A Beginners guide for Linux users
File / Directory Related Commands
-
Clear the terminal
clear / ctrl + l -
Close the terminal
exit / ctrl + d -
Reset the terminal
reset -
Stop any program
ctrl + c -
Sleep any program
ctrl + z -
Check the history
ctrl + r / history -
Check last 30 commands
history | tail -30 -
Autocomplete Filename or Folder name
Tab -
Autocomplete command
Tab twice -
Autocomplete command with options
Tab three times
-
Update the system
sudo apt update # for some older packages sudo apt-get update -
Upgrade the system
sudo apt upgrade # for some older packages sudo apt-get upgrade -
Install a package
sudo apt install package_name # for some older packages sudo apt-get install package_name -
Remove a package
sudo apt remove package_name # for some older packages sudo apt-get remove package_name -
Remove a package and its dependencies
sudo apt autoremove package_name # for some older packages sudo apt autoremove package_name -
Search for a package
apt search package_name -
List all installed packages
apt list --installed -
List all available packages
apt list -
List all available packages with version
apt list --all-versions
-
Update the system
sudo pacman -Syyu -
Install a package
sudo pacman -S package_name -
Remove a package
sudo pacman -R package_name -
Search for a package
pacman -Ss package_name -
List all installed packages
pacman -Q -
List all available packages
pacman -Ss
-
Check the internet is working
ping google.com -
Check System and Kernel version
uname -a -
Check System version
cat /etc/os-release -
Check Kernel
uname -r -
Check hostname
hostname -
Check IP address
ip addr -
Check IP address (short)
ip a -
Check IP address (long)
ip address -
See user logged in
who -
See username
whoami -
Short information of logged in user
users -
See all users
cat /etc/passwd -
See all groups
cat /etc/group -
See all groups of a user
groups username -
See all users of a group
getent group groupname -
Reboot the system
sudo reboot -
Shutdown the system
sudo shutdown -h now / sudo poweroff / sudo halt / sudo init 0 / sudo systemctl poweroff -
Check the current date and time
date -
Check the current user
whoami -
Check the current user's home directory
echo $HOME -
Check the current user's shell
echo $SHELL -
Check the current user's path / executable paths of system
echo $PATH -
Check the current user's environment variables
env -
Check the current user's environment variables with values
env | grep -i "variable_name" -
Check the current user's environment variables with values in a file
env > env.txt -
Check the current user's environment variables with values in a file with root access
sudo env > env.txt -
See the top 10 processes
top -
See the top 10 processes with root access and sorted by memory usage
sudo top -o %MEM -
See the top 10 processes with root access and sorted by cpu usage
sudo top -o %CPU -
See the top 10 processes with root access and sorted by cpu usage and memory usage
sudo top -o %CPU,%MEM -
See the top 10 processes with root access and sorted by cpu usage and memory usage and show only the process id and the process name
sudo top -o %CPU,%MEM -p -c -
See the current running processes
ps -
See the current running processes in a tree format
pstree -
Kill a specific process
killall ProcessName -
See the system uptime
uptime -
See the system uptime in a specific format
uptime -p -
See the system monitor
htop -
See the system monitor with root access and sorted by memory usage
sudo htop -o %MEM -
See the system monitor with root access and sorted by cpu usage
sudo htop -o %CPU -
See the system monitor with root access and sorted by cpu usage and memory usage
sudo htop -o %CPU,%MEM -
See the system monitor with root access and sorted by cpu usage and memory usage and show only the process id and the process name
sudo htop -o %CPU,%MEM -p -c -
See the system monitor with root access and sorted by cpu usage and memory usage and show only the process id and the process name and show the process tree
sudo htop -o %CPU,%MEM -p -c -t
-
See the system's hardware information
sudo lshw -
See the system's hardware information in a specific format
sudo lshw -short -
See the system's hardware information in a specific format and show only the network devices
sudo lshw -short -C network -
See the system's hardware information in a specific format and show only the network devices and show the network devices in a tree format
sudo lshw -short -C network -class network -tree -
Check the system's memory usage
free -h -
Check CPU information
lscpu -
Check Memory information
sudo dmidecode -t memory -
Check Disk information
sudo dmidecode -t memory -
Check USB information
lsusb -
Check PCI information
lspci -
Check Partitions
lsblk -
Check Partitions with root access
sudo lsblk -
Check Partitions with root access and show only the partitions
sudo lsblk -p -
Check Partitions with root access and show only the partitions and show the partitions in a tree format
sudo lsblk -p -t -
Mount a partition
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt -
Unmount a partition
sudo umount /dev/sda1 -
Mount a partition with root access and show only the partitions and show the partitions in a tree format
sudo lsblk -p -t -
Read Write Mount a partition
sudo mount -o rw /dev/sda1 /mnt
-
Create a new directory
mkdir directory-name -
Create a new file
touch file-name -
Create multiple directories at a time
mkdir dir1 dir2 dir3 dir4 dir5 -
Create multiple files at a time
touch index.html style.css script.js -
Delete a directory with all it's child
rm -rf directory-name -
Delete a file
rm filename -
List down all the files and directories
ls -
List down all the files and directories with all the details
ls -l -
List down all the files and directories with all the details and hidden files
ls -la -
List down all the files and directories with all the details and hidden files and sort by size
ls -lS -
List down all the files and directories with all the details and hidden files and sort by time
ls -lt -
List down all the files and directories with all the details and hidden files and sort by time and reverse
ls -ltr -
List down all the files and directories with all the details and hidden files and sort by time and reverse and show only 10 files
ls -ltr | head -10 -
Open a file
cat filename -
Open a file with line numbers
cat -n filename -
Open a file with line numbers and show only 10 lines
cat -n filename | head -10 -
Open a file using vim
vim filename -
Open a file using vim and show only 10 lines
vim +10 filename -
Open a file using nano
nano filename -
Open a file using nano and show only 10 lines
nano +10 filename -
Open a file using gedit
gedit filename -
Count the number of lines in a file
wc -l filename -
Print the current working directory
pwd -
Change the current working directory
cd directory-name -
Change the current working directory to the home directory
cd ~ -
Change the current working directory to the parent directory
cd .. -
Change the current working directory to the root directory
cd / -
Copy a file
cp filename newfilename -
Copy a file to a directory
cp filename directory-name -
Copy a directory
cp -r directory-name newdirectory-name -
Copy a directory to a directory
cp -r directory-name directory-name -
Move a file
mv filename newfilename -
Move a file to a directory
mv filename directory-name -
Move a directory
mv -r directory-name newdirectory-name -
Move a directory to a directory
mv -r directory-name directory-name -
Rename a file
mv filename newfilename -
Rename a directory
mv directory-name newdirectory-name -
Create a symbolic link
ln -s filename linkname -
Create a hard link
ln filename linkname -
Create a hard link to a directory
ln -r directory-name linkname -
Create a symbolic link to a directory
ln -sr directory-name linkname -
Create a file with content
echo "Hello World" > filename -
Append content to a file
echo "Hello World" >> filename -
Create a file with content and open it using vim
echo "Hello World" > filename && vim filename -
Create a file with content and open it using nano
echo "Hello World" > filename && nano filename -
Create a file with content and open it using gedit
echo "Hello World" > filename && gedit filename -
Create a file with content and open it using cat
echo "Hello World" > filename && cat filename -
Create a .tar file
tar -cvf filename.tar directory-name -
Create a .tar.gz file
tar -cvzf filename.tar.gz directory-name -
Create a .zip file
zip -r filename.zip directory-name -
Extract a .tar file
tar -xvf filename.tar -
Extract a .tar.gz file
tar -xvzf filename.tar.gz -
Extract a .zip file
unzip filename.zip -
Find a file
find . -name filename