Linux Commands Cheat Sheet

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Quick basic commands Quick basic commands (cont) iptables (firewall)

cd change directory, case &> will include output and errors iptables -h list commands
(Example: sensitive --list list the rule in a chain or all
cd apt chains
Desktop)
apt list | grep Type a word to highlight --verbose details
cd home directory in red or -v
. this directory apt | grep searchword --line​-nu​‐ print line numbers when
cd .. go up one directory search mbers listing
cd - change dir to previous apt install app name --version or version number
working dir apt app name -V
pwd print working directory remove --list​-rules list rules
ls list contents, -a all, -h human apt update or -S
readable apt upgrade --numeric numeric output of addresses

ll LL list direct​ories with RW or -n and ports

permis​sions Permis​sions
Permission Attribute Examples
la LA list all including hidden id Display user idenity
-rwx------ read, write, execute by file's
sudo super user privileges chmod Change a files mode
owner only
mkdir <di​‐ create direct​ories umask Set the default file permis​sions
-rw------- read and write by owner only
rna​me> su Run a shell as another user
<di​rna​‐ -rw-r--r-- read and write owner, read
sudo Execute a command as another
me2> group, read world
user
cp <path copy contents to current -rwxr-xr-x read, write, execute owner.
chown Change a file's owner
and locati​‐ directory, cp by itself will read and execute everyone
chgrp Change a file's group ownership else.
ons> . overwrite files silently
passwd Change a user's password lrwxrwxrwx A symbolic link with dummy
mv <it​‐ move file(s) to location
em1> <it​‐ permis​sions
Reading, Writing, Executing -rw-r--r--
em2> drwxr-x--- Directory. read, write, execute
directory Example -rw-r--r-- owner. Read and execute
rm -i <it​‐ delete file, -i intera​ctive - col1. Regular file group.
em> confir​mation d col1. Directory
Changing passwords
alias lists alias commands l col1. A symbolic link. Dummy
alert <"me​‐ sends a message to notifi​‐ values. passwd with sudo you can change a
ssa​ge"> cations [user] user password
c col1. A charcater special file.
> emptyD​‐ make an empty text file Modem passwd change your password
OC.txt b col1. A block special file. Ex.
chown
> standard out to .txt (will CD, HDD.
overwrite) chown syntax use
r Read only
[owner​][:​[gr​‐
>> append standard out .txt will w Write
oup]] file..
(not overwrite)
x Executable
bob change ownership from
ls -la will print the directory
current to bob
/usr/bin > contents to a text file
ls-out​‐ bob:users change file ownership to
put.txt bob and group to users

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 Linux Commands Cheat Sheet
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chown (cont) vi or vim text editor (cont) vi or vim text editor (cont)

:admins change group owner to admins, double tap ESC if you don't know where x delete the current character
the owner is unchanged you are in vi 3x delete the current character and the
bob: change the current owner to bob Navi​gating Command Mode 2 after it
and change the group to the login H or left left one character dd delete the current line
group for bob arrow 5dd delete the current line and the next
J or down one line 4 lines
text editors
down dW delete from the current cursor
gedit GUI (installed in Ubuntu) arrow position to the beginning of the next
kedit KDE default K or up up one line word
kate sudo apt install kate arrow d$ delete from the current cursor
nano command line based (installed in L or right right one character position to the end of the line
Ubuntu) arrow d0 delete from the current cursor
vi or vi IMproved (installed in Ubuntu) 0 (zero) go to the beginning of the position to the beginning of the line
vim current line d^ delete from the current cursor
emacs sudo apt install emacs-gtk SHIFT-6 to the first non whitespace location to the first non whitespace
(^) character on the current line character line
text editing basics SHIFT-4 to the end on the current line dG from the current line to the end of
make a backup cp <fi​len​ame> <fi​‐ ($) the file
before editing len​ame.ba​k> W to the beginning of the next d20g from the current line to the 20th line
nano <fi​len​ame> load a text in nano word, or punctu​ation characters of the file
SHIFT- to the beginning of the next COPY​ING
nano text editor W (W) word, ignore punctu​ation yy y stands for yank which is copy, yy
characters copies the current line
^X to quit nano, ^ mean CTRL
B to the beginning of the previous
^O CTRL-O save the file
word or character

vi or vim text editor SHIFT B to the beginning of the previous

(B) word or character, ignoring
vi start vim
punctu​ation
vi newdoc.txt create a blank text doc in
CTRL-F down on page
vi from command line
or page
:q quit
down
:q! quit without saving
CTRL-B up one page
vi starts in press i to go to insert text or page
command mode up
mode
number​- to the line number, example 1G
press ESC to exit insert mode with SH​IFT- moves to the first line of the file
exit insert ESC G
mode
SHIFT- to the last line of the file
:w save the file, or write to G
file
Cutting, Copying, Pasting Text
DELETE TEXT aka CUT TEXT

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 Linux Commands Cheat Sheet
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vi or vim text editor (cont) vi or vim text editor (cont) Technical commands (cont)

5yy copies the current line and vi file1 file2 file3 cat somete​‐ to read the file with cat
the next 4 lines :n switch to the next file xt.txt
yW from the cursor location to :N switch to the previous file | pipe connects input to
the beginning of the next output
:buffers lists open files
word ls /bin example sort 2 dirs binaries
:buffers switch to buffer file 2
y$ from the cursor location to /usr/bin |sort
2
the end of the current line | less
:e open another file from vi.
y0 from the current cursor sort alphab​etize a list
example :e filena​me.txt
location to the beginning of uniq used with sort, removes
:r copy an entire file to the vi
the line duplicates
session. example :r myfile.txt
y^ from the current cursor grep pattern finding
location to the first non
Networking commands head checks the first 10 lines of a
whitespace character in
file. -n # (to adjust #)
line ping send en ICMP echo request to
network hosts tail checks the last 10 lines of a
yG from the current line to the
file. -n#
end of the file traceroute print the route packets trace to
a network host tail -f /var/l​‐ -f is a real time log file
y20G from the current line to the
og/​mes​‐ viewer switch​(CTRL-C to
20th line of the file netstat print the network connec​tions,
sages quit)
routing tables, interface stats,
PAST​ING
masquerade connec​tions, and tee for use with pipe
p pastes the current copied
multi cast member​ships echo *D display everything with a
text below the current line
ftp file transfer program capital D
P pastes the copied text
lftp an improved ftp echo command line calculator
above the current line
$((2+2))
wget non intera​ctive network
Join lines J
downloader echo "​$(c​‐ calendar
vi has the maybe I will add a cheat al)​"
ssh openSSH SSH client (remote
ability to do sheet for this later
login) history a list of all commands used
search and
scp secure copy (remote copy history: !88 !88 will use number 88 in
replace
program) history
/searc​htext searches vi
sftp secure ftp
:%s/Li​ne/​‐ will search and replace USB checking
line/g Line with line globally
Technical commands lsusb list connected USB devices
EDIT MULTIPLE FILES
cat (brings files CTRL-D to quit,
dpkg
together, uses input) tell cat EOF
cat > somete​xt.txt; this a simple way to dpkg --list list all installed
is some text to be add text to a text packages
saved file -r or --remove remove a package
-P or --purge
--log=​<fi​len​ame> log changes made
-i or --install <.deb file install a deb file
name>

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 Linux Commands Cheat Sheet
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chmod octal chart umask new file default permis​sions system stuff (cont)
(cont)
octal binary - filemode PATH a colon separated list of direct​ories
0 000 --- 1000 set to a directory prevents files from that are searched when you enter
being deleted in shared directory the name of an executable
1 001 --x
the last three are octal permis​sions program
2 010 -w-
PS1 prompt string 1, defines the
3 011 -wx
system stuff contents of shell prompt
4 100 r--
printenv | system inform​ation PWD current working directory
5 101 r-x less TERM the name of your terminal type
6 110 rw- printenv views the contents of a TZ time zone
7 111 rwx USER variable, example USER
USER your username
example owner, group, world contains your user name
setting set | less display shell and enviro​‐ Storage Media command overview
octal 600 nment variables
mount mount a file system
binary seems somewhat echo echo can be used to view
umount un-mount a file system (pay
irrelevant $HOME single variables
attention to the spelling of the
chmod symbolic notation alias lists all alias commands command Umount)
u user [command]; to get a notifi​cation when a fdisk partition table manipu​lator
g group alert command is done(an alias
fsck check and repair a filesystem
[message] in ubuntu)
o others, world fdformat format a floppy disk
below are **
a all mkfs make a filesystem
some
example notation dd write block-​ori​ented data
variables of
u+x add execute permission for the interest directly to a device
owner geniso​‐ create an ISO 9660 image file
DISPLAY the name of your display
u-x remove execute permission enviroment image
from the owner (mkisos)
EDITOR the default text editor
+x add execute for everyone, wodim write data to an optical storage
SHELL name of the shell running
same as a+x (cdrecord)
HOME path to home directory
o-rw remove read and write for md5sum calculate MD5 checksum
LANG keyboard language
everyone but owner and group LISTING DEVICES AND FILESY​STEMS
OLD_PWD the previous working
u+x,go=rx add excute for owner, group /etc/fstab is a list of devices
directory
and world changed to read and
mount will view a list of mounted
execute PAGER the name of the program
filesy​stems
used for paging output.
Usually is app less ls /dev list devices
umask new file default permis​sions

umask 0022 ubuntu default

# 4000 sets program ownership to
position app
0---
2000 sets group ownership for
shared direct​ories

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 Linux Commands Cheat Sheet
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Storage Media command overview (cont) system startup stuff (cont) Moving data directly to and from devices
with dd (cont)
/dev/fd* floppy disks ~/.bashrc a users personal
/dev/hd* hard drives startup file dd if=/de​v/sdb copy 2 identical usb
files that start with a is -a option when of=/de​v/sdc drives that are the same
/dev/lp* printers
period are hidden searching with ls size
/dev/sd* SCSI disks
dd if=/de​v/sdb make a raw image of the
/dev/sr* Optical drives CD/DVD
fdisk commands of=fla​sh_​dri​‐ drive
readers and burners
ve.img
sudo umount unmount the partition
sudo tail -f to see real time device
/dev/sdb1
/var/l​og/​‐ changes in the system creating CD-ROM images
sudo fdisk mount the entire drive
syslog
/dev/sdb dd if=/de​‐ copy the contents of a cd to
MOVING DEV MOUNT LOCATI​ONS v/cdrom an image file
fdsik commands
sudo mkdir make a dir to mount flash of=ubu​‐
p print partition tables
/mnt/flash drive ntu.iso
l list known partition
sudo moves the location to the new cdrdao is used for audio cds
types
mount one (use the proper device creating an iso from a collection of files
/dev/sdb1 name before moving) t change a partitions
geniso​image if you had a directory called
/mnt/flash system id
-o cd- /cd-ro​m-f​iles, you could use
df display disk space df -h for w write partition changes
rom.iso -R - this command to make an
human readable q quit fdisk J ~/cd-r​om-​‐ image of the directory
files
system startup stuff creating a new filesystem with mkfs
the -R -J the allow the use of long
/etc/p​‐ a global config​uration script that sudo mkfs -t make an ext3 filesystem options filenames
rofile applies to all users ext3 on device sdb1 partition defined
~/.bas​‐ a users personal startup file. can /dev/sdb1 mounting an iso image directly
h_p​rofile override the global config script sudo mkfs -t make a fat32 silesystem using the -o loop with mount
~/.bas​‐ if ~/.bas​h_p​rofile is not found, vfat /dev/sdb1 on device sdb1
mkdir /mnt/i​‐ then the next line down
h_login bash attempts to read this one
so_​image
testing and repairing filesy​stems with
~/.profile if neither bash profile or login
mount -t mounts the iso as a virtual
fsck
are found this is run. this is the
iso9660 -o drive
default in Ubuntu sudo fsck checks the filesystem on
loop
/etc/b​‐ a global config script that applies /dev/sdb1 sdb1 partition
image.iso
ash​/bas to all users /mnt/i​so_​‐
hrc Moving data directly to and from devices
image
with dd
blanking a RW CD
dd raw copy tool (dd
wodim there are other types of
has 2 names, data
dev=/d​‐ blanking
definition and destroy
ev/cdrw
disk)
blank=fast
dd if=inp​ut_file syntax to dd raw
writing an image file
of=out​put​_file copy
wodim writes an image to cd
[bs=bl​ock​_size
dev=/d​‐
[count​=bl​ocks]]
ev/cdrw
image.iso

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 Linux Commands Cheat Sheet
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MD5 checksum ps (running processes) (cont) netstat

md5sum will give you the md5 top display tasks with the top netstat -tulpn
image.iso checksum value active ones -l (L) display listening sockets
md5sum a cd-r write in disc at once jobs list active jobs -n don't resolve names
/dev/cdrom can be checked like this bg place a job in the background -p display PID
fg place a job in the foreground -s an overview - statistics
lynis (audit​ing​,ha​rde​ning)
kill send a signal to a process via -g group member​ships
sudo apt install install it
PID
lynis -r router table
killall kill process by name
lynis audit perform local security -i interface table
shutdown shut down or reboot the system
system scan
xlogo creates a nonsense xlogo app Custom​izing the Prompt
lynis show version
for debuging and testing ps
version adjust how the prompt is displayed and
controls
operates
--verbose details
[CTRL-c] terminates programs started in
echo display the current prompt
--pentest non privileged scan
terminal
$PS1 setup
xlogo & & will make a program start in
systemctl (services) ps1_ol​‐ make a backup before making
the background
d="$​‐ changes called ps1_old. check
systemctl -all or - see all loaded
fg %1 will bring the program to the PS1​" with echo $ps1_old
a processes
foreground
PS1="$p​‐ restore the original
list-units list units currently in
[CTRL-z] stops or pauses a process s1_​old​"
memory
bg %1 put program in background PS1= clear all prompt data (no visible
list-s​ockets list sockets currently in
killall killall xlogo for example if prompt)
memory
[process multiples are running PROMPT ubuntu default value is: [\u@\h
list-u​nit​-files list installed unit files
name] VALUES \W]\$
poweroff turn the computer off
pstree outputs a process list in a tree PS1="\$ " a minimal prompt
reboot shutdown and restart pattern
\a ASCII bell. Makes the
is-sys​tem​-ru​nning checks to see if the vmstat system resource snapshot computer beep
system is running [vmstat5] for continuous feed
\d current date in day, month,
--type service -- searching for running xload GUI draws a graph, showing date format
state running services sys stats overtime
\h hostname of the local machine
tload a terminal version of xload minus the domain
ps (running processes)
tload a terminal version of xload \H full hostname
ps -e all running processes
\j number of jobs in the current
ps aux | search for telnet running
shell
grep telnet
\l name of the current terminal
ps #### # = number for PID to view
device
ps -aux custom running process
\n a newline character
search
\r a carriage return
ps --help list more commands
\s name of the shell program
all
\t current time in 24hour H:M:S
ps report a snapshot of the
current running processes \T current time in 12hour format

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 Linux Commands Cheat Sheet
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Custom​izing the Prompt (cont) Custom​izing the Prompt (cont) Searching for files commands (cont)

\@ current time in 12hour am/pm \033[1;37m white find ~ type f find files with the name .jpg
format BACK​GROUND COLOR -name "​*.J​‐ larger than 1 mb and count
\A current time in 24 hour H:M PG" -size them
\033[0;40m black
+1M | wc -l
\u username of the current user \033[0;41m red
find test
\v version number of the shell \033[0;42m green
-cmin n match files of dirs whose
\V version and release number \033[0;43m brown
content was modified
of the shell
\033[0;44m blue exactly n minutes ago
\w name of the current working
\033[0;45m purple -cnewer file match files or direct​ories
directory
\033[0;46m cyan whose content was last
\W last part of the working
modified more recently than
\033[0;47m light gray
directory
the file named
\! history number of the current
Searching for files commands -ctime match files or dirs that were
command
modified within the last
locate find files by name
\# number of commands entered 24hours
in shell find search for files in directory
-empty match empty files or dirs
hierarchy
\$ displays the $ character
-group match files or dirs belonging
unless you have root, in that xargs build and execute command
name to a group
case it displays # lines from standard input
-iname like name but case sensitive
\[ the start of a series of one or touch change file times
pattern
more non-pr​inting characters stat display file or filesystem status
-inum n match files with inode
\] the end of a non-pr​inting locate (find files the easy way)
number n
character sequence locate locate will search for any string
-mmin n match files of dir whose
COLOR TEXT bin/zip with bin and zip
contents were modified n
\033[0;30m black locate zip and fancier search mins ago
\033[0;31m red | grep bin
-mtime n match files or dirs whose
\033[0;32m green find (find files the hard way) contents where modified n
find ~ a list of direct​ories in our home 24 hours ago
\033[0;33m brown
dir -name match files with wildcard
\033[0;34m blue
find ~ | wc use word count to find how pattern pattern
\033[0;35m purple
-l many files -newer file match files or dirs whose
\033[0;36m cyan
find ~ - find how many direct​ories with content was modifies more
\033[0;37m light grey recently than specified file
type d | word count
\033[1;30m dark grey wc -l
\033[1;31m light red find ~ - find regular files with word
\033[1;32m light green type f | wc count
-l
\033[1;33m yellow
\033[1;34m light blue
\033[1;35m light purple
\033[1;36m light cyan

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Searching for files commands (cont) Searching for files commands (cont)

-nouser match files or dirs that do find ~ (-type f -not - test for bad files
not belong to a user perms 0600) -or (- and direct​ories
-nogroup match files that do not type d -not -perms
belong to a group 0700)

-perm mode match files that have actions for find

permission set to a specific -delete delete the
mode currently matching
-samefile match files with the same file(see warning)
name inode number, similar to - -ls perform the
inum test equivalent of ls -
-size n match file of size n dils on the
matching file.
-type c match files of c type
-print output the full
-user name match files or dir belonging
pathname of the
to user name
file
find logical operat​ors
-print0 used to correctly
-and match if both sides are true,
print file names
also known as -a
with spaces
-or match is one side is true
-quit quit once a match
also known as -o
has been made
-not match if the following test is
warning for delete
false, also know as -!
always use -print as a substitute for -delete
() group tests together to form
to see what will be deleted
larger expres​sions
find ~ -type f -name -print the files to
exam​ples
'*.BAK' -print output before
-type f -and testing for bad permis​sions deleting
-not -perms by testing for good ones
find ~ -type f -name then proceed if
0600
'*.BAK' -delete you wish to delete
still

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