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It is my hope that these beginner Linux commands will provide you with a good start to your Linux command line adventures.
TIP 1: All of these beginner Linux commands should work from your command prompt (regardless which shell you�re using). Just in case some folks were not aware, you MUST press enter to invoke the command, and I try to cover the Linux commands I use most often such as cd, pwd, finger and man.TIP 2: For this summary, please note that the EX: stands for example and is not part of the command. Commands are denoted in courier type font. TIP 3: If you need help understanding what the options are, or how to use a command, try adding this to the end of your command: �help For example, for better understanding of the df command�s options, type: |
So, you have installed your favorite linux distro and you are sitting in front of it. Probably you must have heard a lot of frightening things about its console. Here you will see some basic linux commands which will help you to get familiar with linux command line. So let�s continue with the linux commands cheatsheet.
But first a few words about a very basic command called man. man comes from manual and it works like this man command_name. With this command you can view information on how to use any command of your system. There is even a man page for man! Try typing man man and you ll get the point. So if want further information and details on a command listed below just type man command_name
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 |
Finding files and text within files
updatedb | Update (create first time used) a database of all 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 |
Archived files
Decompresstar -xzf filename.tgz | Decompress tzg file |
tar -xzf filename.tar.gz | Decompress tar.gz file |
tar -xjf filename.tar.bz2 | Decompress tar.bz2 file |
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 |
ps | List all processes |
kill -9 pid | Kill process with id pid |
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 |
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 |
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 |
How to install TLS package on linux
cd #
wget http://sourceforge.net/projects/tls/files/tls/1.6/tls1.6-src.tar.gz/download
tar -xzvf tls1.6-src.tar.gz
cd tls1.6
./configure
make
make install