100 Essential Linux Commands with Brief Descriptions
File and Directory Management
- ls - List files and directories.
- cd - Change the current directory.
- pwd - Display the current working directory.
- mkdir - Create a new directory.
- rmdir - Remove an empty directory.
- rm - Delete files or directories.
- cp - Copy files or directories.
- mv - Move or rename files or directories.
- touch - Create an empty file.
- find - Search for files or directories.
- locate - Quickly find files by name.
- stat - Display detailed information about a file or directory.
- tree - Show a hierarchical structure of directories.
- du - Show the disk usage of files or directories.
- df - Display available disk space.
File Handling
- cat - View the contents of a file.
- less - View file content page by page.
- more - Gradually display file content.
- head - Display the first few lines of a file.
- tail - Display the last few lines of a file.
- nano - Open a simple text editor.
- vim - Open an advanced text editor.
- cut - Extract specific parts of file content.
- sort - Sort data.
- uniq - Filter out repeated lines.
- wc - Count words, lines, and characters in a file.
- grep - Search for a pattern in a file.
- awk - Process and analyze text and data.
- sed - Modify file content on the fly.
- diff - Compare two files line by line.
- cmp - Compare two files byte by byte.
- tr - Translate or delete characters.
- cut - Extract specific columns or fields.
Permissions and Ownership
- chmod - Change file permissions.
- chown - Change file ownership.
- chgrp - Change file group ownership.
- umask - Set default file permissions.
- lsattr - List file attributes.
- chattr - Change file attributes.
System and Process Management
- top - Display real-time system performance and processes.
- htop - A more user-friendly process viewer.
- ps - Show running processes.
- kill - Terminate processes by PID.
- killall - Terminate all processes by name.
- bg - Resume a process in the background.
- fg - Bring a background process to the foreground.
- jobs - List background processes.
- nice - Start a process with a specified priority.
- renice - Change the priority of a running process.
- uptime - Show how long the system has been running.
- shutdown - Shut down the system.
- reboot - Restart the system.
- systemctl - Start, stop, or manage system services.
- service - Control system services.
- cron - Schedule recurring tasks.
- at - Run a command at a specified time.
Networking
- ping - Test connectivity to a host.
- traceroute - Show the route packets take to a host.
- curl - Transfer data from a URL.
- wget - Download files from the web.
- scp - Copy files over SSH.
- rsync - Synchronize data between locations.
- ftp - Start an FTP client.
- ifconfig - Configure network interfaces.
- ip - Manage network settings.
- netstat - Display network connections.
- ss - A faster alternative to netstat.
- nslookup - Query DNS servers.
- dig - Perform DNS lookups.
- iptables - Configure firewall rules.
- nmap - Scan networks.
Package Management
- apt-get - Manage packages on Debian-based systems.
- yum - Manage packages on Red Hat-based systems.
- dnf - Modern package manager for Red Hat systems.
- zypper - Package manager for openSUSE.
- pacman - Package manager for Arch Linux.
- snap - Universal package manager for Linux.
- flatpak - Manage modern app distributions.
Disk Management
- mount - Mount file systems.
- umount - Unmount file systems.
- fsck - Check and repair file systems.
- mkfs - Create a new file system.
- blkid - Display block device information.
- df - Check disk space usage.
- fdisk - Manage disk partitions.
- parted - Configure disk partitions.
- lsblk - List block devices.
- tune2fs - Adjust file system parameters.
User Management
- whoami - Show the current user's name.
- who - Display logged-in users.
- id - Show user ID and group information.
- adduser - Add a new user.
- usermod - Modify a user account.
- passwd - Change a user's password.
- groupadd - Add a new group.
- groups - Show groups a user belongs to.
- last - Display recent login history.
Miscellaneous Commands
- alias - Create command shortcuts.
- history - View previously executed commands.
- clear - Clear the terminal screen.
This list covers essential and advanced commands for effective Linux system usage. For detailed usage, refer to the manual pages with man <command>.
