Basic Linux commands
System Information
Show computer architecture:
arch
Show kernel version
uname -r
Show system date
date
Show calendar table for 2014
cal 2014
Files and Directories
Go to '/var/www/'
cd /var/www
Go to the upper level directory
cd ..
Go to home directory
cd ~
Go to home directory of “user”
cd ~user
Show the contents of the current directory
ls
Show the contents of the current directory adding characters to the names characterizing the type
ls -F
Show detailed representation of files and directories in the current directory
ls -l
Show hidden files and directories in the current directory
ls -a
Create a directory called ‘test’
mkdir test
Create two directories simultaneously
mkdir test1 test2
Create a directory tree
mkdir -p /var/www/test/dir
Delete the file named ‘file’
rm -f file
Delete a directory named ‘dir’
rmdir dir
Delete a directory named ‘dir’ and all of its contents recursively
rm -rf dir
Rename or move a file or directory
mv dir1 new_dir
Copy file1 in file2
cp file1 file2
Create a symbolic link to a file or directory
ln -s file1 file2
Searching Files
Find files and directories named file1. Start searching from the root (/)
find / -name file1
Find files and directories owned by user1. Start searching from the root (/)
find / -user user1
Find all files and directories whose names end in ‘.log’. Start searching from ‘/var/www’
find /var/www -name "*.log"
Find all files containing '.png' in the name. it is recommended to run 'updatedb' command before
this.
locate "*.png"
Find all files with '.log' extension in the current directory, including subdirectories and delete
them
find . -name '*.log' -type f -delete
Disk Space
Information about partitioned sections displaying total, free and used space
df -h
Show the size used by directory ‘dir1’
du -sh dir1
Users and Groups
Create user1, assign /home/user1 as its home directory, assign /bin/bash as a shell, include it in
‘admin’ group and add a comment Nome Cognome
useradd -c "Nome Cognome" -g admin -d /home/user1 -s /bin/bash
user1
Create user1
useradd user1
Delete user1 and its home directory
userdel -r user1
Create a new group named group_name
groupadd group_name
Delete group group_name
groupdel group_name
Rename group old_group_name in new_group_name
groupmod -n new_group_name old_group_name
Change password
passwd
Change password of user1 (only root)
passwd user1
Setting/Changing File Rights
Add rights 777 (Read Write Execute) to directory1 – full rights to everybody.
chmod 777 directory1
Add rights to directory1, including all files and subfolders in it, rights 777 (Read Write Execute)
- full rights to everybody.
chmod –R 777 directory1
Assign user1 as the owner of file1
chown user1 file1
Recursively assign user1 as the owner of directory1
chown -R user1 directory1
Assign user 'apache' from the group 'apache' to folder 'dir', including all subfolders and files:
chown apache:apache -R /var/www/dir
Find all files in the current directory, including subfolders and assign rights 664
find . -type f -printf "\"%p\" " | xargs chmod 664
Find all folders in the current directory, including subfolders and assign rights 775
find . -type d -printf "\"%p\" " | xargs chmod 775
File Archiving and Compression
Unarchive file 'file1.bz2'
bunzip2 file1.bz2
Unarchive file 'file1.gz'
gunzip file1.gz
Archive file 'file1' to file1.gz
gzip file1
Archive file file1 to file1.bz2
bzip2 file1
Create an archive and zip it with gzip
tar -cvfz archive.tar.gz dir1
Unarchive and extract
tar -xvfz archive.tar.gz
Create zip-archive
zip file1.zip file1
Unarchive and extract zip-archive
unzip file1.zip
Upgrading Packages
Upload and install package
yum install package_name
Update all packages installed in the system
yum update
Update package
yum update package_name
Delete package
yum remove package_name
Show the list of all packages installed in the system
yum list
Find a package in the repository
yum search package_name
Clean rpm-cache, deleting uploaded packages
yum clean packages
Clean rpm-cache, deleting uploaded packages and headers
yum clean all
Help Commands
It is used to find concise descriptions of system commands by searching the Whatis
whatis
database for entire words.
which Displays full path to shell commands
whereis Search and discover command's binary, source, and man pages
Look for help and man pages containing specific phrases and instructions by searching
apropos
a database of short descriptions.
man Lists Manual pages for the respective command
File Operations
cat Concatenate files or print a file on the monitor.
touch Make a new file and modify the timestamps.
cp Copy files or directories.
mv Moves files or directories.
rm Removes directories or files in a recursive manner
ln It is used for creating a symbolic or hard link for a file.
less Viewing a single file on a single page, along with the ability to go backwards.
head Printing the first ten lines of a file.
tail Printing the last ten lines of a file.
wc Counts the total number of words or characters there are in a file.
stat Shows the status of a file or a file system.
cut Remove parts of input lines.
paste Combine multiple lines of text in a single file.
Process Management
ps Provide an update on existing procedures.
pstree Displays a tree of processes.
top Demonstrate real-time procedures.
kill PID is used to terminate a process.
killall Stop a process permanently via name
pkill Looking up for processes or signals based on the same and other attributes.
pgrep Look for information on the process.
ctrl+z Stop the task instead of keeping it on halt permanently.
& The addition of this after a command puts the process in the background.
jobs Displays all the jobs running in process
Partitions and Disk Management
df Report on the amount of disc space used by the file system.
mount Mount a file system or see what's mounted.
unmount Unmounts a file system
fuser Identifies processes via files or sockets.
isof Displays a list of the system's open files
Accounts and Security Administration
groupadd Used for creating new groups
groupdel Used for creating groups
groupmod Manipulating the description of a particular group
useradd Creating new users
userdel Deleting new users
usermod Modifying a user’s account
passwd Updating a user’s password
vipw Editing the password or shadow password of a group
vigr Editing groups or shadow groups
chage Modifying password policies
Networking
ifconfig Set up the network interface.
route Shows and manipulates IP routing table
Replaces ifconfig, arp, and route by displaying and manipulating routing, devices,
ip
policies, and tunnels.
ifup It brings up the network interfaces
ifdown It brings the network interfaces down
ping Sends ICMP ECHO_REQUEST to network hosts
Directory Operations
clear Removes all the contents from your screen
pwd Displays running directory on the screen
cd Modifies directories
ls Lists down all the content of a directory
mkdir Creates a new directory
rmdir Deletes null directories
