Top 50 Linux Command You Must Know

Table of Contents
  • ls - view contents of directory (list)
  • pwd - path of the current directory
  • cd - change directory
  • mkdir - make new directory
  • mv - move files / rename files
  • cp - copy files
  • rm - remove files
  • touch - create blank new file
  • rmdir - delete directory
  • cat - list content of file to terminal
  • clear - clear terminal window
  • echo - move data into a file
  • less - read text file one screen at a time
  • man - show manual of linux commands
  • sudo - enables you to perform tasks that require administrative or root permission
  • top - task manager in terminal
  • tar - used to archive multiple files into a tarball
  • grep - used to searching words in specific files
  • head - view first lines of any text file
  • tail - view last lines of any text file
  • diff - compress the contents of two files line by line
  • kill - used for killing program
  • jobs - display all current jobs along with their statuses
  • sort - is a command line utility for sorting lines of text files
  • df - info about system disk
  • du - check how much space a file or directory takes
  • zip - to compress your files into a zip archive
  • unzip - to extract the zipped files from a zip archive
  • ssh - a secure encrypted connection between two hosts over the insecure network
  • cal - shows calendar
  • apt - command line tool for interacting with packaging system
  • alias - custom shortcuts used to represent a command
  • whois - current user info
  • whereis - used to locate the binary, source, manual page files
  • whatis - used to get one-line man page description
  • useradd - used to create a new user
  • passwd - used to changing password of current user
  • whoami - print current user
  • uptime - print current time when machine starts
  • free - print free disk space info
  • history - print used commands history
  • uname - print detailed information about your linux system
  • ping - to check connectivity status to a server
  • chmod - to change permissions of files and directories
  • chown - to change ownership of files and directories
  • find - used to find or searches for files and directories
  • locate - used to locate a file, just like the search command in windows
  • ifconfig - print ip address stuff
  • ipa - similar to ifconfig but shortest print
  • finger - gives you s short dump of info about a user