GNU/Linux most wanted

Summary of most useful commands

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Handling fles and directories
Create a directory'
mkdir dir
Create nested directories'
mkdir -p dir1/dir2
Changing directories'
cd newdir
cd .. &parent directory)
cd - &pre!ious directory)
cd &home directory)
cd 3bill &home directory of user bill)
4rint the 5or$ing &current) directory'
p5d
Copy a 6le to another'
cp source_file dest_file
Copy 6les to a directory'
cp file1 file2 dir
Copy directories recursi!ely'
cp -r source_dir dest_dir
rsync -a source_dir/ dest_dir/
Create a sym#olic lin$'
ln -s linked_file link
7ename a 6le, lin$ or directory'
mv source_file dest_file
7emo!e 6les or lin$s'
rm file1 file2
7emo!e empty directories'
rmdir dir
7emo!e non-empty directories'
rm -rf dir
Listing fles
2ist all 8regular9 6les &not starting 5ith .) in
the current directory'
ls
:isplay a long listing'
ls -l
2ist all the 6les in the current directory,
including 8hidden9 ones &starting 5ith .)'
ls -a
2ist #y time &most recent 6les 6rst)'
ls -t
2ist #y si;e &#iggest 6les 6rst)
ls -S
2ist 5ith a re!erse sort order'
ls -r
2ong list 5ith most recent 6les last'
ls -ltr
Displaying fle contents
Concatenate and display 6le contents'
cat file1 file2
:isplay the contents of se!eral 6les &stopping
at each page)'
more file1 file2
less file1 file2 &#etter' e+tra features)
:isplay the 6rst 10 lines of a 6le'
head -10 file
:isplay the last 10 lines of a 6le'
tail -10 file
File name pattern matching
Concatenate all 8regular9 6les'
cat *
Concatenate all 8hidden9 6les'
cat .*
Concatenate all 6les ending 5ith .log'
cat *.log
2ist 8regular9 6les 5ith bug in their name'
ls *bug*
2ist all 8regular9 6les ending 5ith . and a
single character'
ls *.?
Handling fle contents
Sho5 only the lines in a 6le containing a gi!en
su#string'
grep substring file
Case insensiti!e search'
grep -i substring file
Sho5ing all the lines #ut the ones containing a
su#string'
grep -v substring file
Search through all the 6les in a directory'
grep -r substring dir
Sort lines in a gi!en 6le'
sort file
Sort lines, only display duplicate ones once'
sort -u file &uni<ue)
Changing fle access rights
"dd 5rite permissions to the current user'
chmod u+w file
"dd read permissions to users in the 6le group'
chmod g+r file
"dd e+ecute permissions to other users'
chmod o+x file
"dd read = 5rite permissions to all users'
chmod a+rw file
-a$e e+ecuta#le 6les e+ecuta#le #y all'
chmod a+rX *
-a$e the 5hole directory and its contents
accessi#le #y all users'
chmod -R a+rX dir &recursi!e)
Comparing fles and directories
Comparing 2 6les'
diff file1 file2
Comparing 2 6les &graphical)'
gvimdiff file1 file2
tkdiff file1 file2
meld file1 file2
Comparing 2 directories'
diff -r dir1 dir2
Looking for fles
Find all 6les in the current &.) directory and its
su#directories 5ith log in their name'
find . -name *log*
Find all the .pdf 6les in dir and su#directories
and run a command on each'
find . -name *.pdf -exec xpdf {} ';'
>uic$ system-5ide 6le search #y pattern
&caution' inde+ #ased, misses ne5 6les)'
locate *pub*
Redirecting command output
7edirect command output to a 6le'
ls *.png > image_files
"ppend command output to an e+isting 6le'
ls *.jpg >> image_files
7edirect command output to the input of
another command'
cat *.log | grep error
Job control
Sho5 all running processes'
ps -ef
2i!e hit-parade of processes &press P, M, T' sort
#y 4rocessor, -emory or ,ime usage)'
top
Send a termination signal to a process'
kill <pid> &num#er found in ps output)
/a!e the $ernel $ill a process'
kill -9 <pid>
?ill all processes &at least all user ones)'
kill -9 -1
?ill a graphical application'
xkill &clic$ on the program 5indo5 to $ill)
File and partition sizes
Sho5 the total si;e on dis$ of 6les or
directories &dis$ usage)'
du -sh dir1 dir2 file1 file2
@um#er of #ytes, 5ords and lines in 6le'
wc file &word count)
Sho5 the si;e, total space and free space of the
current partition'
df -h .
:isplay these info for all partitions'
df -h
Compressing
Compress a 6le'
gzip file &.gz format)
bzip2 file &.bz2 format, #etter)
lzma file &.lzma format, #est compression)
xz file &.xz format, #est for code)
Ancompress a 6le'
gunzip file.gz
bunzip2 file.bz2
unlzma file.lzma
unxz file.xz
Archiing
Create a compressed archi!e &tape archi!e)'
tar zcvf archive.tar.gz dir
tar jcvf archive.tar.bz2 dir
tar Jcvf archive.tar.xz dir
tar --lzma -cvf archive.tar.lzma
Test &list) a compressed archi!e'
tar tvf archive.tar.[gz|bz2|lzma|xz]
Extract the contents of a compressed archi!e'
tar xvf archive.tar.[gz|bz2|lzma|xz]
tar options'
c' create
t' test
x' extract
j' on the By bzip2 &un)compression
J' on the By xz &un)compression
z' on the By gzip &un)compression
/andling ;ip archi!es
zip -r archive.zip <files> &create)
unzip -t archive.zip &test ( list)
unzip archive.zip &e+tract)
!rinting
Send 4ostScript or te+t 6les to queue'
lpr -Pqueue f1.ps f2.txt &local printer)
2ist all the print Co#s in queue'
lpq -Pqueue
Cancel a print Co# num#er in queue'
cancel 123 queue
4rint a 4:F 6le'
pdf2ps doc.pdf
lpr doc.ps
Die5 a 4ostScript 6le'
ps2pdf doc.ps
xpdf doc.pdf
"ser management
2ist users logged on the system'
who
Sho5 5hich user E am logged as'
whoami
Sho5 5hich groups user #elongs to'
groups user
,ell more information a#out user'
finger user
S5itch to user hul$'
su - hulk
S5itch to super user &root)'
su - &s5itch user)
su &$eep same directory and en!ironment)
#ime management
Fait for G0 seconds'
sleep 60
Sho5 the current date'
date
Count the time ta$en #y a command'
time find_charming_prince -cute -rich
Command help
.asic help &5or$s for most commands)'
grep --help
"ccess the full manual page of a command'
man grep
$isc commands
.asic command-line calculator
bc -l
%asic system administration
Change the o5ner and group of a directory and
all its contents'
sudo chown -R newuser.newgroup dir
7e#oot the machine in 5 minutes'
sudo shutdown -r +5
Shutdo5n the machine no5'
sudo shutdown -h now
:isplay all a!aila#le net5or$ interfaces'
ifconfig -a
"ssign an E4 address to a net5or$ interface'
sudo ifconfig eth0 207.46.130.108
.ring do5n a net5or$ interface'
sudo ifconfig eth0 down
:e6ne a default gate5ay for pac$ets to
machines outside the local net5or$'
sudo route add default gw 192.168.0.1
:elete the default route'
sudo route del default
,est net5or$ing 5ith another machine'
ping 207.46.130.108
Create or remo!e partitions on the 6rst E:E
hard dis$'
fdisk /dev/hda1
Create &format) an e+t% 6lesystem'
mkfs.ext3 /dev/hda1
Create &format) a F",%2 6lesystem'
mkfs.vfat -v -F 32 /dev/hda2
-ount a formatted partition'
mkdir /mnt/usbdisk &Cust do it once)
sudo mount /dev/uba1 /mnt/usbdisk
-ount a 6lesystem image &loop de!ice)'
sudo mount -o loop fs.img /mnt/fs
Anmount a 6lesystem'
sudo umount /mnt/usbdisk
Chec$ the system $ernel !ersion'
uname -a