Linux commands,
made clear.

Print the full path of your current working directory.

List files and folders. Add flags to show hidden files and details.

Move to another directory. Use “cd -” to return to the previous one.

Print the username associated with the current effective user ID.

Show user and group IDs for the current user or another account.

Clear the visible contents of the terminal screen.

Show commands recorded by your shell in the current history list.

Open the manual page for a command. Press q to leave the viewer.

Create a directory. The -p flag also creates missing parent directories.

Create an empty file, or update an existing file’s modification time.

Copy files. Add -r when copying a directory and its contents.

Move or rename files and directories.

Remove files. This does not normally move them to a recoverable trash folder.

Create a link. Use -s to create a symbolic link.

Display detailed metadata about a file or directory.

Identify a file’s type by examining its contents and metadata.

Search a directory tree by name, type, age, and other conditions.

Search text for a pattern. Use -R for directories and -n to show line numbers.

Find paths using a prebuilt filename database; results may need updating.

Show which executable would run when you enter a command name.

Print file contents to the terminal or join multiple files together.

Read long text one screen at a time. Search with / and quit with q.

Show the first lines of a file; use -n to choose how many.

Show the last lines of a file. Use -f to follow new lines as they arrive.

Count lines, words, and bytes. Use -l for a line count only.

Sort lines of text. Add -n for numeric order or -r for reverse order.

Report or remove adjacent repeated lines; sort first to group matches.

Extract selected fields or character ranges from each input line.

Transform text streams; this example prints matching lines without editing files.

Process text by fields and patterns; fields are separated by whitespace by default.

Show a snapshot of processes. This format lists processes for all users.

View a live, interactive summary of processes and resource use.

Display memory use. The -h flag chooses human-readable units.

Show available and used disk space for mounted filesystems.

Estimate directory space use. Here, list direct children in readable units.

Print system information. The -a flag requests the available details.

Show how long the system has been running and its load averages.

Inspect or manage systemd services. Service names vary by distribution.

Read systemd journal entries. Use -u to filter by service unit.

Inspect or configure network interfaces, addresses, and routes.

Send diagnostic echo requests to test network reachability.

Show socket information. The flags below list listening TCP and UDP ports.

Transfer data to or from a URL; -I requests response headers only.

Retrieve a file from a URL. Check the source before downloading or running it.

Connect securely to a remote machine using its account and host name.

Copy files between hosts over SSH. Check both source and destination paths.

Query DNS records and inspect the response returned by a DNS server.

Create or inspect tar archives. This example lists files without extracting them.

Compress a file with gzip. By default, the input file is replaced by its compressed form.

Create a ZIP archive. Add -r when including a directory tree.

List or extract ZIP contents. Inspect untrusted archives before extraction.

Compress files using xz. The -k flag keeps the original file.

Change file permissions. This example grants the owner execute permission.

Change file ownership. Use elevated privileges only when needed.

Run an approved command with elevated privileges. Check the command before confirming.

Show the groups to which a user account belongs.