Linux Cheatsheet
A quick reference for common Linux commands.
File Commands
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
ls |
List directory contents. |
ls -la |
List all files (including hidden) in long format. |
cd [dir] |
Change the current directory. |
pwd |
Show the present working directory. |
mkdir [dir] |
Create a new directory. |
rm [file] |
Remove a file. |
rm -r [dir] |
Remove a directory and its contents recursively. |
cp [file1] [file2] |
Copy a file. |
mv [file1] [file2] |
Move or rename a file. |
touch [file] |
Create a new empty file or update the timestamp of an existing file. |
cat [file] |
Display the contents of a file. |
head [file] |
Display the first 10 lines of a file. |
tail [file] |
Display the last 10 lines of a file. |
File Permissions
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
chmod [permissions] [file] |
Change the permissions of a file (e.g., chmod 755 myfile). |
chown [user:group] [file] |
Change the ownership of a file. |
Networking
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
ping [host] |
Check network connectivity to a host. |
ifconfig |
Display network interface information (deprecated, use 'ip addr'). |
ip addr |
Display network interface information. |
netstat -tulpn |
Show all listening ports and services. |
Process Management
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
ps |
Display currently active processes. |
top |
Display all running processes in real-time. |
kill [pid] |
Terminate a process with the given process ID (pid). |
killall [proc] |
Kill all processes named [proc]. |
Searching
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
grep [pattern] [file] |
Search for a pattern within a file. |
find [dir] -name [filename] |
Search for files in a directory. |
System Information
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
df |
Display disk space usage. |
du |
Display directory space usage. |
free |
Display memory and swap usage. |
uname -a |
Show kernel and system information. |