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DevOps Shack
Top 200 Linux Commands

📘 Introduction
Linux is the backbone of modern computing. From powering over 90% of cloud
infrastructure and web servers to enabling embedded systems, mobile devices,
and supercomputers — Linux is everywhere. And at the heart of Linux is the
command line — a powerful interface that gives users complete control over the
operating system.

Whether you're a system administrator, DevOps engineer, developer,

cybersecurity analyst, or a beginner learning Linux for the first time, mastering
the command line is non-negotiable. The terminal isn't just a tool; it’s a
superpower that allows you to automate tasks, monitor systems, manage files,
install software, troubleshoot issues, and interact with every layer of a
Linux-based system — all at lightning speed.

🎯 What This Document Offers

This document is your ultimate companion to learning Linux. It contains the Top
200 most important and widely-used Linux commands, explained in plain
English with clear syntax, use cases, examples, outputs, and pro tips for
real-world usage.​
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Each command is grouped into logical categories such as:

●​ File management​

●​ Process monitoring​

●​ System information​

●​ Networking​

●​ Disk operations​

●​ User & group management​

●​ Package management​

●​ Text processing (awk, sed, grep, etc.)​

●​ Scripting​

●​ Permissions & ownership​

●​ System services​

●​ Security and troubleshooting

Basic Linux Commands
1.​ pwd – Prints the current working directory you're in.​
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2.​ ls – Lists the files and directories in the current folder.​

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3.​ cd – Changes the directory you're working in.​

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4.​ clear – Clears the terminal screen.​

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5.​ echo – Displays a line of text or variable value.​

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6.​ exit – Closes the terminal session.​

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7.​ history – Displays a list of previously used commands.​

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8.​ man – Opens the manual page for a command.​

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9.​ whoami – Prints the current logged-in username.​

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10.​hostname – Shows the system’s hostname.​

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File and Directory Operations
11.​touch – Creates a new empty file.​

12.​mkdir – Creates a new directory.​

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13.​rmdir – Removes empty directories.​

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14.​rm – Removes files or directories.​

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15.​cp – Copies files or directories.​

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16.​mv – Moves or renames files.​

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17.​stat – Displays detailed file information.​

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18.​file – Identifies the type of file (text, binary, image, etc.).​

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19.​basename – Returns the file name from a full path.​

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20.​dirname – Returns the directory path from a full file path.​

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File Permissions & Ownership

21.​chmod – Changes file or directory permissions.​

22.​chown – Changes file ownership (user and/or group).​

23.​chgrp – Changes the group ownership of a file.​

24.​umask – Sets default permissions for newly created files.​

25.​lsattr – Lists file attributes on a Linux file system.​

26.​chattr – Changes file attributes on a Linux file system.​

27.​getfacl – Displays Access Control List (ACL) of a file.​

28.​setfacl – Sets ACL permissions on files or directories.​

User & Group Management

29.​adduser – Adds a new user to the system.​

30.​useradd – Low-level utility to add a user.​

31.​passwd – Changes user password.​

32.​usermod – Modifies a user account.​

33.​userdel – Deletes a user account.​

34.​groupadd – Creates a new group.​

35.​groupdel – Deletes a group.​

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36.​groupmod – Modifies an existing group.​

37.​id – Displays user ID and group ID.​

38.​who – Shows who is logged in.​

39.​w – Shows logged-in users and what they are doing.​

40.​groups – Displays groups a user belongs to.​

41.​su – Switches to another user account.​

42.​sudo – Executes a command with elevated privileges.​

Process Management
43.​ps – Shows running processes.​

44.​top – Displays real-time system processes and usage.​

45.​htop – Interactive process viewer (enhanced top).​

46.​kill – Sends signals to processes (usually to terminate).​

47.​killall – Sends signals to all processes by name.​

48.​nice – Starts a process with a given priority.​

49.​renice – Changes priority of a running process.​

50.​bg – Resumes a job in the background.​

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51.​fg – Brings a background job to the foreground.​

52.​jobs – Lists active jobs in the shell.​

53.​pidof – Finds the process ID of a running program.​

54.​watch – Repeats a command periodically and shows output.​

Disk & Filesystem Commands

55.​df – Reports file system disk space usage.​

56.​du – Estimates file or directory space usage.​

57.​mount – Mounts a file system.​

58.​umount – Unmounts a file system.​

59.​fsck – Checks and repairs file systems.​

60.​blkid – Displays block device information.​

61.​lsblk – Lists block devices in a tree-like structure.​

62.​parted – Manages disk partitions interactively.​

63.​fdisk – Partition table manipulator for Linux.​

64.​mkfs – Creates a new file system.​

65.​tune2fs – Tunes file system parameters.​

66.​e2label – Changes the label of an ext2/ext3/ext4 filesystem.​

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Archiving & Compression

67.​tar – Archives files into .tar format.​

68.​gzip – Compresses files using .gz format.​

69.​gunzip – Decompresses .gz files.​

70.​bzip2 – Compresses files using .bz2 format.​

71.​bunzip2 – Decompresses .bz2 files.​

72.​xz – Compresses files using .xz format.​

73.​unxz – Decompresses .xz files.​

74.​zip – Compresses files into .zip archive.​

75.​unzip – Extracts files from .zip archives.​

76.​7z – High-compression archiver for .7z files.​

77.​zcat – Views contents of a compressed file.​

Networking Commands
78.​ip – Configures and displays IP networking.​

79.​ifconfig – Displays or configures network interfaces (deprecated but still

used).​
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80.​ip a – Displays all network addresses (modern alternative to ifconfig).​

81.​ping – Checks connectivity to another host.​

82.​traceroute – Traces the route packets take to a host.​

83.​netstat – Displays network connections, routing tables, and stats (older

tool).​

84.​ss – Displays detailed socket statistics (modern replacement for

netstat).​

85.​dig – Queries DNS name servers.​

86.​nslookup – Performs DNS lookups (older tool).​

87.​host – Simple DNS query tool.​

88.​curl – Transfers data from or to a server using supported protocols.​

89.​wget – Non-interactive network downloader.​

90.​telnet – Connects to remote machines using Telnet protocol.​

91.​ssh – Connects to remote machines securely.​

92.​scp – Securely copies files between systems.​

93.​rsync – Efficiently syncs files and directories between systems.​

94.​ftp – Transfers files over FTP (less secure, older protocol).​

95.​nmcli – Command-line tool for controlling NetworkManager.​

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96.​nmap – Network scanner for hosts and open ports.​

97.​tcpdump – Captures and analyzes network packets.​

98.​iptables – Manages firewall rules.​

Package Management (Debian/Ubuntu)

99.​apt – Modern package management tool for Debian-based systems.​

100.​ apt-get – Legacy tool for package operations.​

101.​ apt-cache – Queries package information.​

102.​ dpkg – Low-level Debian package management tool.​

103.​ snap – Manages snap packages (universal packages).​

104.​ update-alternatives – Manages default system applications.​

Package Management (RHEL/CentOS/Fedora)

105.​ yum – Package manager for RPM-based systems (older systems).​

106.​ dnf – Modern replacement for yum.​

107.​ rpm – Low-level RPM package management.​

108.​ repoquery – Queries repository information.​

109.​ dnf info – Retrieves package info from DNF repos.​

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110.​ dnf clean – Clears metadata cache.​

System Information
111.​ uname – Displays system information like kernel version.​

112.​ hostnamectl – Controls system hostname and related settings.​

113.​ uptime – Shows how long the system has been running.​

114.​ whoami – Displays the current username.​

115.​ id – Shows user ID and group ID.​

116.​ top – Displays dynamic real-time view of running processes.​

117.​ vmstat – Reports memory, CPU, and I/O stats.​

118.​ free – Shows memory usage.​

119.​ lscpu – Displays CPU architecture info.​

120.​ lsblk – Lists block storage devices.​

121.​ lspci – Lists PCI devices.​

122.​ lsusb – Lists USB devices.​

123.​ dmesg – Displays kernel-related messages.​

124.​ uptime – Shows system running time.​

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125.​ arch – Displays system architecture.​

126.​ env – Shows all environment variables.​

Text Processing
127.​ cat – Displays the contents of a file.​

128.​ tac – Displays contents of a file in reverse order.​

129.​ nl – Numbers the lines of a file.​

130.​ more – Views files one page at a time (forward only).​

131.​ less – Advanced pager to view files forward and backward.​

132.​ head – Displays the beginning lines of a file.​

133.​ tail – Displays the ending lines of a file.​

134.​ cut – Removes sections from each line of input.​

135.​ split – Splits a file into pieces.​

136.​ paste – Merges lines of files horizontally.​

137.​ sort – Sorts lines in a file.​

138.​ uniq – Removes duplicate lines from sorted data.​

139.​ wc – Counts lines, words, characters.​

140.​ tr – Translates or deletes characters.​

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141.​ col – Filters control characters.​

142.​ fmt – Formats text for readability.​

143.​ fold – Wraps text at a specified width.​

144.​ strings – Extracts printable strings from binary files.​

145.​ grep – Searches text using patterns.​

146.​ egrep – Extended version of grep with more regex support.​

147.​ fgrep – Searches fixed strings (no regex).​

148.​ awk – Pattern scanning and text processing language.​

149.​ sed – Stream editor for filtering and transforming text.​

150.​ xargs – Builds and executes command lines from standard input.​

151.​ tee – Reads from standard input and writes to file and stdout.​

152.​ rev – Reverses lines character-wise.​

153.​ cut – Cuts sections from each line (by delimiter or byte).​

154.​ yes – Outputs a string repeatedly until stopped.​

Shell Scripting & Variables

155.​ bash – GNU Bourne Again SHell, standard shell on most systems.​

156.​ sh – Original Bourne shell.​

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157.​ alias – Creates shortcuts for commands.​

158.​ unalias – Removes defined aliases.​

159.​ export – Sets environment variables.​

160.​ source – Executes a script within the current shell.​

161.​ read – Reads input from user into a variable.​

162.​ set – Sets shell options and positional parameters.​

163.​ unset – Removes a variable or function definition.​

164.​ declare – Declares variables with attributes.​

165.​ trap – Catches signals and executes commands.​

166.​ shift – Shifts positional parameters in scripts.​

167.​ test – Evaluates conditional expressions.​

168.​ [ ] – Alternative syntax for test.​

Job Scheduling
169.​ cron – Time-based job scheduler.​

170.​ crontab – Installs, lists, and removes cron jobs.​

171.​ at – Schedules a one-time task.​

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172.​ batch – Schedules tasks to run when system load allows.​

173.​ anacron – Runs scheduled jobs missed due to downtime.​

174.​ systemctl list-timers – Lists all scheduled timers in systemd.​

System Services (Systemd)

175.​ systemctl – Manages services and the systemd system.​

176.​ service – Legacy tool to manage services.​

177.​ journalctl – Views logs managed by systemd.​

178.​ loginctl – Manages user logins in a systemd environment.​

179.​ hostnamectl – Configures hostname and related settings.​

180.​ timedatectl – Configures date and time.​

181.​ localectl – Configures system locale settings.​

Log Management
182.​ logrotate – Rotates and compresses log files.​

183.​ tail -f – Follows a file (commonly used for real-time log viewing).​

184.​ less /var/log/syslog – Views system logs page by page.​

185.​ journalctl -xe – Views system logs with error details.​

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Monitoring & Performance

186.​ iostat – Shows CPU and I/O statistics.​

187.​ vmstat – Reports on memory, swap, I/O, system activity.​

188.​ sar – Collects, reports system activity.​

189.​ uptime – Shows system load averages.​

190.​ free -h – Displays human-readable memory usage.​

191.​ watch – Repeats and displays output of a command periodically.​

192.​ top -n 1 – Captures system processes snapshot once.​

193.​ iotop – Monitors I/O usage by processes.​

194.​ dstat – Versatile resource statistics viewer.​

195.​ glances – Cross-platform monitoring tool.​

196.​ nmon – Performance monitoring for CPU, memory, network, and more.​

197.​ mpstat – Shows CPU usage for each processor.​

198.​ tload – Shows a graph of system load average.​

199.​ uptime -p – Shows pretty uptime format.​

200.​ hostname -I – Shows all IP addresses assigned to the host.