Linux Commands Cheat Sheet

Essential Linux/Unix command reference with file ops, networking, and more.

File & Directory

ls -laList files with details and hidden files

cd <dir>Change directory

pwdPrint working directory

mkdir -p <dir>Create directory (and parents)

rm -rf <dir>Remove directory recursively (careful!)

cp -r <src> <dest>Copy files/directories recursively

mv <src> <dest>Move or rename file/directory

touch <file>Create empty file or update timestamp

find . -name "*.txt"Find files by name pattern

find . -type f -size +10MFind files larger than 10MB

du -sh *Show disk usage of each item

df -hShow disk space usage

Text Processing

cat <file>Print file contents

less <file>Page through file (q to quit)

head -n 20 <file>Show first 20 lines

tail -n 20 <file>Show last 20 lines

tail -f <file>Follow file (live log viewing)

grep -r "pattern" .Search for pattern recursively

grep -i "pattern" <file>Case-insensitive search

grep -n "pattern" <file>Show line numbers in results

sed -i "s/old/new/g" <file>Replace text in file in-place

awk '{print $1}' <file>Print first column

sort <file>Sort lines alphabetically

sort -n -k2 <file>Sort numerically by 2nd column

uniq -cCount and deduplicate adjacent lines

wc -l <file>Count lines in file

cut -d"," -f1,3 <file>Cut specific columns (CSV)

Processes

ps auxList all running processes

topInteractive process viewer

htopEnhanced process viewer (if installed)

kill <pid>Terminate process by PID

kill -9 <pid>Force kill process

pkill <name>Kill processes by name

pgrep <name>Find PIDs by process name

nohup <cmd> &Run command immune to hangups, in background

jobsList background jobs

bg %1Resume job 1 in background

fg %1Bring job 1 to foreground

Permissions & Ownership

chmod 755 <file>Set rwxr-xr-x permissions

chmod +x <file>Make file executable

chown user:group <file>Change file owner and group

sudo <cmd>Run command as superuser

sudo -iSwitch to root shell

su - <user>Switch to another user

umask 022Set default permission mask

Networking

curl -I <url>Show response headers only

curl -L -o file <url>Download file following redirects

wget <url>Download file

ping <host>Test network connectivity

traceroute <host>Trace network path to host

nslookup <domain>DNS lookup

dig <domain>Detailed DNS lookup

netstat -tulnShow listening ports

ss -tulnShow listening ports (modern)

ssh user@hostConnect via SSH

scp <file> user@host:/pathCopy file via SSH

rsync -avz src/ user@host:dest/Sync files efficiently

Archives & Compression

tar -czf archive.tar.gz <dir>Create gzip compressed archive

tar -xzf archive.tar.gzExtract gzip archive

tar -cjf archive.tar.bz2 <dir>Create bzip2 compressed archive

zip -r archive.zip <dir>Create zip archive

unzip archive.zipExtract zip archive

gzip <file>Compress file with gzip

gunzip <file>.gzDecompress gzip file

System Info

uname -aSystem and kernel information

cat /etc/os-releaseOS version information

free -hMemory usage

uptimeSystem uptime and load

whoWho is logged in

idCurrent user and group IDs

envShow environment variables

export VAR=valueSet environment variable

which <cmd>Find command path

historyCommand history

man <cmd>Manual page for a command