Switching to Linux was a wonderful decision, now it's time to
explore its power - the command line!
So you have just switched to Linux and trying to figure out what was the
fuss about the command prompt as the most powerful tool. Well here's a list of
Linux commands for a beginner to help you get a glimpse of what the command
prompt can do for you.
Viewing, copying, moving and deleting files
ls
|
Display the contents
of the current directory
|
ls -a
|
Display also hidden
files and hidden directories
|
cp filename
/path/dir_name
|
Copy filename into
directory /path/dir_name
|
cp -r dir_name
/path/dir_name2
|
Copy the entire
dir_name into /path/dir_name2
|
cp filename1
filename2 /path/dir_name
|
Copy filename1 and
filename2 into /path/dir_name
|
rm name
|
Remove a file or
directory called name
|
rm -r name
|
Remove an entire
directory as well as its included files and subdirectories
|
mv filename
/path/dir_name
|
Move filename into
/path/dir_name
|
mv filename1
filename2
|
Rename filename1 to
filename2
|
cat filename
|
Display filenames
contents
|
more filename
|
Display filename in
pages. Use spacebar to view next page
|
head filename
|
Display filenames
first 10 lines
|
head -15 filename
|
Display filenames
first 15 lines
|
tail filename
|
Display filenames
last 10 lines
|
tail -15 filename
|
Display filenames
last 15 lines
|
pwd
|
Display current
directory
|
cd /path/dir_name
|
Change to directory
/path/dir_name
|
cd ..
|
Go 1 directory up
|
mkdir dir_name
|
Create directory
dir_name
|
rmdir dir_name
|
Delete directory
dir_name
|
Finding files and text within files
updatedb
|
Update (create first
time used) a database of all files under the root directory /
|
locate filename
|
Find file filename
searching in the database
|
find / -name
filename
|
Starting from the
root directory search for the file called filename
|
find / -name
*filename
|
Same as above but
search for file containing the string filename
|
grep string
/path/dir_name
|
Starting from
/path/dir_name search for all files containing string
|
which
application_name
|
Search $path for
application app_name
|
whereis
application_name
|
Search $path, man
pages and source files for application_name
|
Archived files Decompress
tar -xzf
filename.tgz
|
Decompress tzg file
|
tar -xzf
filename.tar.gz
|
Decompress tar.gz
file
|
tar -xjf
filename.tar.bz2
|
Decompress tar.bz2
file
|
Compress
tar -czf
filename.tar /path/dir_name
|
Compress directory
/path/dir_name to filename.tar
|
gzip -c filename
> filename.gz
|
Compress
/path/dir_name to filename.tar.gz
|
bzip2 -c filename
> filename.bz2
|
Compress
/path/dir_name to filename.tar.bz2
|
Using rpm files
rpm -hiv package.rpm
|
Install rpm called
package.rpm
|
rpm -hiv --force
package.rpm
|
Install rpm called
package.rpm by force
|
rpm -hUv package.rpm
|
Upgrade rpm called
package.rpm
|
rpm -e package.rpm
|
Delete rpm called
package.rpm
|
rpm -qpil
package.rpm
|
List files in
not-installed rpm called package.rpm
|
rpm -ql package.rpm
|
List files in
installed rpm called package.rpm
|
rpm -q str
|
List installed rpms
containing the string str
|
rpm -qf
/path/application_name
|
Display the rpm that
contains application application_name
|
Starting and Stoping
startx
|
Start the X system
|
shutdown -h now
|
Shutdown the system
now and do not reboot
|
halt
|
Same as above
|
shutdown -r now
|
Reboot
|
reboot
|
Same as above
|
shutdown -r +10
|
Reboot in 10 minutes
|
Mounting filesystems
mount -t vfat
/dev/sd(a)(1) /mnt/c_drive
|
Mount the first
partition 1 of the first hard disk drive a which is in fat32 vfat dormat
under /mnt/c_drive directory
|
mount -t iso9660
/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
|
Mount cdrom under
/mnt/cdrom directory
|
umount /mnt/hda1
|
Unmout the above
|
User administration
users
|
Display users
currently logged in
|
adduser username
|
Create a new user
called username
|
passwd username
|
Define password for
user called username
|
who
|
List logged-in users
|
whoami
|
Display current user
|
finger username
|
Displays info about
user username
|
su
|
Log in as root from
current login
|
su -
|
Log in as root from
current login and take root's path
|
exit
|
Exit from console
login (ie, logout).
|
Processes
command
|
Execute command in
the foreground
|
command &
|
Execute command in
the background
|
ctrl+z
|
Suspend a program
|
ctrl+c
|
Interrupt a program
|
ps
|
List all processes
|
kill -9 pid
|
Kill process with id
pid
|
top
|
Monitor processes in
real time
|
Networking
hostname
|
List the system's
hostname
|
ifconfig
|
Set/Display network
information
|
host ip
|
Resolves ip's
hostname
|
ping ip/hostname
|
Check if ip/hostname
is reachable
|
traceroute
ip/hostname
|
Find network path to
ip/hostname
|
System Information
uname -a
|
General system
information
|
fdisk -l
|
List partition
tables
|
cp filename
/path/dir_name
|
Copy filename into
directory /path/dir_name
|
df -T -h
|
List filesystem disk
space usage
|
lspci
|
List PCI devices
|
lsusb
|
List USB devices
|
free -m
|
Display RAM+Swap
usage
|
Program Compile
gcc -o output file.c
|
Compile a C program
|
./output
|
Run a C program you
have compiled
|
g++ -o output
file.cpp
|
Compile a C++
program
|
./output
|
Run a C++ program
you have compiled
|
./configure
&& make && su -c 'make install'
|
Configure, compile
and install a program with Makefile
|
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