The Linux command line is a powerful tool, and let us explore the list of linux commands. While mastering its commands is a great way to traverse your journey from a beginner to an intermediate user, this list will prove to be a handy reference.
Below is a handy reference table listing common terminal commands. The list of linux commands is sorted alphabetically.
List of Linux Commands
| Command | Definition |
|---|---|
| alias | Create an alias for a command to simplify usage. |
| apropos | Search the manual pages for a keyword or topic. |
| apt-get | Command-line tool for handling packages in Debian-based systems (use apt in newer versions). |
| arch | Display the machine architecture information. |
| awk | Pattern scanning and processing language for text processing. |
| basename | Strip directory and suffix from filenames. |
| bat | A modern alternative to cat with syntax highlighting and Git integration. |
| bash | GNU Bourne-Again SHell, a command language interpreter. |
| bg | Place a job in the background. |
| bzip2 | Compress or decompress named files using Burrows-Wheeler block sorting text compression. |
| cat | Concatenate and display the content of files. |
| cd | Change the current directory. |
| chgrp | Change group ownership of files or directories. |
| chmod | Change the access permissions of files or directories. |
| chown | Change file owner and group. |
| cksum | Calculate and display the CRC checksum and byte counts. |
| clear | Clear the terminal screen. |
| cmp | Compare two files byte by byte. |
| cp | Copy files and directories. |
| cron | Daemon to execute scheduled commands. |
| crontab | Schedule periodic jobs using the cron daemon. |
| curl | Transfer data from or to a server, supporting various protocols. |
| cut | Remove sections from each line of files. |
| date | Display or set the system date and time. |
| dd | Convert and copy a file; used for backing up and restoring entire disks. |
| df | Report file system disk space usage. |
| diff | Compare files line by line. |
| dig | DNS lookup utility. |
| dirname | Strip last component from file name. |
| du | Estimate file space usage. |
| echo | Display lines of text or variables. |
| env | Display or set environment variables. |
| exit | Exit the shell or a script. |
| export | Set environment variables. |
| expr | Evaluate expressions. |
| fd | A simple, fast, user-friendly alternative to find. |
| fg | Bring a background job to the foreground. |
| find | Search for files in a directory hierarchy. |
| finger | User information lookup program. |
| free | Display amount of free and used memory in the system. |
| ftp | File Transfer Protocol client. |
| git | Distributed version control system for tracking changes in source code. |
| grep | Search files for lines that match a given pattern; supports regular expressions (regexp). |
| groupadd | Create a new user group. |
| gzip | Compress or decompress files using GNU zip. |
| head | Output the first part of files. |
| help | Display help for built-in commands. |
| history | Show the command history. |
| hostname | Show or set the system’s host name. |
| htop | An interactive process viewer, an improved version of top. |
| id | Display user identity. |
| if | Used for conditional branching in shell scripts. |
| ifconfig | Configure network interfaces (deprecated; use ip instead). |
| ip | Show / manipulate routing, devices, policy routing, and tunnels. |
| info | View detailed documentation for a command or topic. |
| jobs | Display status of jobs in the current session. |
| journalctl | Query the systemd journal for logs. |
| kill | Terminate a process by PID. |
| killall | Kill processes by name. |
| kubectl | Command-line interface for running commands against Kubernetes clusters. |
| last | Display a list of recent logins. |
| less | View files interactively, allowing backward and forward movement. |
| ln | Create links between files. |
| locate | Find files by name quickly. |
| logname | Print current login name. |
| ls | List directory contents. |
| man | Display the manual page for a command. |
| mkdir | Create new directories. |
| mkfifo | Make FIFOs (named pipes). |
| mknod | Create block or character special files. |
| more | View text files one screen at a time. |
| mv | Move or rename files and directories. |
| nano | Simple, easy-to-use text editor. |
| nbd-client | Network block device client. |
| netstat | Print network connections, routing tables, interface statistics. |
| nmap | Network exploration tool and security/port scanner. |
| nohup | Run a command immune to hangups, with output to a non-tty. |
| nroff | Text-formatting program; processes plain text documents for printing. Commonly used for formatting manual pages (manpages). |
| openssl | Toolkit for SSL/TLS cryptography. |
| passwd | Update a user’s authentication tokens (password). |
| patch | Apply a diff file to originals. |
| ping | Send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST to network hosts. |
| ps | Report a snapshot of current processes. |
| pwd | Print name of current working directory. |
| ranger | A console file manager with VI key bindings. |
| read | Read a line from standard input. |
| rg | ripgrep, a fast command-line search tool that recursively searches directories for a regex pattern. Supports regular expressions (regexp). |
| rm | Remove files or directories. |
| rmdir | Remove empty directories. |
| rsync | Remote file and directory synchronization. |
| scp | Securely copy files between hosts on a network. |
| screen | Terminal multiplexer with session persistence. |
| sed | Stream editor for filtering and transforming text using regular expressions. |
| sftp | Secure file transfer program. |
| sleep | Delay for a specified amount of time. |
| sort | Sort lines of text files. |
| ssh | OpenSSH SSH client (remote login program). |
| stat | Display file or file system status. |
| su | Substitute user identity. |
| sudo | Execute a command as another user, typically as the superuser. |
| sync | Flush file system buffers. |
| tail | Output the last part of files. |
| tar | Tape archive utility; store, extract files from an archive. |
| tcpdump | Dump traffic on a network. |
| tee | Read from standard input and write to standard output and files. |
| tmux | Terminal multiplexer that allows multiple sessions in one terminal. |
| top | Display Linux processes. |
| touch | Change file timestamps or create empty files. |
| tr | Translate or delete characters. |
| traceroute | Print the route packets take to network host. |
| tree | Display directories and files in a tree-like format. |
| type | Describe a command. |
| uname | Print system information. |
| unzip | Unpack compressed ZIP files. |
| uptime | Tell how long the system has been running. |
| useradd | Create a new user or update default new user information. |
| userdel | Delete a user account and related files. |
| usermod | Modify a user account. |
| vi | Powerful text editor with a steep learning curve. |
| vim | Improved version of the vi editor. |
| vmstat | Report virtual memory statistics. |
| watch | Execute a program periodically, showing output fullscreen. |
| wc | Print newline, word, and byte counts for each file. |
| wget | Retrieve files from the web via HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP. |
| whereis | Locate the binary, source, and manual page files for a command. |
| which | Locate a command. |
| who | Show who is logged on. |
| write | Send a message to another user. |
| xargs | Build and execute command lines from standard input. |
| xdg-open | Open a file or URL in the user’s preferred application. |
| xlsfonts | List fonts available to X. |
| yarn | Fast, reliable, and secure dependency management (JavaScript). |
| yes | Output a string repeatedly until killed. |
| zcat | View compressed files. |
| zip | Package and compress (archive) files. |
| zless | View compressed files with less. |
| zoxide | A smarter cd command that tracks your most used directories, helping you navigate quickly. It’s a modern replacement for autojump, z, and fasd. |
Above list of linux commands was manually verified but sorted using Mixtral LeChat LLM.
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