Linux commonly used Commands: From Basic

to Advanced

1 Introduction
This document provides a concise guide to Linux commands, categorized
into basic, intermediate, and advanced levels. Each command includes a
brief description and example usage. This guide is designed for beginners
to advanced users seeking a quick reference.

2 BasicCommands
These commands are essential for navigating and managing files, directo-
ries, and system information.

2.1 NavigatingtheFileSystem
• pwd: Displays the current directory.
1 pwd
2 % Output: /home/user

• ls: Lists files and directories.

1 ls -l % Detailed listing
2 ls -a % Show hidden files

• cd: Changes the current directory.

1 cd /path/to/directory
2 cd .. % Move up one directory

2.2 FileandDirectoryManagement
• mkdir: Creates a new directory.
1 mkdir new_folder

• touch: Creates an empty file.

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 1 touch file.txt

• cp: Copies files or directories.

1 cp file.txt /path/to/destination/
2 cp -r folder /path/to/destination/

2.3 ViewingandEditingFiles
• cat: Displays file contents.
1 cat file.txt

• nano: Simple text editor.

1 nano file.txt % Save: Ctrl+O, Exit: Ctrl+X

3 Intermediate Commands
These commands introduce process management, text processing, and net-
working.

3.1 ProcessManagement
• ps: Lists running processes.
1 ps aux % Show all processes

• top: Displays real-time processes.

1 top % Press ’q’ to quit

3.2 TextProcessing
• grep: Searches for patterns in files.
1 grep "error" log.txt
2 grep -r "error" /path/ % Recursive search

• awk: Processes text files.

1 awk ’{print $1}’ file.txt % Print first column

3.3 Networking
• ping: Checks connectivity to a host.
1 ping google.com

• curl: Transfers data from/to a server.

1 curl -O https://example.com/file.txt

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 4 AdvancedCommands
These commands are for system administration, advanced networking, and
scripting.

4.1 SystemAdministration
• sudo: Runs commands as superuser.
1 sudo apt update % Update package lists

• crontab: Schedules recurring tasks.

1 crontab -e
2 % Example: 0 2 * * * /path/to/script.sh % Run daily at 2 AM

4.2 AdvancedNetworking
• nmap: Scans network for hosts/services.
1 nmap 192.168.1.1

• iptables: Configures firewall rules.

1 iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT % Allow SSH

5 TipsforUsingLinuxCommands
• Use man <command> for detailed documentation.
• Combine commands with pipes (|) and redirection (>, »).
• Practice in a safe environment to avoid accidental system changes.

6 ExampleWorkflow
To find and compress all .log files modified in the last day:
1 find /var/log -type f -name "*.log" -mtime -1 | xargs tar -zcvf logs
.tar.gz

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📁 File and Directory Management
Command Description

ls List directory contents

cd Change directory

pwd Print working directory

mkdir Create a directory

rmdir Remove empty directory

rm Remove files or directories

cp Copy files or directories

mv Move or rename files

touch Create empty files

find Search for files in a directory

locate Find files by name (uses a database)

tree View directory structure as a tree

📄 File Viewing & Manipulation

Command Description

cat Concatenate and display file

less View file content page-by-page

more View file content page-by-page (older)

head View the beginning of a file

tail View the end of a file

nano, vim, vi Text editors

cut, awk, sed Text processing tools

diff Compare two files

wc Count words, lines, characters

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🧑‍💻 User Management
Command Description

whoami Show current user

id Display user ID and group ID

adduser, useradd Add a user

passwd Change password

usermod Modify user account

deluser, userdel Delete a user

groupadd Add a new group

groups Show groups of a user

🔐 Permissions & Ownership

Command Description

chmod Change file permissions

chown Change file owner

chgrp Change group ownership

umask Default permission setting

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💻 System Monitoring & Processes
Command Description

ps Show running processes

top, htop Interactive process viewer

kill Kill a process by PID

killall Kill processes by name

nice, renice Set process priority

uptime Show how long system has been running

free Show memory usage

df Disk space usage

du Estimate file/directory size

vmstat System performance stats

🌐 Networking
Command Description

ping Check network connectivity

ifconfig / ip addr Show network interfaces

netstat / ss Network connections

curl, wget Download from URL

host, dig, nslookup DNS lookup

scp, rsync Copy files over SSH

ssh Connect to remote server

ftp, sftp File transfer protocols

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📦 Package Management
Debian/Ubuntu (APT)
Command Description

apt update Refresh package list

apt upgrade Upgrade installed packages

apt install Install a package

apt remove Remove a package

dpkg -i Install a .deb file

Red Hat/CentOS (YUM/DNF)

| yum, dnf | Red Hat package managers |

🧰 Disk & Filesystem

Command Description

mount, umount Mount/unmount filesystems

lsblk List block devices

blkid Display block device attributes

fdisk, parted Partition disks

mkfs Create filesystem

fsck Filesystem check

tune2fs Tune ext filesystems

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🔄 Archiving & Compression
Command Description

tar Archive files

zip, unzip Compress/decompress zip files

gzip, gunzip Compress/decompress gz files

xz, unxz Compress/decompress xz files

⏲️ Scheduling Tasks
Command Description

cron, crontab Schedule recurring tasks

at Schedule one-time task

systemctl Manage services and daemons

🔧 System & Boot

Command Description

uname -a System info

hostname Show/set hostname

reboot, shutdown Restart/shutdown system

dmesg Boot messages

journalctl View system logs

lsmod, modprobe Kernel modules

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🧪 Scripting
Command Description

bash Start a Bash shell

sh Start shell

. / source Run script in current shell

alias / unalias Create/remove shortcuts

🧱 Development & Compilation

Command Description

gcc, g++ Compile C/C++ code

make Build from Makefile

ldd List shared object dependencies

strace Trace system calls

🧹 Cleanup & Maintenance

Command Description

history Show command history

clear Clear terminal screen

alias Create command shortcut

uptime System load info

📙 To Learn More
Command Description

man <command> Manual page for a command

<command> --help Show command help

info <command> More detailed help

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