Man pages
are the authoritative source of information for specific Linux commands.
However, seldom do these man pages include practical examples for the commands that
might save some time for the user. Here, in this article, I give you the cheat sheet of Linux
commands. Let us know in the comments which ones you already knew and if you
discovered something new.
Table of Contents
1. Cheat Sheet for Linux commands
1. Files and directories
2. Variables and environment
3. Execution and processes
4. Networking
5. System Administration
6. Package Manangement
2. Further …
Cheat Sheet for Linux commands
For brevity, I have divided this Linux commands cheat sheet into sections. All the
commands in a section are often used in conjunction with the other Linux commands in the
section. That said, you might also find yourself using a combination of commands in the
different sections. That illustrates the power of Linux and the composability of these
programs.
Files and directories
cd / Change directory to the root of the filesystem.
cd target Change directory to the targetdirectory.
cd ~ Change directory to the home directory of the
user.
ls -l Long listing, displays file ownership and
permissions.
ls -ltr Long listing, but in reverse order of time.
Gives the newest files at the bottom.
cat /etc/system-release Displays the contents of the system-release
file – which distro and flavor you are running.
cat longfile.txt | more View a long file page by page.
cp source_file.txt target_file.txt Copies a specific file
cp -r ~/source_dir ~/target_dir Copies all files and sub-directories
recursively.
cp /etc/apt/sources.{d,d.backup} Create a backup of sources.d file without
having to type the full path of the file twice!
mkdir my_directory Make a directory with the name
of my_directory.
touch my_file Create a file with the name of my_file.
mv source_file target_file Move a file or a directory.
mv my_document.{txt,file} Rename a file
from my_document.txt to my_document.fi
le
grep -i doctor $(find . -name *.txt Find the string “doctor” in all the .txt files.
-print)
Variables and environment
echo $PATH Displays the PATH environment variable
env Displays all ENV variables
export PATH=$PATH:/anotherdir Adds “anotherdir” to your PATH, just for
your current session.
source ~/.bashrc Reloads .bashrc file. Required if new
variables were added or old ones modified
in .bashrc file and it is required that
changes take effect without restarting the
shell.
Execution and processes
./runmyprogram Execute a program or shell script in your
current working directory (pwd).
./runmyprogram & Execute a program or shell script as a
background task.
ps -ef Displays information about a selection of the
running processes.
ps -ef | grep thisprogram Find a particular process by name. Here,
find thisprogram.
top or htop Displays a real-time interactive list of running
processes.
kill -9 pid Kill the process with PID as pid.
kill -9 -1 Kill all processes it can kill. Forces a logout.
whereis executable Where all places can the executable be
found in the PATH?
which executable Which executable among all in PATH is
executed?
Networking
ip -4 a Shows the IPv4 address for all NICs.
curl https://ifconfig.me/ Fetch your external IP Address.
curl Retrieve the content (HTML)
https://www.linuxfordevices.com from https://www.linuxfordevices.com
wgethttps://someurl.com/somefile.ta wget is a useful utility for downloading files
r.gz from any website.
sudo netstat -pant | grep LISTEN Lists the various in-use TCP ports and the
processes using it.
sudo netstat -pan | grep 80 Lists the process listening on port 80.
System Administration
journalctl -b -p err Display all errors since the last boot.
systemctl status foo.service Check the status of foo.service
systemctl start/restart/stop Start/restart/stop foo.service
foo.service
systemctl enable/disable Enable/disable a service to startup on boot.
foo.service
shutdown now Shuts down the system immediately.
shutdown +4 Shut down the system but after 4 minutes.
reboot Performs a soft reboot.
Package Manangement
sudo apt install package-name Install a package on Debian/Ubuntu based
systems.
sudo dnf install package-name Install a package on RedHat based(Fedora,
CentOS) systems.
Further …
Although this Linux commands cheat sheet provides you with the most used commands,
it’s worthwhile to sit down and read the man pages of individual commands. You might
have an obscure problem but going through the man pages, you might stumble upon your
required solution. So, do read the man pages in conjunction with this cheatsheet. They’re
extremely useful.
