 grep – Search for patterns within files:

o grep 'pattern' file.txt – Search for a pattern in a file:

grep 'pattern' file.txt

o grep -r 'pattern' /dir/ – Recursively search for a pattern:

grep -r 'pattern' /dir/

o grep -i 'pattern' file.txt – Case-insensitive search:

grep -i 'pattern' file.txt

o grep -v 'pattern' file.txt – Exclude lines matching the pattern:

grep -v 'pattern' file.txt

o grep -l 'pattern' file.txt – Show filenames containing the pattern:

grep -l 'pattern' file.txt

 sed – Stream editor for filtering and transforming text:

o sed 's/old/new/g' file.txt – Replace old with new globally:

sed 's/old/new/g' file.txt

o sed -i 's/old/new/g' file.txt – In-place edit (modify the file directly):

sed -i 's/old/new/g' file.txt

 awk – A powerful text processing language:

o awk '{print $1}' file.txt – Print the first column of each line in a file:

awk '{print $1}' file.txt

o awk -F':' '{print $1}' file.txt – Set a custom delimiter (e.g., colon):

awk -F':' '{print $1}' file.txt

 cut – Remove sections from each line of a file:

 o cut -d ':' -f 1 /etc/passwd – Print the first field of each line, delimited by
":":

cut -d ':' -f 1 /etc/passwd

o cut -c 1-5 file.txt – Cut specific character positions from each line:

cut -c 1-5 file.txt

 sort – Sort lines of text files:

o sort file.txt – Sort file content in ascending order:

sort file.txt

o sort -r file.txt – Sort in reverse order:

sort -r file.txt

 uniq – Report or omit repeated lines in a file:

o sort file.txt | uniq – Sort and remove duplicate lines:

sort file.txt | uniq

o uniq -c file.txt – Count occurrences of each line:

uniq -c file.txt

 tee – Read from standard input and write to standard output and files:
o echo "text" | tee file.txt – Write to file and show output on screen:

echo "text" | tee file.txt

 tr – Translate or delete characters:

o echo "hello" | tr 'a-z' 'A-Z' – Convert lowercase to uppercase:

echo "hello" | tr 'a-z' 'A-Z'

o echo "hello" | tr -d 'a' – Delete character 'a' from the input:

echo "hello" | tr -d 'a'

 paste – Merge lines of files:

o paste file1.txt file2.txt – Combine lines of file1 and file2 side by side:

paste file1.txt file2.txt

 wc – Word, line, character, and byte count:

o wc -l file.txt – Count lines in a file:
 wc -l file.txt

o wc -w file.txt – Count words in a file:

wc -w file.txt

17. System Shutdown and Reboot

 shutdown – Shut down the system:

o shutdown -h now – Immediately shut down:

sudo shutdown -h now

o shutdown -r now – Reboot the system:

sudo shutdown -r now

o shutdown -h +10 – Shut down after 10 minutes:

sudo shutdown -h +10

 reboot – Reboot the system:

sudo reboot

 halt – Halt the system immediately (equivalent to turning off power):

sudo halt

 poweroff – Power off the system:

sudo poweroff

 init – Change the runlevel (old-style system manager):

o init 0 – Shutdown:

sudo init 0

o init 6 – Reboot:

sudo init 6

18. File System Mounting and Management

 mount – Mount a file system:

o mount /dev/sda1 /mnt – Mount partition to a directory:
 mount /dev/sda1 /mnt

o mount -t ext4 /dev/sda1 /mnt – Mount a partition with a specific file system
type:

mount -t ext4 /dev/sda1 /mnt

o mount -o loop file.iso /mnt – Mount an ISO file:

mount -o loop file.iso /mnt

 umount – Unmount a file system:

o umount /mnt – Unmount the file system mounted at /mnt:

umount /mnt

 fstab – File system table (configuration file for mounting file systems):
o /etc/fstab – View and configure persistent mount points:

cat /etc/fstab

 blkid – Display block device attributes:

blkid
blkid /dev/sda1 # get details about a specific device

 fsck – Check and repair a file system:

o fsck /dev/sda1 – Check and repair /dev/sda1:

sudo fsck /dev/sda1

o fsck -A – Check all file systems mentioned in /etc/fstab:

sudo fsck -A

19. Filesystem Permissions and Security

 chmod – Change file permissions:

o chmod 755 file.txt – Give read, write, and execute permissions to owner, and
read-execute permissions to others:
 chmod 755 file.txt

o chmod u+x file.txt – Add execute permission to the owner:

chmod u+x file.txt

o chmod -R 755 directory/ – Apply permissions recursively to a directory:

chmod -R 755 directory/

 chown – Change file owner and group:

o chown user:group file.txt – Change owner and group of a file:

chown user:group file.txt

o chown -R user:group directory/ – Change owner and group recursively:

chown -R user:group directory/

 chgrp – Change group ownership of a file:

o chgrp group file.txt – Change the group of a file:

chgrp group file.txt

 umask – Set default permissions for new files:

o umask 022 – Set default permissions for newly created files to 755:

umask 022

 setfacl – Set access control lists (ACL) for file permissions:

o setfacl -m u:username:rwx file.txt – Give read, write, and execute
permissions to a specific user:

setfacl -m u:username:rwx file.txt

o setfacl -m g:groupname:rx file.txt – Give read and execute permissions to

a specific group:

setfacl -m g:groupname:rx file.txt

 getfacl – Get access control lists (ACL) for file permissions:
o getfacl file.txt – View ACL for a file:

getfacl file.txt