My most used Linux commands
Input |
Description |
[ ] |
Brackets only represent a user input (what you have to type) |
[file] |
Type a file name + extension (".txt", ".css", ".js", etc) |
[folder] |
Type a folder name |
[directory] |
Type a directory path |
[word] |
Type a Word |
[host] |
Type a remote computer name + IP address (example: peterComputer@178.68.xx.x) |
[PID] |
Type a process ID. It's a number listed in "top" or "ps" command and identifies the process |
[site] |
Type a site name or IP address |
- Command description:
touch [file]
- Desired input #1:
touch myFile.html
- Desired input #2:
touch hello.txt
Below, the commands are organized in groups:
Command |
Description |
nano [file] |
Open file to edit |
mv [file] [file / directory] |
Rename/move file |
cp [file] [directory] |
Copy to directory |
rm -rf [file] |
Remove file (r = recursive, f = force) |
rm *[file] |
Wildcard: remove all files with same letter combination or extension |
rm *[file] |
Description |
rm * |
Remove all files |
rm *.js |
Remove all javascript files |
rm a*.txt |
Remove all text files beginning with the letter "a" |
Command |
Description |
list -l |
List files with detailed info (l = long) |
list -a |
List visible & insisible files (a = all) |
cat [file] |
Concatenate: print file content |
head [file] |
Print file's first 10 lines |
tail [file] |
Print file's last 10 lines |
less [file] |
Print file with navigation |
grep [word] [file] |
Search word in file and print corresponding line |
find -name [file] |
Find file directory |
Command |
Description |
touch [file] |
Create file |
mkdir [folder] |
Create folder |
echo [word] > [file] |
Write word inside file |
Command |
Description |
man [command] |
Get documentation about command |
history [command] |
Get the list of all typed commands |
CTRL + R [command] |
Reverse i-search: find command from history, based on typed input |
cd ~/.bash_history |
Go to invisible file in the HOME directory, which contains command history log |
SSH Key for Remote Access
Command |
Description |
ssh-keygen |
Create SSH key pair |
ls .ssh |
Confirm if SSH key was created |
ssh-copy-id [host] |
Copy SSH key to remote computer |
ssh [host] |
Login remote computer with SSH |
Command |
Description |
ifconfig |
Get network info |
hostname -I |
Get IPV4 & IPV6 info |
route |
Check if "default" line has IP, and if so, you can contact servers outside the local network |
ping [site] |
Check "packet loss" summary to see if you have a good internet connection |
whois [site] |
Get all info about domain names registered on the Internet |
whois [site] | grep [word] |
Search for word inside "whois" command (| = group commands together) |
whois [site] | head |
Get first 10 lines of "whois" command |
Command |
Description |
top |
List processes executing in the computer |
ps |
Similar to "ls" command, but for processes |
ps aux |
More detailed info to "ps" command |
kill [PID] |
Kill process |