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Some basic Linux commands ...
(@hans)
Famed Member Admin
Joined: 10 years ago
Posts: 2457
Topic starter
May 1, 2022 4:30 AM
I did find a short list of a few basic Linux commands - familiar for me, but unknown to many.
So just for reference, I'm posting this here.
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 |
rmdir -rf dir_name |
Delete directory dir_name with all its content (careful!) |
Finding files and text within files
updatedb |
Update (create first time used) a database ofall 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 |
Dealing with Archives
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 |
ctrl+d |
exit shell / terminals |
ps |
List all processes |
kill -9 pid |
Kill process with id pid (careful!) |
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 |
Compile a simple C program
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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