Alphabet Command nameDetails Comment
A
awk used for data extraction from a file, mostly use for column extraction from a file
awk '{print $2}' file_name (it will print 2 column
content)
awk '{print $NF}' (it will print last column)
awk '/string/ {print}' file_name
awk '{if($3 >300) print $0}' file_name
awk '{if($3==333){$1="Sonu"} print $0 }' text
awk 'length($0)>15' text
awk -F, '{print $7}' country.txt (csv file , as delimeter)
alias to create shortcut to the command or task
alias d="ls -ltr | awk '{print $9}'"
alias -p (to check the existing alias)
after this
command,
next time
you just
need to
execute 'd'
at command used to schedule a task once
at 06:43 (then it will stuck in editing mode where you can
define task like
commands or script name and CTRL+D to finish)
at 09:00 AM SUN
at 09:00 AM AUG 30
at 09:00 AM 06.22.2024
at 09:00 AM tomorrow
atq to list existing jobs
atrm <id> to remove the jobs
arch to check linux is 64 or 32 bit
B
bc binary calculator bc
bash to run a bash script bash script.sh
basename Strips directory and suffix from filenames.
basename /usr/local/bin/script.sh
Outputs script.sh.
bg to send a stopped job in bg to run
sleep 50
Ctrl + z to stop
jobs to see this job
bg (it will start job in background)
cat
show content of file
concatenate two files
cat file_name
cat file1 file2 > file3
cat /proc/cpuinfo gives you info about your CPU resources
cat /proc/meminfo gives you infor about infor and its usage in details
cat /etc/redhat-release to check the linux version
cal show you calendar
cal
cal 1993 (full calculator of that year)
cal -1 1993 (to show month in 1993)
cd change directory
chmod change mode, to modify permissions of files
chmod o-r file_name ( - to remove permission)
chmod g+rw file_name. ( + to add permission)
chmod u+x file_name. ( u - user, g - group, o - other, a = all)
chown change ownership chown root/user_name folder/file_name
2.
C
chage We canuse this command to chnage the password expiry
chage -l paul (show all he details about account like password
expires etc)
chage -E 0 user_anme (To disable a account)
chage -E -1 user_name (To enable a account)
chgrp chnage group chgrp root/user_name folder/file_name
crontab
to run a command or script on given schedule (cant use as root)
To generate cron job http://www.cronmaker.com/
To set timezone use CRON_TZ=America/New_York
chrontab -e (for editing or creating new file_
Example of a simple cron job is:
* * * * * cd /home/paul/scripts && ./create_file.sh
chrontab -l (to show all the cron jobs)
cmp compare the content of files byte by byte cmp file1 file2
curl
to check if the webpage is up or not, will result into the webpage sourcecode
we can also download the software on linux
curl www.google.com
curl -O <download link>
cut
to filter out specific characters from the result of output or file, also useful when you want to
see only one or two column of a file
cut -c2 file_name
cut -c1-4 file_name
cut -c2,3 file_name
cut -d: -f 3 file_name (will show 3rd column separated
with : delimiter
cp use to copy a file from one location to another
cp source_file destination_file
cp -p source_file destination_file (if we use -p then it will
copy the file with original time when it was last modified)
createrepo
D
date to see the current date and time of system
date
date -s "28 Jun 2021 23:06:00 IST"
date +%F-%N (result: 2022-07-01-011018377)
dmesg print or control the kernel ring buffer dmesg
diff compare the content of files line by line diff file1.txt file2.txt
df report file system disk space usage df -h (h for human readable)
dmidecode print system hardware info dmidecode (only as root)
dnf Package manager for RPM-based distributions, successor to yum. (new version of linux) sudo dnf install httpd
dig DNS lookup utility dig www.google.com
dirname Strips the last component from a file name.
dirname /usr/local/bin/script.sh
Outputs /usr/local/bin
du file usage, disk utilization
du <file or folder location> (It will show all files size inside
that locaion)
du -sh <file or folder location> (-h is human readable and only
show the size of given folder)
E
egrep to search for a particular string/keyword from a file egrep "key1|key2" filename
echo Print something on terminal echo "hello"
env
to show env variables on linux
to set variable for the current user - .bashrc
to set variable for globally - /etc/bashrc or /etc/profile
then you need to fire 'source' command
To set the environement variable you need to use export command
3.
E
ethtool print NICinfo ethtool enps03
exit Exits the shell or a script. Close the current terminal (logout)
export used to set env vairable temporary
export TEST=1
to check, echo $TEST
F
find to search for a directory or file
find /tmp/ -name folder_name
find /path/to/search -type f -size +100M (find file based on
size)
find /path/to/search -mtime -7 (find file based on
modified time, 7 days)
file to check the type of file file <file_name>
free to check the free space free -h
fdisk give info about the disk availability fdisk -l
fg to bring the running job in foreground fg
fold to fold a line into a column
echo "ABC" | fold -w1 (w is how much width of each row)
output is:
A
B
C
ftp File Transfer Protocol client.
Example: fgrep 'text' file.txt
Usage: Searches for the fixed string text in file.txt. Useful
for beginners to search for exact matches in files.
fmt Simple text formatter. fmt myfile.txt
fsck Filesystem consistency check and repair.
Example: sudo fsck /dev/sda1
Usage: Checks and repairs the filesystem on /dev/sda1. Useful
for beginners to maintain filesystem integrity.
firewall-cmd firewall settings
firewall-cmd --add-port=8080/tcp --permanent
firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-service=http --permanent
firewall-cmd --reload
firewall-config it will open GUI to configure firewall settings
G
grep to search for a particular string/keyword from a file
grep keyword filename
grep -i keyword (to ignore the upper or lower cases)
grep -v keyword (search other than given keyword)
groupadd to add group
groupadd mygroup
check in /etc/group file
groupdel to delete group
groups Shows the groups a user is a member of.
Example: groups username
Usage: Lists all the groups that username belongs to. Useful for
beginners to check group memberships.
getenforce Displays the current SELinux mode.
Example: getenforce
Usage: Shows whether SELinux is enforcing, permissive, or
disabled. Useful for beginners to check SELinux status.
getfacl Gets file access control lists (if installed).
Example: getfacl filename
Usage: Displays the ACLs of filename. Useful for beginners to
view detailed file permissions.
4.
G
gzip, gunzip compressingand decompressing, usually we apply this on tar file
gzip name.tar
gunzip name.tar.gz or gzip -d name.tar.gz
H
head gives you starting lines head -2 file_name
hostname show your hostname hostname
hostnamectl to control and change the hostname hostnamectl set-hostname <new_hostname>
history Lists all the commands that have been entered in the current shell session. $history
htop An interactive process viewer (if installed).
help Help to show you how to use a command help cd
halt Stops the system.
I
ip addr show ip address and network related info
ifconfig show ip address and network related info
iostat
Report Central Processing Unit (CPU) statistics and input/output statistics for devices and
partitions.
init initi 0-6, 0-6 are different level at which we need to reboot
Usage: Shuts down the system (runlevel 0). Beginners should use
this with caution as it affects the system's state.
id show group and user detail of a user id user_name
J
jobs to see the current jobs and its state jobs
journalctl Queries and displays logs from systemd's journal.
Usage: Displays the most recent log entries with detailed
information. Useful for beginners to troubleshoot system issues
and view log files.
K
kill to kill any process
kill PID
kill -9 PID
killall Kills all processes by the specified name.
Example: killall httpd
Usage: Terminates all processes named httpd.
L
last show listing of last logged users last
less it show you file nicely manner page vise less file_name
ls to list the file
ls
ls -ltr
ls -la (to see hidden files)
ls -i (to see the inode)
ln to create hard or soft link
ln
ln -s source_file name_of_link
lscpu to check the linux machine sepec
lsblk Displays a tree of block devices.
lsmod Lists all currently loaded kernel modules.
locate its like find command but its search in its own db locate filename (to search this file on system)
M
mkdir to create a directory mkdir folder_name
more it gives you result one page at a time (in case if the output list is very big) ls -ltr | more
man to read more about a command (man cd) will give manual on cd command
mount Mounts a filesystem.
Example: sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
Usage: Mounts the filesystem on /dev/sda1 to the /mnt directory.
Useful for beginners to access filesystems and external drives.
mv to move or rename a file mv filename newname
5.
N
nohup to runa process in backgroup even if user close his terminal
nohup sleep 50
nohup sleep 50 > /dev/null 2>&1 &
nice to assign a process with priority nice -n 5 process_name (-19 to 20 will be priority)4
nano text editor to create, edit your files nano file_name
nslookup Queries Internet name servers interactively and DNS record
Example: nslookup example.com
Usage: Retrieves the DNS records for example.com.
nmcli Command-line client for NetworkManager.
Example: nmcli device status
Usage: Shows the status of network devices. Useful for beginners
to manage network connections.
nproc
Shows the number of processing units available. Example: nproc
Usage: Displays the number of CPU cores available. Useful for
beginners to understand system resources.
netstat
Print network connections, routing tables, interface statistics, masquerade connections, and
multicast memberships
netstat -rnv
netstat -tunlp (t-tcp, u-udp, n-no.of port, l-listening port, p-
PID programname)
netstat -4tunlp (will only show TCPv4 and exclude the TCPv6)
To check no. of connection from a specific IP
netstat -an | grep <IP>
O
od Dumps files in octal and other formats.
Example: od -c file.txt
Usage: Displays the content of file.txt in ASCII characters.
openssl A toolkit for the Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocols.
Example: openssl genpkey -algorithm RSA -out private_key.pem
Usage: Generates a private key using RSA. Useful for beginners
to manage SSL/TLS certificates and keys.
P
pwd print working dir pwd
passwd to change password of a user passwd userid
ps to check if a given process is running or not ps -ef | grep <service/process_name>
printenv to show the env variables
pskill Terminates processes by name
Example: sudo pskill firefox
Usage: Kills all processes with the name firefox. Useful for
beginners to terminate specific applications.
pv Monitors the progress of data through a pipeline (if installed).
Example: pv file.txt | gzip > file.txt.gz
Usage: Shows progress of compressing file.txt to file.txt.gz.
Useful for beginners to visualize data processing.
parted Manages disk partitions.
Example: sudo parted /dev/sda
Usage: Opens the partition editor for the disk /dev/sda. Useful
for beginners to create, delete, and modify partitions.
ping used to check the network connectivity
ping ip
ping -c 1 ip (only try once)
Q quota Displays disk usage and limits.
quotacheck
Scans a filesystem for disk usage, creates, and updates quota files.
rm to remove/delete folder/file
rm file_name
rm -rf folder_name
rpm reh hat package manager, used to list, install or uninstall packages
rpm -qa (to list all the installed packages)
rpm -e <package_name> (to uninstall any package)
6.
R
rsync to synchronizedand transfer the data on local system or between local and remote system
rsync -avz source destination
rsync -avzh destination source (from remote)
renice To change the priority of already running program renice -n 5 process_name
runlevel to check the current system run-level
rename Renames multiple files.
Example: rename 's/.txt/.bak/' *.txt
Usage: Renames all .txt files to .bak. Useful for beginners to
rename files in bulk.
route Shows/manipulates the IP routing table (deprecated, use ip route instead).
Example: route -n
Usage: Displays the routing table. Useful for beginners to view
network routes.
reboot halt, poweroff, reboot - Halt, power-off or reboot the machine
script
to record your activity until you exit
it will store all the activity a user perform and store in a file so you can keep ther record of the
over all activity
script <file_name>
and start your activity
once done, hit exit Ctrl+D
sed replace string, find/delete line, remove empty lines
sed 's/<string_to_change>/<new_string>/g' file_name (only
show change)
sed -i 's/Prashant/Potty/g' file_name (change in file)
sed -i '5!s/Prashant/Potty/g' file_name (change everywhere
except line 5)
sed -i 's/Prashant//g' file_name (just to remove word)
sed '1d' file_name (to delete first line)
sed '1,2d' file_name
sed '/st/ /g' (to replace tab with space)
sed -n '3,5p' text (to show only 3 to 5 lines)
sed -n '3,4d' text (to delete 3 to 5 lines and show)
sed -n '$d' file_name ($ is last line)
sed -i '/^$/d' text (to remove empty lines)
sosreport
generate report
collect and diagnostic support data and package, it will create a zip file under /var/tmp
sos report
split split any files into different small files based on given line no. split -l 300 file_name
sort sort the conent of file
sort file (sort based on starting no. or letter)
sort -r file (Reverse sort)
sort -k2 file (k is column)
If you are sorting number (not based on starting no. but
weightage)
sort -n file_name
sort -h (human redable no.)
To sort only unique no.
sort -un file
Example of
sort -h
99K
8M
96K
Sorting will
be
96K
99K
8M
sudo to switch the user or execute a command which need superuser access
sudo -iu paul
sudo yum install nginx
7.
S
shuf to shuffleeach line within a file or stdin
A
B
C
cat file | shuf
B
C
ssh Secure Shell, used to connect to remote servers. Example: ssh user@hostname
ssh-keygen Generates, manages, and converts authentication keys for SSH.
Example: ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 2048
Usage: Generates an RSA key pair with 2048-bit encryption.
Useful for beginners to set up SSH key-based authentication.
scp Secure copy, used to copy files to remote servers
Example: scp file.txt user@remote_host:/path/to/destination
Usage: Copies file.txt to remote_host under
/path/to/destination.
shutdown shutdown your server, Halt, power-off or reboot the machine
strings Displays printable strings in files.
Example: strings binaryfile
Usage: Extracts and displays printable strings from binaryfile.
Useful for beginners to find readable text in binary files.
systemctl Control the systemd system and service manager
systemctl start <service_name> like chronyd
systemctl status chronyd
T
tail gives you last few lines
tail -2 file_ame
tail -f file_name (will keep update the logs)
tar grouping of files
tar cvf name.tar file_path
tar xvf name.tar
tar -tf name.tar (will show or list the content of tar file)
-----------------------
tar and zip at the same time
tar -zcvf name.tar.gz file_path
tar -zxvf name.tar.gz
NOTE: tar.gz and tgz is the same thing
tr
to translate or delete
echo "hello" | tr [:lower:] [:upper:]
delete the lowercase: | -d [:upper:]
space with tab: | [:space:] "t"
delete or change digits: | -d [:digit:]
[:punct:]
tee to store and display the output of a command at the same time
ls -ltr | tee dir.txt
ls -ltr | tee -a dir.txt (to append)
telnet to check connectivity from your linux server to outside telnet ip port
touch to create a file
touch file-name
touch -d "Thu, 1 Mar 2018 12:30:00" <file_name>
To create
file with
given date
truncate to reduce the file of the size, but your data will be lost (its not like compressing) truncate -s 50 file_name
tcpdump to capture the incoming and outgoing traffic over the network interface tcpdump -i <interface_name>
8.
T
traceroute Traces theroute packets take to a network host.
Example: traceroute example.com
Usage: Displays the route packets take to reach example.com.
Useful for beginners to diagnose network paths and issues.
top to monitor the server including CPU, storage usage and process runnning etc top
U
uname show name of system
uname
uname -a
uptime show how many users logged in, average load on cpu and active time of your server uptime
uniq
Identify duplicate lines
NOTE: To use the uniq, the date should be sorted first as it compare line with it's previous to
find the duplicate
sort file | uniq
To count/find the no. of instances of duplicates (ex: how many
times Prashant arrived in list)
sort file | uniq -c
umask
to change the default permissions for newly created files
normally the permission is picked from bashrc of user and etc
umask u+rw,g+r,o-rwx
just doing this will be temporary
when you only execute 'umask' it will give result like 0022
so it means default permission will be 0777-0022 = 0755 (r-x)
unzip
Extracts compressed files from a ZIP archive.
Example: unzip archive.zip
Usage: Extracts the contents of archive.zip into the current
directory.
updatedb Updates the database used by locate.
Example: sudo updatedb
Usage: Refreshes the database for the locate command, allowing
it to find files more efficiently. Useful for beginners to keep
the file database up-to-date.
useradd add user
useradd <name_of_user>
useradd -g superheores -s /bin/bash -c "thor charac" -m -d
/home/thor thor
userdel del user
userdel <name_of_user>
userdel -r (will remove home directory)
userdel -f (force delete even if the user is logged in)
usermod modify user usermod -G superheores hulk (to add user to a new group)
V
vi vim text editor to edit a file or creat a file vi file_name
vmstat Reports virtual memory statistics.
Example: vmstat 2 5
Usage: Displays system performance statistics every 2 seconds
for 5 iterations. Useful for beginners to monitor system
performance, including CPU, memory, and I/O.
vgs Displays information about volume groups.
Example: vgs
Usage: Lists all volume groups and their attributes. Useful for
beginners to manage LVM (Logical Volume Manager) storage.
visudo used to change the user roles and permissins by editing /etc/sudoers file as root only visudo
W
w show who is logged on what the user is doing w
who show who is logged on to your linux server who
which It will show the path of executable file which pwd
wc word counter, helps you find no. of words, words present in how many lines etc
wc -l/w/c file
grep "key" file | wc -l
write to wirte a message to a user, mostly use duing maintenance write user_name
wall to broadcast your message wall
9.
W wget todownload something in linux wget <download_link_of_file>
X
xargs Builds and executes command lines from standard input.
Example: echo "file1 file2 file3" | xargs rm
Usage: Removes file1, file2, and file3. Useful for beginners to
construct command lines from input.
Y
yum to install packages, downlaod and update
yum install package_name
yum update -y
yum remove nginx
yum search nginx
yum list installed
Z
zcat To read content of compressed file Example: zcat file.gz
zip To compress
Example: zip archive.zip file1 file2
Usage: Creates a ZIP archive named archive.zip containing file1
and file2. Useful for beginners to compress files.
zipinfo List detailed information about the contents of a ZIP file. Example: zipinfo archive.zip
zgrep Search compressed files for a pattern using grep.
Example: zgrep "pattern" file.gz
Usage: Searches for pattern in file.gz. Useful for beginners to
search within compressed files.