Important Terminal Programs [1] [2] [3]
Files
Command |
Short description |
|---|---|
cat / head / tail |
text viewer: show all / first rows / last rows |
chmod |
Show / edit access rights |
chown |
Show / edit owner |
cp |
Copy file(s) |
file |
Get exact file type |
find |
Search for any file attribut |
less / more |
text viewer: page-by-page display |
ln |
Create soft and hard links for files and directories |
locate |
Index search for file names |
ls |
List directory content |
md5sum |
Determine checksum |
mimetype |
Determine file type |
mv |
Move / rename files |
rdfind |
Find / edit / link file duplicates |
rm |
Remove files and directories |
shred / wipe |
Save delete file |
split |
Split file in smaller parts |
touch |
Create new file |
System
Command |
Short description |
|---|---|
hostname |
Server name or computer name |
env |
Get current system variables (for example path, language encoding, user account) |
getconf |
Get POSIX configuration variables (usually only system architecture) |
inxi |
Very exhaustive info on system, network, package sources, hardware, devices, tasks (usually not preinstalled) |
launchctl / systemctl |
Service info and control |
lsb_release |
Get short distribution info |
mount |
Get all mounted drives (also network drives) |
neofetch |
Linux Mint only: get system data like system, hostname, kernel, uptime, CPU, GPU, RAM |
rtcwake |
Enter a system sleep state until specified wakeup time |
shutdown / reboot |
System shut down and restart |
service / systmctl |
Control active and deactivated services (systemctl is preferred on Ubuntu-like systems) |
sysctl |
Control Kernel-Parameters |
uname |
System & Kernel short info |
uptime |
Get system runtime |
whereis |
Get program path |
which |
Get program path |
System with systemd
Command |
Short description |
|---|---|
bootctl |
Detailed boot info |
hostnamectl |
Show and change computer name |
journalctl |
Print log entries from the systemd journal |
localectl |
Show and change system language |
loginctl |
Show/end logins and sessions |
networkctl |
Manage network adapters, IPs and MAC addresses |
resolvectl |
Resolve domain names, IPV4 and IPv6 addresses, DNS resource records and services introspect, and reconfigure the DNS resolver |
systemctl |
Control tool for services |
timedatectl |
Show/change time and time zone |
systemd-analyze |
Show exact time for system start |
systemd-cgtop |
CPU and RAM usage of system services |
sytemd-mount |
Show/create mount points |
systemd-path |
Show detailed commented system paths |
Directories
Command |
Short description |
|---|---|
cd |
Navigation |
du |
Display disk usage statistics |
mkdir |
Create directory |
rmdir |
Remove directory (only if empty) |
rsync |
Backups & Synchronization |
tar |
Packer & archiver |
tree |
Directory hierarchy and file tree display |
Hardware
Command |
Short Description |
|---|---|
dmesg |
Kernel protocol (‘driver message’) |
dmidecode |
Hardware info |
free |
Storage occupancy |
hardinfo |
Infotool (graphical & non-standard) |
hwinfo |
Hardware info |
lsblk |
Attached devices info |
lscpu |
CPU info |
lshw |
All hardware info |
lsmod |
Show kernel modules (drivers) |
lspci |
PCI devices info |
lsusb |
USB devices info |
modprobe |
Activate/Deactivate Kernel modules (drivers) |
sysbench |
CPU/RAM/Volume test |
Drives
Command |
Short description |
|---|---|
blkid |
Volume info incl. UUID |
dd |
Binary copy for files and volumes |
df |
Volume occupancy info |
fdisk / cfdisk |
Partitioning |
gdisk / cgdisk |
Partitioning |
hdparm |
Control volume parameters |
lsblk |
Volume info incl. UUID |
mkfs |
Format volume |
mount |
Mount volume |
parted |
Partitioning |
Processes & Tasks
Command |
Short Description |
|---|---|
crontab |
View and create cronjobs |
disown |
Remove jobs from current shell |
htop |
Task info and control |
iotop |
Hard disk activities info |
killall |
Kill tasks via their name |
lsof |
Show open files |
pgrep |
Get process via application name |
pkill |
Kill tasks via their name |
powertop |
Power consumption info & tuning |
ps |
Task info and control |
pstree |
Task info in tree view |
top |
Task info and control |
watch |
Execute a program periodically showing output fullscreen |
which |
Get path of queried application |
xprop |
Get info about UI applications |
User Accounts
Command |
Short Description |
|---|---|
adduser / useradd |
Create system account |
deluser / userdel |
Delete system account |
id |
Show group membership and UID |
passwd |
Define system account password |
sudo |
Change account (default: root) |
sudoedit |
Change account (default: root) |
usermod |
Edit system account |
visudo |
Manage the sudo-rights |
Network & Web
Command |
Short Description |
|---|---|
arp |
Show network devices with MAC address |
curl |
Download and upload file(s) |
dig |
Get info about internet domains according to DNS name server |
ftp |
Access FTP server |
ifconfig |
Network info (outdated - now: ip) |
ip |
Network adapter & IP info |
iwconfig |
Connect to Wi-Fi (requires connection found via |
iwlist |
Search for Wi-Fi connections |
net |
User level share info |
net usershare |
Import sub-command for samba share approvals |
nload |
Network analysis |
nmap |
LAN & WAN port analysis |
nmcli |
Terminal console of the network manager |
ping |
Test device network availability |
rfkill |
Display, activate or deactivate all wireless adapters (Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, UMTS) |
route |
Display system routing table and Gateway IP |
scp |
Copy data from/onto SSH server |
smbpasswd |
Manage Samba users |
sftp |
Copy data from/onto SSH server |
ssh |
SSH remote access (client) |
ssh-copy-id |
SSH copy access key (client) |
ssh-keygen |
SSH key generator (client) |
traceroute |
Track a IP-packages from gateway to target |
wget |
Download file(s) from web servers |
whois |
Internet domain name info |
String & Filter
Command |
Short Description |
|---|---|
awk |
Output filter (column selection etc.) |
column |
Column arrangement via tabulators |
grep |
Text finder & filter |
sed |
Stream editor and string processing |
sort |
Sort terminal output |
xargs |
Pass in arguments from standard input (common in pipes) |
Terminal
Command |
Short description |
|---|---|
alias |
Show command abbreviations |
apropos |
Search available command |
bind |
Create keyboard shortcut |
cdpath |
Extended directory navigation |
chsh |
Change default login-shell |
dircolors |
Change ls-colors |
exec |
Launch sub-shell |
exit |
Quit shell |
history |
Show command history |
mc |
Terminal file manager (Midnight Commander) |
nohup |
Make command ignore hang-up (e.g. exit) (no-hang-up) |
shopt |
Set shell option |
whatis |
Command description |
Software & Packages
Command |
Short Description |
|---|---|
apt |
Package manager for Debian/Ubunutu systems |
apt-cache search |
Searches package sources for software package names or descriptions |
dpkg |
Software management and installation (Debian) |
dpkg-query |
Delivers a sorted inventory about all installed software including a short description and version |
dpkg-reconfigure |
Reconfigure software components |
flatpak / snap |
Control Flatpak containers |
ldd |
Print shared object dependencies |
man |
An interface to the system reference manuals |
pacman |
Package management, installation, updates (Arch) |
snap |
Control Snap containers (similar to flatpak / snap) |
yum |
Package management, installation, updates (RPM) |
Examples
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