Key Linux Commands Documentation: -------------------------------------------------man - Format and display the on-line manual pages help - Display help

info about Bash builtin commands info - Read/display Info documents manpath - Determine users search path for man pages apropos - Search the whatis database for strings whatis - Search the whatis database for complete words Command/File Information: -------------------------------------------------which - Shows the full path of a (shell) command whereis - Locate the binary, source, and manual page files for a command locate, slocate - Find file paths containing string using slocate database find - Search for files in a directory hierarchy type - Show if command is alias, etc. file - Determine type of file File Operations: -------------------------------------------------cat - Concatenate files and print on the standard output tac - Concatenate and print files in reverse more, less - Output file page by page tail - Output the last part of files head - Output the first part of files rm - Remove files (or directories) mv - Move (rename) files cp - Copy files and directories dd - Convert and copy a file grep, egrep, fgrep - Print lines matching a pattern ln - Make a hard/soft link to a file od - Dump files in octal and other formats source - Read and execute commands in a file [Bash builtin] File Properties: -------------------------------------------------chmod - Change file access permissions chown - Change file owner (and group) chgrp - Change group ownership stat - Display file or filesystem status touch - Change file timestamps (or create empty file) wc - Print the number of newlines, words, and bytes in files Directories: -------------------------------------------------ls - List directory contents pwd - Print name of current working directory cd - Change directory mkdir - Make directories rmdir - Remove empty directories du - Estimate file space usage pushd - cd and add directory to the directory stack [Bash builtin] popd - Remove directory from directory stack and cd [Bash builtin] dirs - Display the currently remembered directories [Bash builtin] File Comparison: -------------------------------------------------diff - Compare 2 files line by line cmp - Compare 2 files byte by byte comm - Compare sorted files by line diff3 - Compare 3 files line by line sdiff - Merge 2 files side-by-side patch - apply a diff file to an original

Key Linux Commands Environment Variables, Aliases, and Functions: -------------------------------------------------printenv - Print (select or all) environment variable values export - Move shell variable to environment (so inherited by children) [Bash builtin] set - Print values of all shell/environment variables and functions unset - Remove/undefine a variable [Bash builtin] declare - Show (or set) shell variables/functions [Bash builtin] env - Run a program in a modified environment setenv, unsetenv - Set/remove environment variable value [C shell] alias - Show (or set) alias value for command unalias - Remove/unset alias System Information: -------------------------------------------------hostname - Show or set the systems host name uname - Print system (kernel, etc.) information uptime - Tell how long the system has been running free - Display amount of free and used memory in the system vmstat - Report virtual memory statistics dmesg - Print or control the kernel ring buffer (e.g., boot messages) id - Print UID and GID info for current user or specified username last, lastb - Display list of recent logins/failed logins finger - Display information about system users (often disable now) who - Show who is logged in (often disabled now) Processes: -------------------------------------------------ps - Snapshot of the current processes pstree - Display a tree of processes top - Display current processes (realtime) kill - Terminate a process (send a signal) fuser, lsof - Identify processes using files or sockets id - Print UID and GID info for current process nice - Run a program with modified scheduling priority renice - Alter priority of running process(es) umask - Set process file creation permissions mask [Bash builtin] ulimit - Control process resources limits [Bash builtin] Filesystems/devices: -------------------------------------------------df - Report filesystem disk space usage mount - Mount a filesystem umount - Unmount filesystem fdisk, cfdisk, sfdik- Manipulate disk partition table mkfs - Build a Linux file system fsck- Check and repair a Linux file system debugfs - Ext2/ext3 file system debugger mkswap - Set up a Linux swap area swapon, swapoff - Enable/disable devices and files for swapping mknod - Make block or character special files dd - Convert and copy a file Archiving and Compression: -------------------------------------------------tar - Package/unpackage files (archive) gzip, gunzip - Compress or expand files zip, unzip - Package and compress (archive) files bzip2, bunzip2 - Compress or expand files bzcat - decompresses files to stdout compress, uncompress - Compress or expand files (old) cpio - Copy files to and from archives dump - ext2/3 filesystem backup

Key Linux Commands Filters: -------------------------------------------------basename - Strip directory and suffix cat - Concatenate and write files csplit - Split by context cut - Print selected parts of lines dirname - Strip non-directory suffix envsubst - Convert shell vars to environment values expand - Convert tabs to spaces fmt - Reformat paragraph text fold - Wrap long input lines grep, egrep, fgrep - Print lines matching a pattern head - Output the first part of files join - Join lines on a common field nl - Number lines and write files paste - Merge lines of files pr - Paginate or columnate files sed - Stream editor seq - Print a sequence/list of numbers sort - Sort text files split - Split into fixed-size pieces tac - Reverse files tail - Output the last part of files tee - Redirect to multiple files tr - Translate characters tsort - Topological sort unexpand - Convert spaces to tabs uniq - Uniquify files wc - Print the number of newlines, words, and bytes in files xargs - Convert standard input to command argument(s) Login, Shell/Command, Logout: -------------------------------------------------su - Run as a substitute user (e.g., root) sudo - Execute a command as another user (e.g., root) exit - Exit a shell logout - Logout/exit a login shell (e.g., SSH shell) chroot - Run command or interactive shell with special root directory Remote Login and File Transfer: -------------------------------------------------ssh - Secure remote login/shell sftp - Secure file transfer program scp - Secure remote file copy rsh - Remote login/shell (insecure!) rlogin - Remote login (insecure!) ftp - File transfer program (insecure!) rcp - Remote file copy (insecure!) Users: -------------------------------------------------passwd - Update a users password chsh - Change your login shell useradd - Create a new user or update default new user information userdel - Delete a user account and related files usermod - Modify a user account groupadd - Create a new group groupdel - Delete a group groupmod - Modify a group

Key Linux Commands Printing and Formatting: -------------------------------------------------lpr - Print files lpq - Show printer queue status lprm - Cancel print jobs lpstat - Print cups status information enscript - Convert text files to PostScript for printing, etc. a2ps - Format files for printing on a PostScript printer mpage - print multiple pages per sheet on PostScript printer psnup - Put multiple Postscript pages per sheet Booting, Startup/Runlevel, Shutdown: -------------------------------------------------grub - Run the GRUB (boot loader) shell lilo - Install LILO boot loader init, telinit - Change system runlevel halt, reboot, poweroff - Stop the system shutdown - Bring the system down mkrescue - Make rescue floppy (to boot disk from floppy/cd) Services: -------------------------------------------------service - Start/stop/restart/status a system service/daemon chkconfig - Update/query runlevel information for system services update-rc.d, sysv-rc-conf - Update/query runlevel information for system services Network: -------------------------------------------------ping, ping6 - Send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST to network hosts ifconfig - Configure a network interface ifup, ifdown - Start/stop a network interface route - Show/manipulate the IP routing table netstat - Print network connections, routing tables, etc. traceroute - Print the route packets take to network host ethtool - Display or change ethernet card settings host, dig, nslookup - DNS lookup utilities whois - Client for the whois directory service (DNS) arp - Manipulate the system ARP cache arping - Send ARP REQUEST to a neighbour host iptables - Administration tool for IPv4 packet filtering and NAT iwconfig - Configure a wireless network interface iwlist - Get detailed wireless interface information iwpriv - Configure driver-specific parameters of a wireless network interface wspy - Get wireless statistics from specific nodes X Server: -------------------------------------------------Xorg - Configure X.org server xorgcfg - Graphical configuration tool for X.org server xorgconfig - Generate an xorg.conf file cvt - Calculate VESA CVT mode lines for xorg.conf gtf - Calculate VESA GTF mode lines for xorg.conf (older) xrandr - Get/set resolution, etc. xdpyinfo - X server settings/info xauth - X authorization utility xhost - X access control xmodmap - View/set key/mouse mappings setxkbmap - Set keyboard using the X Keyboard Extension (XKB) xkbcomp - Compile/writeout XKB keyboard description xev - Monitor X events (e.g., keymaps) xset - Sets user preferences for many things xsetroot - Change the "root window" appearance xprop - property displayer for X xdm, kdm, gdm - Display managers for X

Key Linux Commands Hardware: -------------------------------------------------hdparm - Get/set hard disk parameters lshw - List hardware lspci - List all PCI devices lsscsi - List all SCSI devices lsusb - List USB devices usbview - Display information on USB devices Kernel Modules and Configuration: -------------------------------------------------lsmod - Show the status of Linux kernel modules modprobe - Add and remove modules from the Linux kernel insmod - Insert a module into the Linux kernel rmmod - Remove a module from the Linux kernel modinfo - Show information about a Linux kernel module usbmodules - List kernel driver modules available for a USB device mkinitrd - Creates initial ramdisk images for preloading modules sysctl - Configure kernel parameters at runtime File Integrrity Checking: -------------------------------------------------md5sum - Compute and check MD5 message digest (checksum) sha1sum - Compute and check SHA1 message digest (checksum) RPM Software Package Management: -------------------------------------------------rpm - basic RPM package command urpmi - Mandriva RPM package command (understands dependencies) urpmi.addmedia, urpme, urpmf, urpmq - various urpmi-related commands rpmdrake - Mandriva GUI front end for urpmi yum - RH/Fedora RPM package command (understands dependencies) yumex - RH/Fedora GUI front end for yum Debian Software Package Management: -------------------------------------------------dpkg - basic Debian package command apt-get - Command line front end for APT (understands dependencies) aptitude - Advanced text and command line front end for APT synaptic - GUI front end for APT dselect - Menu-driven package manager Compiling and Libraries: -------------------------------------------------gcc -- Gnu Compiler Collection (C/C++ and more compiler) ./configure - Standard command to use autoconf script to create makefile(s) make - Build program(s) from source (invoking compiler) ar - Create, modify, and extract from libraries (archives) ldconfig - Update link bindings info for shared libraries ldd - Print shared library dependencies for an executable size - List section sizes in object and library files nm - List symbols from object files objdump - Display information from object files strings - Display the printable strings in files readelf - Display information about ELF files Debugging -------------------------------------------------strace - Trace system calls and signals ltrace - Trace library calls gdb - GNU Debugger

Key Linux Commands Terminal: -------------------------------------------------stty - Change and print terminal line settings reset, tset - Terminal initialization clear - Clear the terminal screen screen - Terminal manager/multiplexer (multiple shells on a console) Job Control: -------------------------------------------------jobs - List jobs (running in background) fg - Move job to foreground bg - Move job to background Time: -------------------------------------------------date - Print or set the system date and time hwclock - Query and set the hardware clock (RTC) ntpd, ntpdate - Set the system date and time via NTP time - Time a command/program and give resource usage Misc: -------------------------------------------------watch - Execute a program periodically, showing output fullscreen true, false - Do nothing, successfully, unsuccessfully mail, nail - Send and receive mail (command line) bc - An arbitrary precision calculator language (infix) dc - An arbitrary precision calculator language (RPN)