Linux Usage Set by Set guide

Step 1: Opening the Terminal

Shortcut: Press `Ctrl + Alt + T` on most Linux distributions.
Or
Menu Search: You can also search for "Terminal" in your application menu or launcher.

Step 2: Basic Structure of a Linux Command

General Format: `command [options] [arguments]`
Command: The action you want to perform, like `ls`, `cd`, or `cp`.
Options (optional): Modify the behavior of the command (e.g., `l` for detailed listing in `ls`).
Arguments (optional): Specify files, directories, or other targets (e.g., `ls /home`).
Meaning of ls, cd,cp
1. `ls` — List Files and Directories
The `ls` command lists files and directories in the current directory (folder) or a specified
directory.
Syntax: `ls [options] [directory]`
Examples:
`ls` — Lists all files and folders in the current directory.
`ls l` — Lists files with detailed information (like permissions, owner, size, and modification
date).
`ls /home/user` — Lists files in the `/home/user` directory.

2. `cd` — Change Directory

The `cd` command changes the current working directory to another directory you specify.
Syntax: `cd [directory]`
Examples:
`cd Documents` — Moves to the `Documents` directory inside the current directory.
`cd ..` — Goes up one level in the directory hierarchy (to the parent directory).
`cd ~` or just `cd` — Goes to the user's home directory.
3. `cp` — Copy Files and Directories
The `cp` command copies files or directories from one location to another.
Syntax: `cp [options] source destination`
Examples:
`cp file1.txt /path/to/destination/` — Copies `file1.txt` to the specified destination.
`cp r folder1 /path/to/destination/` — Recursively copies `folder1` and its contents to the
destination.

Step 3: Navigating the File System

A Bash command in Linux refers to a directive that you can enter into the Bash shell to
perform a specific task or set of tasks. Each command is generally a program or script that
can execute functions ranging from file manipulation and system monitoring to network
operations and software
1. Find Your Current Location: Type `pwd` to print your current directory (folder).
bash
pwd

2. Change Directory: Use `cd` to move to a different directory.

Example: To go to the `Documents` directory, type:
bash
cd Documents

Go back to the home directory:

bash
cd ~

3. List Files and Directories: Type `ls` to list contents.

For a detailed list, use:
bash
ls l
Step 4: Managing Files and Directories
1. Create a New Directory: Use `mkdir`.
Example: Create a directory named "test_folder":
bash
mkdir test_folder
2. Create a New File: Use `touch`.
Example: Create a file named `example.txt`:
bash
touch example.txt

3. Copy Files: Use `cp`.

Example: Copy `example.txt` to the `test_folder` directory:
bash
cp example.txt test_folder/

4. Move or Rename Files: Use `mv`.

Example: Move `example.txt` to `test_folder`:
bash
mv example.txt test_folder/

5. Delete Files: Use `rm`.

Example: Delete `example.txt`:
bash
rm example.txt

6. Delete a Directory and its Contents: Use `rm r`.

Example: Delete `test_folder` and all its contents:
bash
rm r test_folder
Step 5: Viewing and Editing Files
1. View File Content: Use `cat`.
Example: View the contents of `example.txt`:
bash
cat example.txt

2. Edit a File: Use a text editor like `nano`.

Example: Open `example.txt` in `nano`:
bash
nano example.txt

Step 6: Getting Help with Commands

1. Manual Pages: Use `man` followed by the command name for detailed info.
Example: Learn about the `ls` command:
bash
man ls

2. Quick Help: Many commands support a `help` option.

Example: Get a summary of options for `ls`:
bash
ls help

Step 7: Closing the Terminal

Exit Command: Type `exit` and press `Enter`.
```bash
exit
```
 BASIC LINUX COMMANDS
Section 1: User-Level Commands
Section 2: Admin-Level Commands
Section 3: Network-Level Commands

Section 1: User-Level Commands

1. Navigation Commands
`pwd` — Print the current working directory. This shows the absolute path of the directory you’re
currently in.
`cd` — Change directory. Moves between directories.
`cd ~` or simply `cd` — Go to the home directory.
`cd /path/to/directory` — Move to a specific directory.
`ls` — List files and directories.
`ls l` — List files and directories with detailed information.
`ls a` — Include hidden files in the listing.
`ls lh` — Display sizes in humanreadable format.

2. File and Directory Management Commands

`mkdir directory_name` — Create a new directory.
Example: `mkdir my_directory`
`rmdir directory_name` — Remove an empty directory.
Example: `rmdir my_directory`

3. File Manipulation Commands

`touch filename` — Create a new empty file.
Example: `touch file.txt`
`cp source destination` — Copy files or directories.
 `cp file1.txt /path/to/destination/` — Copy `file1.txt` to another location.
`cp r dir1 /path/to/destination/` — Copy a directory and its contents.
`mv source destination` — Move or rename files and directories.
`mv file.txt /path/to/destination/` — Move `file.txt` to another location.
`mv oldname.txt newname.txt` — Rename `oldname.txt` to `newname.txt`.
`rm filename` — Remove (delete) a file.
`rm file.txt` — Delete `file.txt`.
`rm r directory_name` — Remove a directory and its contents.
Example: `rm r my_directory`

4. File Display Commands

`cat filename` — View the content of a file.
`less filename` — View a file with the option to scroll up and down.
`head filename` — Show the first 10 lines of a file.
`tail filename` — Show the last 10 lines of a file.

5. File and Directory Permissions

`chmod options filename` — Change the permissions of a file or directory.
Example: `chmod 755 file.txt` — Sets the permissions to `rwxrxrx`.

6. Getting Help with Commands

`man command_name` — Show the manual for a command.
Example: `man ls` — Display the manual for `ls`.
`command help` — Display basic help for a command.
Example: `ls help`
Here's a list of essential Linux commands for managing file permissions and ownership, along with
brief descriptions.
7. View File Permissions and Ownership
`ls l`
Lists files in long format, showing permissions, owner, group, file size, and modification date.

`stat filename`
Displays detailed information about a file, including permissions, ownership, and timestamps.

8. Change File Permissions Using Symbolic Notation

`chmod u+rwx filename`
Adds read (r), write (w), and execute (x) permissions to the user (owner) for `filename`.

`chmod gw filename`
Removes write permission from the group for `filename`.

`chmod o+x filename`

Adds execute permission to others for `filename`.

`chmod u=rw,go=r filename`

Sets specific permissions: user has read and write, group and others have read only.

9. Change File Permissions Using Numeric Notation

`chmod 755 filename`
Sets permissions to read, write, execute for the owner (7), and read and execute for group and
others (5).
`chmod 644 filename`
Sets permissions to read and write for the owner (6), and readonly for group and others (4).
10. Change Ownership
`chown new_owner filename`
Changes the owner of `filename` to `new_owner`.
`chown new_owner:new_group filename`
Changes both owner and group of `filename` to `new_owner` and `new_group`.
`chown R new_owner directory_name`
Recursively changes the owner of all files and subdirectories within `directory_name` to
`new_owner`.

11. Change Group Ownership

`chgrp new_group filename`
Changes the group of `filename` to `new_group`.

`chgrp R new_group directory_name`

Recursively changes the group ownership for all files and subdirectories within
`directory_name`.

12. Additional Commands for Special Permissions

`chmod u+s filename`
Sets the SUID (Set User ID) permission on `filename`, allowing the file to run as the file owner’s
permissions.
`chmod g+s filename`
Sets the SGID (Set Group ID) permission on `filename`, allowing the file to run with group
permissions.
`chmod +t directory_name`
Sets the sticky bit on a directory, restricting deletion of files inside it to the file owner.

13. Creating a Text File

`touch filename.txt`: Creates an empty text file named `filename.txt`.
`echo "text" > filename.txt`: Creates a file and writes "text" into `filename.txt`.
 `nano filename.txt` or `vim filename.txt`: Opens `filename.txt` in a text editor to add content
manually.

14. Viewing File Contents

`cat filename.txt`: Displays the entire contents of `filename.txt`.
`less filename.txt`: Opens `filename.txt` in a scrollable view; use up/down arrows to navigate.
`more filename.txt`: Similar to `less`, but only allows forward navigation.
`head filename.txt`: Shows the first 10 lines of `filename.txt`.
`tail filename.txt`: Shows the last 10 lines of `filename.txt`.
`tail f filename.txt`: Continuously monitors `filename.txt` for new content, useful for log files.

15. Searching for Patterns in a File

`grep "pattern" filename.txt`: Searches for "pattern" in `filename.txt` and displays matching lines.
`grep i "pattern" filename.txt`: Caseinsensitive search for "pattern".
`grep r "pattern" /path/to/directory`: Searches recursively for "pattern" in all files within the
specified directory.
`grep n "pattern" filename.txt`: Shows line numbers along with matching lines.
`grep v "pattern" filename.txt`: Displays lines that do not contain "pattern".

16. Replacing Text in a File

`sed 's/oldtext/newtext/' filename.txt`: Replaces the first occurrence of "oldtext" with "newtext"
in each line of `filename.txt`.
`sed 's/oldtext/newtext/g' filename.txt`: Replaces all occurrences of "oldtext" with "newtext" in
each line.
`sed i 's/oldtext/newtext/g' filename.txt`: Replaces all occurrences of "oldtext" with "newtext" in
each line, saving changes directly to `filename.txt`.
`sed 's/oldtext/newtext/2' filename.txt`: Replaces the second occurrence of "oldtext" with
"newtext" in each line.
Additional Useful Commands
`awk '{print $1}' filename.txt`: Displays the first column of each line in `filename.txt`, useful for
structured data.
`tr '[:lower:]' '[:upper:]' < filename.txt`: Converts all lowercase letters to uppercase in
`filename.txt`.
`sort filename.txt`: Sorts lines in `filename.txt`.
`uniq filename.txt`: Removes duplicate lines from `filename.txt` (often used with `sort` to remove
adjacent duplicates).
`wc w filename.txt`: Counts words in `filename.txt`.

SECTION2- ADMIN LEVEL COMMANDS

User Management Commands
1. Create a New User
`sudo useradd <username>`: Creates a new user account with the specified username.
`sudo adduser <username>`: Interactive command for creating a new user (prompts for
password and user details).

2. Modify User Attributes

`sudo usermod l <new_username> <old_username>`: Changes a user's login name.
`sudo usermod d <new_home_directory> <username>`: Changes a user's home directory.
`sudo usermod s <shell> <username>`: Changes a user’s default shell.
`sudo passwd <username>`: Sets or changes the password for a user.
`sudo chage l <username>`: Lists password expiration information for a user.
`sudo usermod aG <group> <username>`: Adds a user to an additional group without removing
them from existing groups.

3. Delete a User
`sudo userdel <username>`: Deletes a user from the system.
`sudo userdel r <username>`: Deletes a user along with their home directory and mail spool.
Group Management Commands
4. Create a New Group
`sudo groupadd <groupname>`: Creates a new group with the specified name.

5. Assign Users to Groups

`sudo usermod aG <groupname> <username>`: Adds a user to a specified group.
`sudo gpasswd a <username> <groupname>`: Another way to add a user to a group.
`sudo gpasswd d <username> <groupname>`: Removes a user from a group.

6. Change Group Ownership

`sudo chgrp <groupname> <filename>`: Changes the group ownership of a file or directory.
`sudo chown :<groupname> <filename>`: Another way to change group ownership of a file.

View User and Group Information

7. List Users and Groups
`cat /etc/passwd`: Displays all user accounts on the system.
`cat /etc/group`: Displays all groups on the system.
`groups <username>`: Lists groups a specified user belongs to.
`id <username>`: Displays user ID (UID), group ID (GID), and group memberships for a user.

Manage User and Group Access

8. Lock and Unlock User Accounts
`sudo usermod L <username>`: Locks a user account.
`sudo usermod U <username>`: Unlocks a user account.

9. Change User Permissions

`sudo chmod u+w <filename>`: Adds write permission for the file owner.
 `sudo chown <username>:<groupname> <filename>`: Changes ownership of a file or directory to
a specified user and group.

10. View System Information

`uname a`: Displays all system information, including kernel version, hostname, processor type,
and operating system.
`hostnamectl`: Provides details about the hostname and other system information.
`lsb_release a`: Shows the distributionspecific information (e.g., Ubuntu version).
`cat /etc/osrelease`: Displays information about the operating system.
`lscpu`: Displays CPU architecture and details.
`lshw short`: Lists hardware configurations for various devices.
`lsblk`: Shows information about block devices, including disks and partitions.
`df h`: Displays disk space usage in a humanreadable format.
`free h`: Shows memory usage, including free and used memory, in a humanreadable format.
`uptime`: Provides the system uptime and load averages.

2. Monitor System Resources

`top`: Realtime view of CPU and memory usage, with details for running processes.
`htop`: Enhanced version of `top` (requires installation on some systems) for easier navigation.
`vmstat`: Reports information about system processes, memory, paging, block I/O, and CPU
activity.
`iostat`: Displays CPU and disk I/O statistics.
`mpstat`: Provides CPU usage statistics for each processor.
`dstat`: Combines the information of multiple monitoring tools (requires installation).
`sar`: Collects and displays system resource usage statistics (requires `sysstat` package).
`ps aux`: Lists detailed information about currently running processes.
`du sh /path/to/directory`: Shows disk usage for a specific directory.
`iotop`: Monitors I/O usage by processes (requires root privileges).
`nmon`: An interactive system monitor that shows CPU, memory, disk, network, NFS, and top
processes (requires installation).
3. Configure System Date and Time
`date`: Displays the current date and time.
`timedatectl`: Shows and configures the date and time settings. Common subcommands:
`timedatectl status`: Shows the current system time and time zone.
`timedatectl settime YYYYMMDD HH:MM:SS`: Sets the system date and time.
`timedatectl settimezone <time_zone>`: Changes the time zone (e.g., `timedatectl settimezone
Asia/Kolkata`).
`timedatectl setntp true`: Enables Network Time Protocol (NTP) synchronization.
`timedatectl setntp false`: Disables NTP synchronization.

SECTION 3: Network-Level Commands

1. Network Configuration Commands
View Network Interface Information
`ip a` or `ifconfig` (requires installation in some distros): Display all active network interfaces and
their IP configurations.

Configure IP Address and Subnet Mask

`sudo ip addr add <IP_Address>/<Subnet_Mask> dev <interface_name>`: Set an IP address and
subnet mask for a specific interface.
Example: `sudo ip addr add 192.168.1.10/24 dev eth0`
`sudo ifconfig <interface_name> <IP_Address> netmask <Subnet_Mask>`: Another way to set IP and
subnet mask.
Example: `sudo ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.10 netmask 255.255.255.0`

Set up Static and Dynamic (DHCP) IP Addressing

Static IP:
Manually edit the network configuration file in `/etc/network/interfaces` (Debian/Ubuntu) or
`/etc/sysconfig/networkscripts/ifcfg<interface_name>` (RHEL/CentOS).
Example content for a static configuration:
 ```
`
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.10
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.1
```

Dynamic IP (DHCP):
`sudo dhclient <interface_name>`: Request an IP from a DHCP server.
Add `iface eth0 inet dhcp` to `/etc/network/interfaces` for Debianbased systems for a persistent
DHCP configuration.

2. Network Diagnostics Commands

Ping a Remote Host
`ping <hostname/IP_address>`: Check connectivity to a remote host.
Example: `ping google.com`

Check Network Connectivity

`ip route`: Display the current routing table.
`netstat rn` or `route n`: Show network routes and verify default gateway configuration.

Trace the Route to a Remote Host

`traceroute <hostname/IP_address>`: Display the route packets take to reach a remote host.
Example: `traceroute google.com`
Note: `traceroute` might need to be installed using `sudo apt install traceroute` (Debian) or `sudo
yum install traceroute` (RHEL/CentOS).
3. Firewall Configuration Commands
View Current Firewall Rules
`sudo iptables L` or `sudo ufw status` (if using UFW): View all current firewall rules.

Add a New Firewall Rule to Allow/Deny Traffic

`sudo iptables A INPUT p <protocol> dport <port> j ACCEPT`: Allow traffic on a specific port and
protocol.
Example to allow HTTP traffic: `sudo iptables A INPUT p tcp dport 80 j ACCEPT`
`sudo ufw allow <port>`: Allow traffic through a specific port with UFW (e.g., `sudo ufw allow
80/tcp` for HTTP).

Remove an Existing Firewall Rule

`sudo iptables D INPUT p <protocol> dport <port> j ACCEPT`: Remove an existing rule.
Example to remove an HTTP allow rule: `sudo iptables D INPUT p tcp dport 80 j ACCEPT`
`sudo ufw delete allow <port>`: Remove a UFW rule.