Here is a list of basic linux commands. This list of linux commands is not complete as there are many more linux commands available. However, it should make a good start for a beginner or intermediate linux administrator / linux user. All linux commands in this list include examples to demonstrate how the actual linux command works.

A

• alias - create names or abbreviations for commands
• apropos - search the manual page names and descriptions
• at [man page] - queue, examine or delete jobs for later execution

B

• bc [man page] - An arbitrary precision calculator language

C

• cal - displays a calendar
• cat [man page] - concatenate files and print on the standard output
• cd - change directory
• chgrp [man page] - change group ownership
• chmod [man page] - change file access permissions
• cksum [man page] - checksum and count the bytes in a file
• cp [man page] - copy files and directories
• csplit [man page] - split a file into sections determined by context lines

D

• date [man page] - print or set the system date and time
• dd [man page] - convert and copy a file
• du [man page] - estimate file space usage

E

• egrep [man page] - print lines matching a pattern
• export - set an environment variable

F

• fgrep [man page] - print lines matching a pattern
• find [man page] - search for files in a directory hierarchy
• fold [man page] - wrap each input line to fit in specified width

G

• grep [man page] - print lines matching a pattern

H

• head [man page] - output the first part of files

I

J

• join [man page] - join lines of two files on a common field

K

L

• logrotate [man page] - rotates, compresses, and mails system logs
• ls [man page] - list directory contents

M

• mkdir [man page] - make directories
• mv [man page] - move (rename) files
• mount [man page] - mount a file system

N

• nl [man page] - number lines of files

O

• od [man page] - dump files in octal and other formats

P

• pwd [man page] - print name of current/working directory

Q

R

• rgrep [man page] - print lines matching a pattern
• rm [man page] - remove files or directories

S

• scp - secure copy (remote file copy program)
• ssh - OpenSSH SSH client (remote login program)

T

• tail [man page] - output the last part of files
• tar [man page] - The GNU version of the tar archiving utility
• tee [man page] - read from standard input and write to standard output and files
• time [man page] - run programs and summarize system resource usage
• touch [man page] - change file timestamps

V

• vim - Vi IMproved, a programmers text editor

W

• watch [man page] - execute a program periodically, showing output fullscreen
• wc [man page] - print newline, word, and byte counts for each file
• whoami [man page] - print effective userid

X

Y

Z

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