/awesome-linux-commands

Awesome linux commands

A curated collection of essential Linux commands that are helpful to learn for beginners.

1- Navigation commands

used to navigate through the file system.

Command Description Example Usage
cd Change directory cd /home/user/Documents
ls List contents of directory ls -a
pwd Print current working directory pwd
mkdir Create new directory mkdir new_dir
rmdir Remove directory (if empty) rmdir empty_dir
rm Remove file rm file.txt
cp Copy file or directory cp file.txt new_file.txt
mv Move or rename file or directory mv file.txt new_dir/

2- File and directory commands

used to create, delete, copy, and move files and directories.

Command Description Example Usage
touch Create empty file touch file.txt
cat Print contents of file cat file.txt
head Print first 10 lines of file head file.txt
tail Print last 10 lines of file tail file.txt
less View and paginate file contents less file.txt
chmod Change file or directory permissions chmod 755 file.txt
chown Change file or directory ownership chown user:group file.txt

3- File viewing and editing commands

used to view and edit files.

Command Description Example Usage
nano Basic text editor nano file.txt
vi or vim Powerful text editor vi file.txt
grep Search file for text grep "search term" file.txt
find Search for file or directory find / -name file.txt

4- System commands

used to perform system-related tasks such as process management, system monitoring, and service management

Command Description Example Usage
uname Print system information uname -a
whoami Print current user whoami
date Print current date and time date
shutdown Shutdown the system shutdown now
reboot Reboot the system reboot
ps List running processes ps aux
top Display system resource usage top

5- Network commands

used to manage network-related tasks such as connecting to remote servers, checking network status, and managing network interfaces.

Command Description Example Usage
ping Test network connection ping google.com
nslookup Look up domain name or IP address nslookup google.com
ifconfig Configure network interface ifconfig eth0
ssh Secure shell client ssh user@hostname
scp Secure copy scp file.txt user@hostname:/path/to/destination

6- User and group commands

used to manage user accounts and groups on the system.

Command Description Example Usage
Command Description Example
--- --- ---
addgroup Create a new group addgroup groupname
adduser Create a new user adduser username
delgroup Remove a group delgroup groupname
deluser Remove a user deluser username
groups Show groups a user belongs to groups username
usermod Modify a user account usermod -aG groupname username
groupmod Modify a group account groupmod -n newgroupname groupname
chgrp Change group ownership of a file chgrp groupname filename
id Display user and group information for the current user id

7- Package management commands

used to manage packages and software on the system.

Command Description Example
apt-get install <package> Installs a package from the repository sudo apt-get install htop
apt-get remove <package> Removes a package sudo apt-get remove htop
apt-get update Updates the package list sudo apt-get update
apt-get upgrade Upgrades all installed packages to their latest version sudo apt-get upgrade
apt-cache search <package> Searches the package list for a package apt-cache search php
dpkg -i <package>.deb Installs a package from a .deb file sudo dpkg -i google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb
dpkg -r <package> Removes a package installed from a .deb file sudo dpkg -r google-chrome-stable
dpkg -l Lists all installed packages dpkg -l

8- Process management commands

used to manage processes and their resources.

Command Description Example
ps Display information about active processes. ps aux
kill Send a signal to a process to terminate it. kill 1234
killall Send a signal to all processes with a given name to terminate them. killall firefox
top Display a real-time view of the processes running on the system. top
htop A more advanced version of top. htop
nice Change the priority of a process. nice -n 10 command
renice Change the priority of a running process. renice -n 10 1234
pgrep Display the process IDs of processes matching a pattern. pgrep firefox
pkill Send a signal to processes matching a pattern to terminate them. pkill firefox

9- System information commands

used to display information about the system, such as hardware information, system uptime, and system version.

Command Description Example
df Display disk usage statistics df -h
lshw List hardware configuration lshw
lspci List PCI devices lspci
lsusb List USB devices lsusb
systemctl Control the systemd system and service manager systemctl status sshd
service Control system services service sshd start

10- Security commands

used to manage system security, such as configuring firewall rules, setting file permissions, and managing user authentication.

Command Description Example Usage
gpg Provides encryption and digital signature capabilities for files and emails. gpg --encrypt filename
passwd Allows a user to change their own password or an administrator to change the password of another user. passwd or passwd username
ssh Provides secure, encrypted communication between two untrusted hosts over an insecure network. ssh username@remote_host
sudo Allows a user to run a command as another user, typically the superuser. sudo command
ufw Uncomplicated Firewall is a user-friendly front-end for managing iptables firewall rules. sudo ufw allow ssh
fail2ban Scans log files and bans IPs that show malicious signs. sudo fail2ban-client status sshd
chroot Changes the root directory for the current running process and its children. sudo chroot /newroot /bin/bash
chmod Changes the file mode (permissions) of a file or directory. chmod 755 filename
chown Changes the owner and/or group of a file or directory. chown username:groupname filename
umask Sets the default permissions for newly created files and directories. umask 022