ls: List directory contents
Example: ls -l (display in long format)
cd: Change directory
Example: cd /path/to/directory (change to a specific directory)
pwd: Print working directory (displays current directory)
mkdir: Make directory
Example: mkdir new_directory (create a new directory)
rmdir: Remove directory
Example: rmdir directory_name (remove an empty directory)
cp: Copy files and directories
Example: cp file.txt destination/ (copy file to a destination)
mv: Move or rename files and directories
Example: mv file.txt new_location/ (move file to a new location)
rm: Remove files and directories
Example: rm file.txt (remove a file)
touch: Create an empty file or update file timestamps
Example: touch file.txt (create an empty file)
cat: Concatenate and display files
Example: cat file.txt (display the contents of a file)
less: View file contents with pagination
Example: less file.txt (display contents with pagination)
head: Display the beginning of a file
Example: head -n 5 file.txt (display the first 5 lines)
tail: Display the end of a file
Example: tail -n 10 file.txt (display the last 10 lines)
grep: Search for patterns in files
Example: grep "pattern" file.txt (search for a pattern in a file)
find: Search for files and directories
Example: find /path/to/search -name "file.txt" (search for a file)
chmod: Change file permissions
Example: chmod 755 file.txt (set file permissions to read, write, and
execute for the owner, and read and execute for others)
chown: Change file ownership
Example: chown user:group file.txt (change the owner and group of a file)
chgrp: Change group ownership
Example: chgrp group file.txt (change the group of a file)
ln: Create links between files
Example: ln -s source_file link_name (create a symbolic link to a file)
tar: Archive files
Example: tar -cvf archive.tar file1 file2 (create a tar archive of files)
gzip: Compress files
Example: gzip file.txt (compress a file)
gunzip: Decompress files
Example: gunzip file.txt.gz (decompress a file)
ssh: Secure Shell remote login
Example: ssh user@hostname (connect to a remote server)
scp: Securely copy files between hosts
Example: scp file.txt user@hostname:/path/to/destination (copy file to a
remote server)
ping: Send ICMP echo requests to a host
Example: ping google.com (check connectivity to a host)
ifconfig: Configure network interfaces
Example: ifconfig eth0 up (activate a network interface)
netstat: Network statistics
Example: netstat -tuln (display open network ports)
wget: Download files from the web
Example: wget http://example.com/file.txt (download a file from a URL)
curl: Transfer data from or to a server
Example: curl http://example.com (fetch the content of a URL)
man: Display manual pages
Example: man ls (display the manual page for the ls command)
uname: Print system information
Example: uname -a (display all system information)
whoami: Print the current user name
Example: whoami (display the current username)
history: Display command history
Example: history (display the command history)
ps: Display process status
Example: ps aux (display all running processes)
kill: Terminate processes
Example: kill 1234 (terminate process with PID 1234)
top: Monitor system activity
Example: top (display real-time system information)
df: Display disk space usage
Example: df -h (display disk space usage in a human-readable format)
du: Estimate file and directory space usage
Example: du -sh directory (estimate disk space usage of a directory)
mount: Mount filesystems
Example: mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt (mount a device to a directory)
umount: Unmount filesystems
Example: umount /mnt (unmount a device from a directory)
apt-get: Package handling utility (Ubuntu/Debian)
Example: apt-get install package_name (install a package)
yum: Package manager (CentOS/Fedora)
Example: yum install package_name (install a package)
systemctl: Control the systemd system and service manager
Example: systemctl start service_name (start a service)
service: Run a System V init script
Example: service apache2 restart (restart the Apache service)
useradd: Create a new user
Example: useradd newuser (create a new user account)
passwd: Change user password
Example: passwd username (change the password for a user)
usermod: Modify user account
Example: usermod -aG group username (add a user to a group)
userdel: Delete a user account
Example: userdel username (delete a user account)
groupadd: Create a new group
Example: groupadd newgroup (create a new group)
groupmod: Modify a group
Example: groupmod -n newname groupname (rename a group)
groupdel: Delete a group
Example: groupdel groupname (delete a group)
su: Switch user
Example: su - username (switch to another user)
sudo: Execute a command as another user
Example: sudo command (run a command with superuser privileges)
history: Display command history
Example: history (display the command history)
ssh-keygen: Generate SSH key pairs
Example: ssh-keygen (generate a new SSH key pair)
scp: Securely copy files between hosts
Example: scp file.txt user@hostname:/path/to/destination (copy file to a
remote server)
diff: Compare files line by line
Example: diff file1.txt file2.txt (compare two files)
sed: Stream editor for text transformation
Example: sed 's/pattern/replacement/g' file.txt (replace all occurrences of
a pattern with a replacement)
awk: Text processing language
Example: awk '{ print $1 }' file.txt (print the first column of a file)
sort: Sort lines of text files
Example: sort file.txt (sort lines in ascending order)
cut: Remove sections from files
Example: cut -d',' -f2 file.csv (extract the second column from a CSV file)
tar: Archive files
Example: tar -cvf archive.tar file1 file2 (create a tar archive of files)
gzip: Compress files
Example: gzip file.txt (compress a file)
gunzip: Decompress files
Example: gunzip file.txt.gz (decompress a file)
find: Search for files and directories
Example: find /path/to/search -name "file.txt" (search for a file)
xargs: Execute commands from standard input
Example: find /path/to/files -type f | xargs rm (delete multiple files)
crontab: Schedule commands to run at fixed times
Example: crontab -e (edit the user's cron jobs)
at: Schedule commands to run once
Example: echo "command" | at 12:30 (schedule a command to run at 12:30)
curl: Transfer data from or to a server
Example: curl http://example.com (fetch the content of a URL)
wget: Download files from the web
Example: wget http://example.com/file.txt (download a file from a URL)
echo: Display a line of text
Example: echo "Hello, world!" (display "Hello, world!")
tee: Read from standard input and write to standard output and files
Example: echo "Hello" | tee file.txt (write "Hello" to a file and display
it)
alias: Create an alias for a command
Example: alias ll="ls -l" (create an alias 'll' for 'ls -l')
source: Execute commands from a file in the current shell
Example: source script.sh (execute commands from a script file)
grep: Search for patterns in files
Example: grep "pattern" file.txt (search for a pattern in a file)
wc: Word, line, character, and byte count
Example: wc -l file.txt (count the number of lines in a file)
awk: Text processing language
Example: awk '{ print $1 }' file.txt (print the first column of a file)
cut: Remove sections from files
Example: cut -d',' -f2 file.csv (extract the second column from a CSV file)
sed: Stream editor for text transformation
Example: sed 's/pattern/replacement/g' file.txt (replace all occurrences of
a pattern with a replacement)
tar: Extract files from an archive
Example: tar -xvf archive.tar (extract files from a tar archive)
gunzip: Decompress files
Example: gunzip file.txt.gz (decompress a file)
zip: Create a zip archive
Example: zip archive.zip file1 file2 (create a zip archive of files)
unzip: Extract files from a zip archive
Example: unzip archive.zip (extract files from a zip archive)
ln: Create links between files
Example: ln -s source_file link_name (create a symbolic link to a file)
df: Display disk space usage
Example: df -h (display disk space usage in a human-readable format)
du: Estimate file and directory space usage
Example: du -sh directory (estimate disk space usage of a directory)
mount: Mount filesystems
Example: mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt (mount a device to a directory)
umount: Unmount filesystems
Example: umount /mnt (unmount a device from a directory)
uname: Print system information
Example: uname -a (display all system information)
lspci: List all PCI devices
Example: lspci (list PCI devices)
lsusb: List USB devices
Example: lsusb (list USB devices)
ifconfig: Configure network interfaces
Example: ifconfig eth0 up (activate a network interface)
netstat: Network statistics
Example: netstat -tuln (display open network ports)
iptables: Administration tool for IPv4 packet filtering and NAT
Example: iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT (allow incoming HTTP
traffic)
hostname: Print or set system hostname
Example: hostname (display the system hostname)
date: Print or set the system date and time
Example: date (display the current date and time)
cal: Display a calendar
Example: cal (display the calendar for the current month)
clear: Clear the terminal screen
Example: clear (clear the terminal screen)
shutdown: Shutdown or restart the system
Example: shutdown -h now (shut down the system immediately)
exit: Exit the current shell or terminal
Example: exit (exit the current shell)
These are just a few examples of the many Linux commands available. The list covers
a range of commands for file management, process management, networking, package
management, system administration, and more.
