The Ultimate Linux Commands Cheat Sheet
Prakhar Singh
Prakhar Singh
Table of Contents
Getting Started with Linux: A Beginner's Guide to Basic Commands
One of the most empowering aspects of using Linux is mastering the command line. While the graphical user interface (GUI) provides a visual way to interact with the system, the command line offers unparalleled control and efficiency.
Note: Linux is nothing more than a group of files.
1. Displaying Text
bash
echo Hello, World!
Output:
text
Hello, World!
2. Navigating the File System
• pwd – Print Working Directory
bash
pwd
Example output:
text
/ home / username
• ls – List Directory Contents
bash
ls
• ls -a – List All Files (Including Hidden)
bash
ls -a
• ls / – List Root Directory
bash
ls /
• cd – Change Directory
bash
cd Documents
bash
cd /
bash
cd ..
bash
cd -
bash
cd --
3. File and Directory Operations
Create Directory
bash
mkdir new_directory
Create File
bash
touch newfile.txt
Copy Files
bash
cp source.txt destination.txt
Copy Directories
bash
cp -r source_directory destination_directory
Move / Rename
bash
mv oldname.txt newname.txt
Remove Files
bash
rm file.txt
Remove Directories
bash
rm -r directory_name
4. Viewing and Editing Files
View File Content
bash
cat file.txt
Page-by-Page Viewing
bash
less file.txt more file.txt
Edit with vi
bash
vi file.txt
5. System Commands
Clear Terminal
bash
clear
Search Files
bash
find / -name filename
Command History
bash
history
Switch to Superuser
bash
sudo su -
Update Package Index (Debian-based)
bash
sudo apt update
Advanced Linux Commands :
6. Text Processing
• grep
bash
grep "pattern" file.txt
• sed
bash
sed 's/old/new/g' file.txt
• awk
bash
awk '{print $1}' file.txt
7. File & Directory Management
• find
bash
find /path/to/search -name "*.txt"
• rsync
bash
rsync -avz /path/source/ user@remote_host:/path/destination/
• tar
bash
tar -cvzf archive.tar.gz /path/to/archive/
8. System Information
bash
lsb_release -a
cat /etc/os-release
uname -a
lscpu
lsmem
9. System Monitoring
bash
top htop vmstat 1
10. Networking Commands
bash
netstat -a netstat -at netstat -lt netstat -lu netstat -au
• Install net-tools:
bash
sudo apt install net-tools
• Packet Analysis
bash
tcpdump -i eth0 -n
11. Shell Information
bash
echo $SHELL
ps -p $$
12. System Logs
bash
find / -name syslog
cd /var/log
cat syslog
cat syslog | less
cat syslog | grep "keyword"
13. User and Group Management
bash
useradd -D -s /bin/bash
useradd -m user_name
passwd user_name
usermod -aG sudo user_name
su - user_name
su - root
whoami
echo $USER
exit
sudo !!
• Groups
bash
groupadd docker
getent group docker
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
groups user_name
cat /etc/group
14. Process Management
bash
ps
ps -f
ps -e
ps -e --forest
ps -u username
ps -p pid
ps aux
ps aux --sort=-%cpu
ps aux --forest
ps aux -l
15. Additional Useful Commands
Network Check
bash
ping google.com ping -c 5 google.com
Web Requests
bash
curl https://www.google.com curl -o file.txt https://www.google.com
Repeated Execution
bash
watch -n 10 date
Base64 Encoding
bash
echo "your_message" | base64
echo "encoded_message" | base64 --decode
Count Lines
bash
cat filename | wc -l
Aliases
bash
alias m=mkdir
End of Linux Tutorial