Linux Commands Cheat Sheet
Keyboard Shortcuts
Ctrl + C Kill process running in the
terminal.
Ctrl + Z Stop the current process.
The process can be
resumed in the foreground
with fg or in the
background with bg.
Ctrl + W Cut one word before the
cursor and add it to the
clipboard.
Ctrl + U Cut part of the line before
the cursor and add it to the
clipboard.
Ctrl + K Cut part of the line after the
cursor and add it to the
clipboard.
Ctrl + Y Paste from clipboard.
Ctrl + R Recall the last command
that matches the provided
characters.
Ctrl + O Run the previously recalled
command.
Ctrl + G Exit command history
without running a
command.
clear Clear the terminal screen.
!! Run the last command
again.
exit Log out of the current
session.
Searching
find [path] -name Find files and
[search_pattern] directories that match the
specified pattern in a
specified location.
find [path] -size [+100M] See files and directories
larger than a specified size
in a directory.
grep [search_pattern] Search for a specific
[file_name] pattern in a file with grep.
grep -r [search_pattern] Recursively search for a
[directory_name] pattern in a directory.
locate [name] Locate all files and
directories related to a
particular name.
which [command] Search the command
path in
the $PATH environment
variable.
whereis [command] Find the source, binary,
and manual page for a
command.
awk '[search_pattern] Print all lines matching a
{print $0}' [file_name] pattern in a file. See also
the gawk command, the
GNU version of awk.
sed 's/[old_text]/ Find and replace text in a
[new_text]/' [file_name] specified file.
Directory Navigation
ls List files and directories in
the current directory.
ls -a List all files and directories
in the current directory
(shows hidden files).
ls -l List files and directories in
long format.
pwd Show the directory you
are currently working in.
cd Change
cd ~ directory to $HOME.
cd .. Move up one directory
level.
cd - Change to the previous
directory.
cd [directory_path] Change location to a
specified directory.
dirs Show current directory
stack.
Packages (Debian/Ubuntu)
sudo apt-get install Install an APT package
[package_name] using the apt-get
package utility.
sudo apt install Install an APT package
[package_name] using a newer APT
package manager.
apt search [keyword] Search for a package in
the APT repositories.
apt list List packages installed
with APT.
apt show Show information about a
[package_name] package.
sudo dpkg -i Install a .deb package with
[package_name.deb] the Debian package
manager.
sudo dpkg -l List packages installed
with dpkg.
Users and Groups
id See details about the
active users.
last Show the last system
logins.
who Display who is currently
logged into the system.
w Show which users
are logged in and their
activity.
finger [user_name] Show user information.
sudo useradd Create a new user account.
[user_name]
sudo adduser Create a new user account
[user_name] through the adduser
command interface.
sudo userdel [user_name] Delete a user account.
sudo usermod -aG Modify user
[group_name] information (add a user to
[user_name] a group).
passwd Change the current user's
sudo passwd [user_name] or another user's
password.
sudo groupadd Add a new group.
[group_name]
sudo groupdel Delete a group.
[group_name]
sudo groupmod -n Modify a user group
[new_name] [old_name] (change group name).
sudo [command] Temporarily elevate user
privileges to superuser or
root.
su - [user_name] Switch the user account or
become a superuser.
chgrp [group_name] [file/ Change file or directory
directory] group.
SSH Login
ssh [user_name]@[host] Connect to a remote
host as a user via SSH.
ssh [host] Securely connect to a
host via SSH default
port 22.
ssh -p [port] Connect to the host
[user_name]@[host] using a particular port.
ssh-keygen Generate SSH key pairs.
sudo service sshd start Start SSH
server daemon.
scp [file_name] Securely copy
[user_name]@[host]:[rem files between local and
ote_path] remote systems via SSH.
sftp [user_name]@[host] Interactive file transfer
over encrypted SSH
session
using SFTP protocol.
telnet [host] Connect to the host
via Telnet default port
23.
File Permissions
chmod 777 [file_name] Assign read, write, and
execute file permission to
everyone (rwxrwxrwx).
chmod 755 [file_name] Give read, write, and
execute permission to
owner, and read and
execute permission to
group and others
(rwxr-xr-x).
chmod 766 [file_name] Assign full permission to
the owner, and read and
write permission to the
group and others
(rwxrw-rw-).
chown [user_name] Change the ownership of
[file_name] a file with chown
command.
chown Change the owner and
[user_name]:[group_nam group ownership of a file.
e] [file_name]
Packages (Red Hat, CentOS, Fedora)
sudo yum install Install a package using
[package_name] the YUM package
manager.
yum search [keyword] Find a package in the
YUM repositories based
on the provided keyword.
yum list installed List all packages installed
with YUM.
yum info [package_name] Show package
information for a
package.
sudo dnf install Install a package using
[package_name] the DNF package
manager.
sudo rpm -i Install a .rpm package
[package_name.rpm] from a local file.
Files
mkdir [directory_name]
rm [file_name]
rm -r [directory_name]
rm -rf [directory_name]
cp [source_file]
[destination_file]
cp -r [source_directory]
[destination_directory]
mv [source_file]
[destination_file]
ln -s [path]/[file_name]
[link_name]
touch [file_name]
cat [file_name]
cat [source_file] >>
[destination_file]
head [file_name]
tail [file_name]
more [file_name]
less [file_name]
nano [file_name]
vi [file_name]
vim [file_name]
gpg -c [file_name]
gpg [file_name].gpg
wc -w [file_name]
ls | xargs wc
cut -d [delimiter]
[file_name]
[data] | cut -d [delimiter]
shred -u [file_name]
diff [first_file]
[second_file]
source [file_name]
[command] | tee
[file_name] >/dev/null
Disk Usage
df -h
df -i
fdisk -l
du -ah
du -sh
mount
findmnt
mount [device_path]
[mount_point]
Packages (Universal)
tar zxvf [file_name.tar.gz]
cd [extracted_directory]
./configure make
make install
sudo snap install
[package_name]
sudo snap find [keyword]
sudo snap list
flatpak install
[package_name]
flatpak search [keyword]
flatpak list
System Management Processes
Create a new directory. uname -r Show system information ps List active processes.
via uname command.
Remove a file. pstree Show processes in a tree-
uname -a See kernel release like diagram.
Remove a directory information.
recursively. pmap Display a memory usage
uptime Display how long the map of processes.
Recursively remove a system has been running,
directory without requiring including the load average. top See all running processes.
confirmation.
hostname View system hostname. htop Interactive and colorful
Copy the contents of one process viewer.
file to another file. hostname -i Show the IP address of the
system. kill [process_id] Terminate a Linux
Recursively copy a process under a given ID.
directory to a second last reboot List system reboot history.
directory. pkill [process_name] Terminate a process under
date See current time and date. a specific name.
Move or rename files or
directories. timedatectl Query and change killall [label] Terminate all processes with
the system clock. a given label.
Create a symbolic link to a
file. cal Show current calendar prgrep [keyword] List processes based on the
(month and day). provided keyword.
Create a new file.
w List logged-in users. pidof [process_name] Show the PID of a process.
Show the contents of a file.
whoami See which user you are bg List and resume stopped
Append file contents to using. jobs in the background.
another file.
finger [user_name] Show information about a Bring the most recently
Show the first ten lines of a particular user. fg suspended job to the
file. foreground.
ulimit [flags] [limit] View or limit system
Show the last ten lines of a resource amounts. fg [job] Bring a particular job to the
file. foreground.
shutdown [hh:mm] Schedule a system
Display contents of a file shutdown. lsof List files opened by running
page by page. processes.
shutdown now Shut down the system
Show the contents of a file immediately. trap "[commands]" Catch a system error
with navigation. [signal] signal in a shell script.
modprobe Add a new kernel module. Executes provided
Open or create a file using [module_name] commands when the signal
the nano text editor. is caught.
dmesg Show bootup messages.
Open or create a file using wait Pause the terminal or a
the Vi/Vim text editor. Bash script until a running
Network process is completed.
Encrypt a file.
ip addr show List IP addresses and nohup [command] & Run a Linux process in the
Decrypt an network interfaces. background.
encrypted .gpg file.
ip address add Assign an IP address to
Show the number of [IP_address] interface eth0.
Hardware Information
words, lines, and bytes in a
file. ifconfig Display IP addresses of all lscpu See CPU information.
network interfaces.
List the number of lines/ lsblk See information about
words/characters in each ping [remote_host] Ping remote host. block devices.
file in a directory.
netstat -pnltu See active (listening) ports lspci -tv Show PCI devices in a tree-
Cut a section of a file and with the netstat command. like diagram.
print the result to standard
output. netstat -tuln Show TCP and UDP ports lsusb -tv Display USB devices in a
and their programs. tree-like diagram.
Cut a section of piped data
and print the result to whois [domain_name] Display more information lshw List hardware configuration
standard output. about a domain. information.
Overwrite a file to prevent dig [domain_name] Show DNS information cat /proc/cpuinfo Show detailed CPU
its recovery, then delete it. about a domain using information.
the dig command.
Compare two files and cat /proc/meminfo View detailed system
display differences. dig -x [domain_name] Do a reverse DNS lookup memory information.
on the domain.
Read and execute the file cat /proc/mounts See mounted file systems.
content in the current shell. dig -x [IP_address] Do a reverse DNS lookup of
an IP address. free -h Display free and used
Store the command output memory.
in a file and skip the host [domain_name] Perform an IP lookup for a
terminal output. domain. sudo dmidecode Show hardware information
from the BIOS.
hostname -I Show the local IP address
hdparm -i /dev/ Display disk data
nslookup Receive information about [device_name] information.
Check free and used
space on mounted [domain_name] an internet domain.
hdparm -tT /dev/ Conduct a read speed test
systems.
. [device_name] on the device/disk.
File Compression
Show free inodes on
badblocks -s /dev/ Test for unreadable blocks
mounted file systems.
tar cf [archive.tar] [file/ Archive an existing file or [device_name] on the device/disk.
Display disk partitions, directory] directory.
fsck /dev/[device_name] Run a disk check on an
sizes, and types with the
tar xf [archive.tar] Extract an archived file. unmounted disk or
command.
partition.
See disk usage for all files tar czf [archive.tar.gz] Create a .gz compressed
and directories. tar archive.
Shell Commands
Show disk usage of the gzip [file_name] Compress or
current directory. gunzip [file_name.gz] decompress .gz files. alias [alias- Create an alias for a
name]='[command]' command.
Show currently mounted bzip2 [file_name] Compress or decompress
file systems. bunzip2 [file_name.bz2] .bz2 files. watch -n [interval-in- Set a custom interval to
seconds] [command] run a user-defined
Display target mount command.
File Transfer
point for all file systems.
sleep [time-interval] && Postpone the
scp [source_file] Copy a file to a server [command] execution of a command.
Mount a device.
[user]@[remote_host]:[de directory securely.
stination_path] at [hh:mm] Create a job to be
executed at a certain time
rsync -a Synchronize the contents (Ctrl+D to exit prompt
[source_directory] of a directory with a after command).
[user]@[remote_host]:[de backup directory.
Install software
stination_directory] man [command] Display a built-in
from source code.
manual for a command.
wget [link] Download files from FTP
or web servers. history Print the command
history used in the
Install a Snap package.
curl -O [link] Transfer data to or from a terminal.
server with various
protocols.
Search for a package in Variables
the Snap store.
ftp [remote_host] Transfer files between
local and remote systems
List installed Snap let Assign an integer value to
interactively using FTP.
"[variable_name]=[value]" a variable.
packages.
sftp Securely transfer between export [variable_name] Export a Bash variable.
Install a Flatpak package.
[user]@[remote_host] local and remote hosts
using SFTP. declare [variable-name]= Declare a Bash variable.
Search for a Flatpak "[value]"
application in repositories.
set List the names of all the
shell variables and
List installed Flatpack
packages. functions.
unset [variable_name] Remove an environment
variable.
echo $[variable-name] Display the value of a
variable.