75+ Essential Linux Commands Every User Should Know [with pdf]

The command line is where you get real control in Linux. It lets you dig into the system, automate tasks, and solve problems directly.

This guide includes a hand-picked list of fundamental Linux commands, grouped by category. You’ll find commands for managing files, users, hardware, networking, and more.

System-Based Commands

• uname - Displays system information: kernel version, machine type, and more.

• uname -r - Displays the running Linux kernel's release version.

• uptime - Shows current time, system uptime, users, and load averages.

• hostname - Shows the system hostname.

• hostname -i - Displays the IP address of the current host.

• last reboot - Shows last reboot times and durations in logs.

• date - Displays the current date and time information.

• timedatectl - Displays detailed system clock and time zone information.

• cal - Displays a simple calendar of the current month.

• w - Shows who is logged on and their activity.

• whoami - Displays the username of the current user.

• finger username - Displays information about a user named username.

Hardware-Based Commands

• dmesg - Displays messages from the kernel's ring buffer.

• cat /proc/cpuinfo - Displays detailed information about the CPU.

• cat /proc/meminfo - Displays detailed system memory usage information.

• lscpu - Lists information about the CPU.

• lshw - Lists detailed hardware configuration of the system.

• lsblk - Lists information about all available block devices.

• free -m - Shows system memory usage in megabytes.

• lspci -tv - Displays PCI devices in tree format, verbosely.

• lsusb -tv - Shows USB devices as a tree, verbosely.

• dmidecode - Displays hardware information from system BIOS.

• hdparm -i /dev/sda - Displays information of disk /dev/sda.

• badblocks -s /dev/sda - Checks /dev/sda for bad blocks, showing progress.

User Management Commands

• id - Displays the user's UID, GID, and groups.

• last - Shows list of last logged-in users.

• who - Displays who is currently logged in.

• groupadd admin - Creates a new user group named admin.

• adduser Sam - Creates a new user account named Sam.

• userdel Sam - Deletes the user account named Sam.

• usermod - Modifies properties of an existing user account.

File Commands

• ls -al - Lists all files, with detailed information, in long format.

• pwd - Displays the present working directory's path.

• mkdir dir1 - Creates a new directory named dir1.

• rm file1 - Deletes the file named file1.

• rm -f file2 - Forcefully deletes the file named file2.

• rm -r dir1 - Recursively removes directory dir1 and its contents.

• rm -rf dir1 - Forcefully deletes directory dir1 and its contents.

• cp file1 file2 - Copies file1, creating or overwriting file2.

• cp -r dir1 dir2 - Copies dir1 to dir2, including subdirectories.

• mv file1 file2 - Renames or moves file1 to file2.

• ln -s /path/to/file_name link_name - Creates symbolic link named link_name to file_name.

• touch file1 - Creates an empty file named file1.

• cat > file1 - Creates or overwrites file1, awaiting standard input.

• more file1 - Displays file1 content, paginating through output.

• head file1 - Displays the first ten lines of file1.

• tail file1 - Displays the last ten lines of file1.

• gpg -c file1 - Encrypts file1 with a symmetric cipher using a passphrase.

• gpg file2.gpg - Decrypts file2.gpg, prompting for the passphrase.

• wc - Counts words, lines, and characters in files.

• xargs - Executes commands with piped or file-provided arguments.

Network Commands

• ip addr show - Displays all network interfaces and their information.

• ip address add 192.168.0.1/24 dev eth0 - Assigns IP address 192.168.0.1 to interface eth0.

• ifconfig - Shows network interfaces and their configuration.

• ping host - Sends ICMP packets, measures round-trip time to host.

• whois domain - Retrieves and displays a domain's registration information.

• dig domain - Queries DNS, provides domain's DNS information.

• dig -x host - Resolves IP address to hostname, shows reverse DNS info.

• host google.com - Performs an IP lookup for the domain name.

• wget file_path - Downloads file from the specified path.

• netstat - Displays various network-related information and statistics.

• ss - Displays information about network sockets.

Compression / Archive Commands

• tar -cf backup.tar /home/ubuntu - Creates a tar archive of the /home/ubuntu directory.

• tar -xf backup.tar - Extracts files from the backup.tar archive.

• tar -zcvf backup.tar.gz /home/ubuntu - Creates compressed backup.tar.gz archive of /home/ubuntu.

• gzip file1 - Compresses file1 into file1.gz; original file is removed.

Install Packages Commands

• rpm -i pkg_name.rpm - Installs the package pkg_name.rpm using RPM.

• rpm -e pkg_name - Uninstalls the specified RPM package.

• dnf install pkg_name - Installs the specified package using DNF.

• pacman -S pkg_name - Installs the specified package using Pacman.

Install from Source (Compilation)

• ./configure - Checks system compatibility and generates Makefile.

• make - Compiles code using the Makefile.

• make install - Installs compiled code into appropriate system locations.

Search Commands

• grep pattern file - Searches for a given pattern within the specified file.

• grep -r pattern dir1 - Recursively searches for pattern in directory dir1.

• locate file - Finds files named file using a prebuilt index database.

• find /home -name index - Searches /home for files named index.

• find /home -size +10000k - Finds files over 10,000 KB in /home.

Login Commands

• ssh user@hostname - Initiates SSH connection to specified host.

• ssh -p port_number user@hostname - Connects over SSH using a specific port.

• ssh hostname - Connects to hostname using SSH on port 22.

• telnet host - Connects to host via Telnet on port 23.

File Transfer Commands

• scp file.txt remoteuser@remote_host:/remote/directory - Copies file.txt to a remote directory.

• rsync -a /home/ubuntu /backup/ - Synchronizes /home/ubuntu to /backup/, preserving attributes.

• rsync -a /var/www/web/ user@remote_host:/backup/web_backup/ - Syncs local directory to remote backup.

Disk Usage Commands

• df -h - Shows human-readable disk space usage.

• df -i - Shows inode usage for all mounted filesystems.

• fdisk -l - Lists all partitions and information for all drives.

• du -sh /dir1 - Displays total disk usage of /dir1 in human-readable form.

• findmnt - Lists all mounted filesystems and their properties.

• mount device-path mount-point - Mounts a device to the specified mount point.

Directory Traversal Commands

• cd .. - Navigates to the parent directory.

• cd - Changes the current directory to the user's home.

• cd /mnt - Changes the current directory to /mnt.

Cheat Sheet PDF

Download your free Linux commands cheat sheet in pdf format and print on A4 size paper.

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