Basic Commands Overview

Command 
 Description 
 Package 
 
 
 
 
 base64 
 base64 encode/decode data and print to standard output 
 coreutils 
 
 
 basename 
 strip directory and suffix from filenames 
 coreutils 
 
 
 cat 
 concatenate — combine the output of files and print to standard output 
 coreutils 
 
 
 cd 
 Change Directory — navigate directories on the filesystem 
 built-in 
 
 
 chmod 
 change file mode bits (permissions) for files and directories 
 coreutils 
 
 
 chown 
 change file owner and group 
 coreutils 
 
 
 clear 
 clear the terminal content 
 clear 
 
 
 cp 
 copy files 
 coreutils 
 
 
 csplit 
 split a file into sections determined by context lines 
 coreutils 
 
 
 dd 
 convert and copy a file 
 coreutils 
 
 
 df 
 Disk Free — report overall file system space usage 
 coreutils 
 
 
 diff 
 show differences between two files line by line 
 diffutils 
 
 
 dirname 
 print the directory path if the passed file 
 coreutils 
 
 
 du 
 Disk Usage — show file system usage for a given directory 
 coreutils 
 
 
 echo 
 display a line of text 
 built-in 
 
 
 find 
 search for files in a given directory 
 findutils 
 
 
 grep 
 search for text 
 grep 
 
 
 head 
 display the first X lines of a file (default 10) 
 coreutils 
 
 
 history 
 print the history of issued commands 
 built-in 
 
 
 jobs 
 display currently running jobs 
 built-in 
 
 
 kill 
 terminate a process 
 util-linux 
 
 
 ls 
 list directory contents 
 coreutils 
 
 
 man 
 Manual — display the documentation of a given command 
 man 
 
 
 mkdir 
 create a directory 
 coreutils 
 
 
 mv 
 move (and rename) files 
 coreutils 
 
 
 ping 
 check if a server is reachable 
 iputils 
 
 
 printenv 
 print information about currently set environment variables 
 coreutils 
 
 
 printf 
 format and print data 
 coreutils 
 
 
 pwd 
 Print Working Directory — returns the current working directory 
 built-in 
 
 
 rm 
 remove files and directories (caution: no undo!) 
 coreutils 
 
 
 scp 
 OpenSSH secure file copy 
 openssh 
 
 
 sha256sum 
 compute and check SHA256 message digest (variants for SHA1, SHA224, SHA384 and SHA512 exist) 
 coreutils 
 
 
 sort 
 sort lines of text files 
 coreutils 
 
 
 sudo 
 Super User Do — execute commands as root 
 sudo 
 
 
 tail 
 display the last X lines of a file (default 10) 
 coreutils 
 
 
 tar 
 archiving utility, compression optional 
 tar 
 
 
 top 
 display Linux processes 
 procps-ng 
 
 
 touch 
 create an empty file 
 coreutils 
 
 
 uname 
 Unix Name — print system information 
 coreutils 
 
 
 unzip 
 list, test and extract compressed files in a ZIP archive 
 unzip 
 
 
 useradd 
 create a new user or update default new user information 
 shadow 
 
 
 userdel 
 delete a user account and related files 
 shadow 
 
 
 wget 
 download files from the internet 
 wget 
 
 
 zip 
 package and compress (archive) files 
 zip