Linux/Basic commands
< Linux
Unix-like operating systems require a working knowledge of several basic commands. Unix®, Linux, BSD and such use a ubiquitous set of these based on the Single UNIX Specification and other standards. Learning to operate a command line interface is a key skill in learning Linux and BSD.
Commands where mistyping could have inconvenient consequences should be drafted in a text editor first and then pasted into terminal, or after a # hash character for temporarily marking the text of the command as a non-executable comment, which is then removed after typing the correct command.
Terminal emulators may support marking commands as comment in history through Ctrl+Alt+#.
Basic commands[edit | edit source]
| Name | Category | Description | First appeared |
|---|---|---|---|
| admin | SCCS | Create and administer SCCS files | |
| alias | Misc | Define or display aliases | |
| ar | Misc | Create and maintain library archives | |
| asa | Text Processing | Interpret carriage-control characters | |
| at | Process Management | Execute commands at a later time | Version 7 AT&T UNIX |
| awk | Text processing | Pattern scanning and processing language | Version 7 AT&T UNIX |
| basename | Filesystem | Return non-directory portion of a pathname | |
| bash | Shell | The Bourne-again shell | |
| batch | Process Management | Schedule commands to be executed in a batch queue | |
| bc | Misc | Arbitrary-precision arithmetic language | |
| bg | Process Management | Run jobs in the background | |
| break | Shell programming | Exit from for, while, or until loop | |
| c99 | C Programming | Compile standard C programs | |
| cal | Misc | Print a calendar | Version 5 AT&T UNIX |
| cat | Filesystem | Concatenate and print files | Version 1 AT&T UNIX |
| cd | Filesystem | Change the working directory | |
| cflow | C Programming | Generate a C-language flowgraph | |
| chgrp | Filesystem | Change the file group ownership | |
| chmod | Filesystem | Change the file modes/attributes/permissions | Version 1 AT&T UNIX |
| chown | Filesystem | Change the file ownership | Version 1 AT&T UNIX |
| chroot | Processes | run a command or interactive shell using a specific directory as the root directory | Prior to 4.2BSD |
| cksum | Filesystem | Write file checksums and sizes | 4.4BSD |
| cmp | Filesystem | Compare two files | Version 1 AT&T UNIX |
| comm | Text Processing | Select or reject lines common to two files | Version 4 AT&T UNIX |
| command | Shell Programming | Execute a simple command | |
| compress | Filesystem | Compress data | 4.3BSD |
| continue | Shell programming | Continue for, while, or until loop | |
| cp | Filesystem | Copy files | Version 1 AT&T UNIX |
| crontab | Misc | Schedule periodic background work | |
| csplit | Text Processing | Split files based on context | PWB UNIX |
| ctags | C Programming | Create a tags file | 3.0BSD |
| cut | Shell Programming | Cut out selected fields of each line of a file | |
| cxref | C Programming | Generate a C-language program cross-reference table | |
| date | Misc | Write the date and time | Version 1 AT&T UNIX |
| dd | Filesystem | Convert and copy a file | |
| delta | SCCS | Make a delta (change) to an SCCS file | |
| df | Filesystem | Report free disk space | Version 1 AT&T UNIX |
| diff | Text processing | Compare two files | |
| dirname | Filesystem | Return the directory portion of a pathname | |
| dot | Shell programming | Execute commands in the current environment | |
| du | Filesystem | Estimate file space usage | Version 1 AT&T UNIX |
| echo | Shell programming | Write arguments to standard output | |
| ed | Text processing | The standard text editor | Version 1 AT&T UNIX |
| env | Misc | list environment variables or invoke a command in a modified environment | |
| eval | Shell programming | Construct command by concatenating arguments | |
| ex | Text processing | Text editor | BSD |
| exec | Shell programming | Execute commands and open, close, or copy file descriptors | |
| exit | Shell programming | Cause the shell to exit | |
| expand | Text Processing | Convert tabs to spaces | 3.0BSD |
| export | Misc | Set the export attribute for variables | |
| expr | Shell Programming | Evaluate arguments as an expression | |
| false | Shell programming | Return false value | |
| fc | Misc | Process the command history list | |
| fg | Process Management | Run jobs in the foreground | |
| file | Filesystem | Determine file type | Version 4 AT&T UNIX |
| find | Filesystem | Find files | Version 1 AT&T UNIX |
| flex | C Programming | Generate programs for lexical tasks | |
| fold | Text processing | Filter for folding lines | |
| fort77 | C Programming | w:FORTRAN compiler | |
| fortune | Misc | Displays a random quotation | |
| ftp | Internet | Internet file transfer program | |
| fuser | Process Management | List process IDs of all processes that have one or more files open | |
| gawk | Text processing | Pattern scanning and processing language, GNU's version of awk | |
| gencat | Misc | Generate a formatted message catalog | |
| get | SCCS | Get a version of an SCCS file | |
| getconf | Misc | Get configuration values | |
| getopts | Shell Programming | Parse utility options | |
| grep | Misc | Search text for a pattern | |
| groups | Misc | List groups a user belongs to | |
| hash | Misc | Remember or report utility locations | |
| head | Text processing | Copy the first part of files | PWB UNIX |
| hostname | Networking | Show the system's host name | |
| iconv | Text processing | Codeset conversion | |
| id | Misc | Return user identity | 4.4BSD |
| iostat | Input/Output information | collect and show operating system storage input and output statistics | |
| ipcrm | Misc | Remove a message queue, semaphore set, or shared memory segment identifier | |
| ipcs | Misc | Report interprocess communication facilities status | |
| jobs | Process Management | Display status of jobs in the current session | |
| join | Text Processing | Relational database operator | |
| kill | Process Management | Terminate or signal processes | Version 3 AT&T UNIX |
| less | Text processing | Display files on a page-by-page basis | |
| lex | C Programming | Generate programs for lexical tasks | |
| link | Filesystem | Call link function | Version 1 AT&T UNIX |
| ln | Filesystem | Link files | Version 1 AT&T UNIX |
| locale | Misc | Get locale-specific information | |
| localedef | Misc | Define locale environment | |
| logger | Shell programming | Log messages | |
| login | Misc | Begin sessions on a system | |
| logname | Misc | Return the user's login name | 4.4BSD |
| logout | Misc | End sessions on a system | |
| lp | Text Processing | Send files to a printer | |
| ls | Filesystem | List directory contents | Version 1 AT&T UNIX |
| m4 | Misc | Macro processor | PWB UNIX |
| mailx | Misc | Process messages | Version 1 AT&T UNIX |
| make | Programming | Maintain, update, and regenerate groups of programs | |
| man | Misc | Display system documentation | |
| mesg | Misc | Permit or deny messages | Version 1 AT&T UNIX |
| mkdir | Filesystem | Make directories | Version 1 AT&T UNIX |
| mkfifo | Filesystem | Make FIFO special files | 4.4BSD |
| mktemp | Filesystem | Create a temporary file or directory | |
| more | Text processing | Display files on a page-by-page basis | |
| mount | Filesystem | Mount a file system | |
| mv | Filesystem | Move files | Version 1 AT&T UNIX |
| nano | Text Programming | Small text editor | |
| netstat | Networking | Displays network information and statistics | |
| newgrp | Misc | Change to a new group | Version 6 AT&T UNIX |
| nice | Process Management | Invoke a utility with an altered nice value | Version 4 AT&T UNIX |
| nl | Text Processing | Line numbering filter | |
| nm | C Programming | Write the name list of an object file | |
| nohup | Process Management | Invoke a utility immune to hangups | |
| od | Misc | Dump files in various formats | Version 1 AT&T UNIX |
| passwd | System | Set or change user password | |
| paste | Text processing | Merge corresponding or subsequent lines of files | Version 32V AT&T UNIX |
| patch | Text processing | Apply changes to files | |
| pathchk | Filesystem | Check pathnames | |
| pax | Misc | Portable archive interchange | 4.4BSD |
| pgrep | Process Management | Find processes with the given name using pattern matching | |
| pkill | Process Management | Kills processes with the given name using pattern matching | |
| pr | Text processing | Print files | Version 1 AT&T UNIX |
| printf | Shell programming | Write formatted output | 4.3BSD-Reno |
| prs | SCCS | Print an SCCS file | |
| ps | Process Management | Report process status | Version 4 AT&T UNIX |
| pstree | Process Management | Display a tree of processes | |
| pwd | Filesystem | print working directory - Return working directory name | |
| qalter | Batch Utilities | Alter batch job | |
| qdel | Batch Utilities | Delete batch jobs | |
| qhold | Batch Utilities | Hold batch jobs | |
| qmove | Batch Utilities | Move batch jobs | |
| qmsg | Batch Utilities | Send message to batch jobs | |
| qrerun | Batch Utilities | Rerun batch jobs | |
| qrls | Batch Utilities | Release batch jobs | |
| qselect | Batch Utilities | Select batch jobs | |
| qsig | Batch Utilities | Signal batch jobs | |
| qstat | Batch Utilities | Show status of batch jobs | |
| qsub | Batch Utilities | Submit a script | |
| read | Shell Programming | Read a line from standard input | |
| readonly | Misc | Set the readonly attribute for variables | |
| renice | Process Management | Set nice values of running processes | 4.0BSD |
| return | Shell Programming | Return from a function | |
| rm | Filesystem | Remove files or directories | Version 1 AT&T UNIX |
| rmdel | SCCS | Remove a delta from an SCCS file | |
| rmdir | Filesystem | Remove directories | Version 1 AT&T UNIX |
| sact | SCCS | Print current SCCS file-editing activity | |
| sar | System Administration | System Activity Report | Report System Activity |
| sccs | SCCS | Front end for the SCCS subsystem | |
| sed | Text processing | Stream editor | Version 7 AT&T UNIX |
| seq | Misc | Print a sequence of numbers | |
| set | Misc | Set or unset options and positional parameters | |
| sh | Shell programming | Shell, the standard command language interpreter | Version 7 AT&T UNIX |
| shift | Shell programming | Shift positional parameters | |
| shopt | Shell programing | Control optional shell behavior | |
| sleep | Shell programming | Suspend execution for an interval | Version 4 AT&T UNIX |
| sort | Text Processing | Sort, merge, or sequence check text files | |
| split | Misc | Split files into pieces | Version 3 AT&T UNIX |
| strings | C Programming | Find printable strings in files | |
| strip | C Programming | Remove unnecessary information from executable files | |
| stty | Misc | Set the options for a terminal | |
| suspend | Shell programming | Suspend execution of the shell until it receives a continue signal | |
| tabs | Misc | Set terminal tabs | PWB UNIX |
| tail | Text processing | Copy the last part of a file | PWB UNIX |
| talk | Misc | Talk to another user | 4.2BSD |
| tee | Shell programming | Duplicate standard input | |
| test | Shell programming | Evaluate expression | |
| time | Process Management | Time a simple command | Version 3 AT&T UNIX |
| times | Process Management | Write process times | |
| touch | Filesystem | Create file and Change file access and modification times | Version 7 AT&T UNIX |
| top | Process Management | Real-time display of running processes | |
| tput | Misc | Change terminal characteristics | System V |
| tr | Text processing | Translate characters | Version 4 AT&T UNIX |
| trap | Process Management | Trap signals | |
| true | Shell programming | Return true value | |
| tsort | Text processing | Topological sort | Version 7 AT&T UNIX |
| tty | Misc | Return user's terminal name | Version 1 AT&T UNIX |
| type | Misc | Displays how a name would be interpreted if used as a command | |
| ulimit | Misc | Set or report file size limit | |
| umask | Misc | Get or set the file mode creation mask | |
| umount | Filesystem | Unmount a filesystem | |
| unalias | Misc | Remove alias definitions | |
| uname | Misc | Return system name | PWB UNIX |
| uncompress | Misc | Expand compressed data | 4.3BSD |
| unexpand | Text Processing | Convert spaces to tabs | 3.0BSD |
| unget | SCCS | Undo a previous get of an SCCS file | |
| uniq | Text Processing | Report or filter out repeated lines in a file | Version 3 AT&T UNIX |
| unlink | Filesystem | Call the unlink function | Version 1 AT&T UNIX |
| unset | Misc | Unset values and attributes of variables and functions | |
| uucp | Network | System-to-system copy | |
| uudecode | Network | Decode a binary file | 4.0BSD |
| uuencode | Network | Encode a binary file | 4.0BSD |
| uustat | Network | uucp status inquiry and job control | |
| uux | Process Management | Remote command execution | |
| val | SCCS | Validate SCCS files | |
| vi | Text processing | Screen-oriented (visual) display editor | BSD |
| wait | Process Management | Await process completion | |
| wc | Text processing | Word, line, and byte or character count | Version 1 AT&T UNIX |
| what | SCCS | Identify SCCS files | |
| who | System Administration | Display who is on the system | Version 1 AT&T UNIX |
| write | Misc | Write to another user's terminal | Version 1 AT&T UNIX |
| xargs | Shell Programming | Construct argument lists and invoke utility | PWB UNIX |
| yacc | C Programming | Yet another compiler compiler | PWB UNIX |
| zcat | Text Processing | Expand and concatenate data |
Unix-like[edit | edit source]
Like RMS says, "GNU means GNU's Not Unix". Only Unix® is really Unix. Linux and the BSDs are definitely Unix-like though neither one is compliant with the above-mentioned "official" specification. What we present here is based on a set of tools that have been around for a long time. We will be looking at generalizations that behave in similar ways in most *nix environments.
BusyBox[edit | edit source]
BusyBox is a good example of a more basic collection of utilities and are well suited to the novice. They can be found in Mini Linux distributions, such as Tiny Core Linux.
Exercise 1 Go to TinyCoreLinux.com and check it out.
GNU Core Utilities[edit | edit source]
The GNU Core Utilities are much more extensive and not for the faint at heart. They are found on most full-sized BSD and Linux systems in their full glory.
Command line arguments[edit | edit source]
This section lists arbitrary commands that could be useful. Feel free to add any commands you found useful but are not sure where else to add. Some of these commands may require root access ("sudo").
Devices with example numbers are specified in these examples.
| Action | Command(s) |
|---|---|
| List devices of the class "disk" with model number | lshw -short -class disk
|
Details about a specific device (e.g. /dev/sr0) |
udisksctl info -b /dev/sr0
|
| Spin down hard disk or optical disc drive |
|
| Write caching It improves performance but could lose data if a device is physically disconnected shortly after a file transfer without safe unmounting. |
(replace "X" with the correct device name)
|
| Eject optical disc tray |
|
| Close optical disc tray |
|
| Get size of block device | blockdev --getsz /dev/[device]
|
Other useful commands[edit | edit source]
- datamash
- mtail
- parallel
- rsync advanced copy and synchronization tool including progress indicator
- sed stream editor for filtering and transforming text
- stress (command):
stress --cpu 4 - sudo
- tr
- ts adds a timestamp to the beginning of each line of input
ls– list filesuptime– time since last bootingdu– disk usage of files and directoriesdf– total disk usagereadlink:readlink -f [file path]generates an absolute (full) file pathstat– advanced details about a file like multiple date/time stamps, size, inode count, and access rights.losetup– loop device utilityblockdev– shows information and allows configuring data storage devices, such as read-only mode usingblockdev --setro.