So, you’re diving into the world of Linux, huh? Awesome! Whether you’re a budding system administrator, a curious developer, or just someone who wants to understand the magic behind the command line, this post is your ultimate guide to essential Linux commands.

In this guide, we’ll cover 90+ essential Linux commands, categorized for easy reference. Plus, we’ve included a free downloadable cheat sheet to help you quickly look up commands whenever needed!

Get ready to level up your Linux skills!

What is Linux?

Linux is an open-source, Unix-like operating system that powers everything from personal computers to servers and supercomputers. It is widely used for its security, stability, and flexibility. The Linux command line, also known as the terminal, allows users to execute powerful commands to interact with the system.

Why Learn Linux Commands?

Before we jump in, let’s talk about why learning Linux commands is so valuable. The command line, also known as the terminal or shell, is your direct line to the heart of the Linux operating system. It’s where the real power lies. While graphical interfaces are convenient, the command line offers unparalleled flexibility, control, and efficiency. Learning these commands will allow you to:

• Manage files like a pro: Create, delete, move, copy, and rename files with ease.
• Navigate the file system effortlessly: Jump between directories, explore different drives, and understand the Linux file structure.
• Control processes: Start, stop, and monitor running programs.
• Configure your system: Change settings, install software, and customize your Linux environment.
• Automate tasks: Write scripts to perform repetitive actions automatically.
• Troubleshoot problems: Diagnose and fix issues with your system.

Getting Started with Linux Command Line

Before we dive into the commands, here are some basics:

• Shell: The command line interpreter. Popular ones include Bash, Zsh, and Fish.
• Terminal Emulator: A program that opens a shell window. Examples: GNOME Terminal, Konsole, or xterm.
• Root User: The superuser with full system privileges. Use sudo to execute commands as root.

Pro Tip: Use the man command to learn more about any command’s usage. For example, man ls displays the manual for the ls command.

Suggested Reading: 50+ Essential Git Commands (With Downloadable Cheat Sheet)

Linux commands are case-sensitive and generally follow this structure:

command [options] [arguments]

Example:

ls -l /home

Ready to level up your Linux skills? Let’s dive into the most useful Linux commands!

File and Directory Operations

1. ls – List directory contents

ls           # List files in the current directory
ls -l        # Detailed listing with permissions and sizes
ls -a        # Show hidden files
ls -lh       # Human-readable file sizes

2. cd – Change directory

cd /home/user       # Go to /home/user
cd ..               # Go up one directory level
cd ~                # Go to the home directory

3. pwd – Print working directory

pwd                # Displays the current directory path

4. mkdir – Create a new directory

mkdir new_folder         # Create a new folder
mkdir -p parent/child    # Create nested directories

5. rmdir – Remove an empty directory

rmdir empty_folder  # Deletes an empty folder

6. rm – Remove files or directories

rm file.txt          # Delete a file
rm -r folder         # Delete a directory and its contents
rm -f file.txt       # Force delete without confirmation
rm -rf folder        # Force delete directory and its contents

7. cp – Copy files or directories

cp file1.txt file2.txt       # Copy file1.txt to file2.txt
cp -r dir1 dir2              # Copy directory dir1 to dir2

8. mv – Move or rename files or directories

mv old_name.txt new_name.txt  # Rename a file
mv file.txt /new/location/    # Move file to another directory

9. touch – Create an empty file or update the timestamp

touch newfile.txt     # Create a new empty file

10. cat – View the contents of a file

cat file.txt          # Display contents of file.txt

11. more and less – View file contents page by page

more file.txt         # View file contents with pagination
less file.txt         # Similar to more but with better navigation

12. head and tail – View the beginning or end of a file

head -n 5 file.txt    # Show first 5 lines of the file
tail -n 5 file.txt    # Show last 5 lines of the file
tail -f logfile.txt   # Monitor live updates to a log file

13. ln – Create symbolic links

ln -s target linkname  # Create a symbolic (soft) link

14. du – Estimate file and directory space usage

du -sh *              # Display folder sizes in the current directory

15. df – Display disk space usage

df -h                 # Show disk space in human-readable format

16. find – Locate files in the directory tree

find /home -name "*.txt"        # Find all .txt files in /home
find /var -type f -size +10M    # Find files larger than 10MB

17. locate – Find files by name using an indexed database

locate filename         # Locate file by name

18. stat – Display file or file system status

stat file.txt          # Display detailed information about a file

File Permissions and Ownership

19. chmod – Change file permissions

chmod 755 script.sh    # Give owner execute permission, readable by others
chmod u+x script.sh    # Add execute permission for the owner

20. chown – Change file owner and group

chown user:group file.txt   # Change owner and group of file
chown -R user:group dir/    # Change ownership recursively

21. chgrp – Change group ownership

chgrp group file.txt   # Change group of the file

22. umask – Default permission setting for new files

umask 022              # Sets default permission for new files

Text Processing and Manipulation

23. grep – Search text using patterns

grep "pattern" file.txt      # Search for 'pattern' in file
grep -i "pattern" file.txt   # Case insensitive search
grep -r "pattern" /dir/      # Recursive search in a directory
ps –ef | grep process_name   #Check whether a specific process is running

24. sed – Stream editor for modifying text

sed 's/old/new/g' file.txt   # Replace 'old' with 'new' in file

25. awk – Pattern scanning and text processing

awk '{print $1}' file.txt    # Print the first column of a file

26. sort – Sort lines of text files

sort file.txt               # Sort lines in ascending order
sort -r file.txt            # Sort lines in descending order

27. uniq – Report or omit repeated lines

uniq file.txt               # Remove duplicate lines

28. diff – Compare files line by line

diff file1.txt file2.txt    # Show differences between files

29. wc – Word, line, and byte count

wc file.txt                 # Display word, line, and byte count
wc -l file.txt              # Line count only

30. cut – Cut out selected portions of a file

cut -d':' -f1 /etc/passwd   # Display first field using ':' delimiter

31. paste – Merge lines of files

paste file1.txt file2.txt   # Merge lines side by side

32. tr – Translate or delete characters

tr 'a-z' 'A-Z' < file.txt   # Convert lowercase to uppercase

33. split – Split a file into pieces

split -b 10M largefile part_  # Split into 10MB pieces

Networking Commands

34. ping – Check connectivity to a host

ping google.com            # Check if Google is reachable
ping -c 4 google.com       # Send 4 packets and stop

35. ifconfig – Display network interfaces (Deprecated, use ip command)

ifconfig                   # Show all network interfaces

36. ip – Show/manipulate routing, devices, policy routing, and tunnels

ip a                       # Display all network interfaces
ip link set eth0 up        # Enable network interface
ip link set eth0 down      # Disable network interface

37. hostname – Display or set the system’s hostname

hostname                   # Show current hostname
hostnamectl set-hostname newname  # Set a new hostname

38. wget – Download files from the web

wget http://example.com/file.zip   # Download a file
wget -c http://example.com/file.zip # Resume a download

39. curl – Transfer data from or to a server

curl http://example.com          # Fetch webpage content
curl -O http://example.com/file.zip # Download file

40. ssh – Securely connect to a remote machine

ssh user@remote_host             # SSH into a remote server
ssh -i keyfile.pem user@remote_host      # Connect using an identity file

41. scp – Securely copy files between hosts

scp file.txt user@remote_host:/path/to/destination
scp user@remote_host:/path/to/source/file.txt /local/destination

42. ftp – File Transfer Protocol client

ftp ftp.example.com               # Connect to FTP server

43. netstat – Network statistics

netstat -tuln                     # Show all listening ports
netstat -pnltu                    # Display active connections

44. ss – Display socket statistics (Replacement for netstat)

ss -tuln                         # Show listening ports
ss -s                            # Summarize network statistics

45. nslookup – Query internet name servers interactively

nslookup google.com               # Get DNS information for a domain

46. dig – DNS lookup

dig google.com                    # Detailed DNS information

47. traceroute – Trace the route packets take to a network host

traceroute google.com             # Trace the route to a host

48. whois – Get domain registration details

whois example.com                 # Get WHOIS info for a domain

49. nmcli – NetworkManager command-line interface

nmcli device status               # Show network device status
nmcli connection show             # List all connections

System Monitoring and Performance

50. top – Display real-time running processes

top                              # Display dynamic process info

51. htop – Interactive process viewer (Enhanced version of top)

htop                             # Display real-time process viewer

52. ps – Display snapshot of current processes

ps aux                           # Show all running processes
ps -ef                           # Detailed process listing

53. kill – Send signal to a process

kill PID                         # Terminate a process by PID
kill -9 PID                      # Force kill a process

54. killall – Kill processes by name

killall firefox                  # Kill all instances of Firefox

55. pkill – Send signal to processes based on name or other attributes

pkill -u user                    # Kill all processes by user

56. jobs – List background jobs

jobs                             # List active background jobs

57. bg – Resume a job in the background

bg %1                            # Continue job in background

58. fg – Bring a job to the foreground

fg %1                            # Bring background job to foreground

59. nice – Start a process with a specific priority

nice -n 10 command                # Start process with priority

60. renice – Change running process priority

renice 15 PID                    # Adjust priority of running process

61. uptime – Tell how long the system has been running

uptime                           # Show uptime and load average

62. free – Display memory usage

free -h                          # Show memory in human-readable format

63. vmstat – Report virtual memory statistics

vmstat 5                         # Display CPU and memory stats every 5 seconds

64. iostat – CPU and input/output statistics

iostat                           # Display CPU and I/O stats

65. dmesg – Print kernel and driver messages

dmesg | tail                     # Show latest kernel messages

66. pgrep – List processes by name

pgrep apache2                    # Find process IDs by name

67. screen – Terminal multiplexer for session management

screen -S session_name            # Start a new screen session

Package Management

68. apt – Package management (Debian/Ubuntu)

apt update                        # Refresh package list
apt upgrade                       # Upgrade all packages
apt install package_name          # Install a package
apt remove package_name           # Uninstall a package
apt search package_name           # Search for a package

69. yum – Package manager (CentOS/RHEL)

yum update                        # Update all packages
yum install package_name          # Install a package
yum remove package_name           # Remove a package

70. dnf – Next-generation package manager (Fedora/RHEL/CentOS)

dnf install package_name          # Install a package
dnf update                        # Update system
dnf remove package_name           # Remove a package

User Management

71. useradd – Create a new user

useradd newuser                 # Add a new user

72. usermod – Modify user details

usermod -aG sudo newuser         # Add user to sudo group

73. userdel – Delete a user account

userdel newuser                 # Remove a user

74. passwd – Change user password

passwd username                 # Change password for user

75. whoami – Currently logged in user

whoami                            # See the currently logged in user

76. cat /etc/passwd – Display a list of all users with additional info

cat /etc/passwd           # List of all users with additional info

77. usermod -d – Home directory of a user

usermod -d /home/test username         # Change the home directory of a user

78. groupadd – Create a new group

groupadd developers              # Create a new group

79. groupdel – Delete a group

groupdel developers              # Delete a group

80. groups – Show user’s groups

groups username                  # Display groups for user

81. su – Switch user account

su - username                    # Switch to another user

82. sudo – Execute commands as superuser

sudo apt update                  # Run command with root privileges

Disk Management

83. mount – Mount file systems

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt              # Mount a partition

84. umount – Unmount file systems

umount /mnt                      # Unmount a partition

85. fsck – File system consistency check

fsck /dev/sda1                   # Check and repair filesystem

86. blkid – Locate/print block device attributes

blkid                            # Display UUIDs of storage devices

87. lsblk – List information about block devices

lsblk                            # Show all block devices

88. fdisk – Partition table manipulator

fdisk -l                         # List all partitions

SSH and Remote Connections

89. ssh-keygen – Generate SSH keys

ssh-keygen                       # Generate a new SSH key pair

90. ssh-copy-id – Install SSH key on a remote server for passwordless login

ssh-copy-id user@remote_host      # Copy public key to remote host

91. rsync – Remote file sync

rsync -avz /local/dir user@remote:/remote/dir

Advanced Commands

92. tar – Archive files

tar -cvf archive.tar /path/to/files
tar -xvf archive.tar             # Extract files from archive
tar xf archive                  #Extract archive of any type
unzip archive.zip -d /directory_name #Unzip a zip archive to a specific directory
gzip filename    #Compress a file and add the .gz extension to it. This will delete the original file
gzip -c filename > archive.gz  #Create a new compressed .gz file, preserving the original

93. gzip and gunzip – Compress and decompress files

gzip file.txt                    # Compress file
gunzip file.txt.gz               # Decompress file

94. chroot – Change root directory

chroot /new/root                 # Change root directory

95. tmux – Advanced terminal multiplexer

tmux new -s session_name          # Create a new tmux session

Essential Linux Commands: A Quick Reference Table

Bonus: Download Your Free Linux Commands Cheat Sheet

To further support your Linux learning, we offer a complimentary downloadable cheat sheet summarizing the top essential Linux commands discussed.

Get the 2560×1440 wallpaper linux commands cheat sheet

Conclusion

There you have it—90+ essential Linux commands to help you navigate, manage, and master the terminal like a pro. Whether you’re managing files, networking, or troubleshooting system issues, knowing these commands will make your life easier. Bookmark this guide as a reference, and keep practicing to enhance your Linux skills!

Did we miss any important commands? Let us know in the comments!

Happy coding!

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Linux Commands