| uname -a | Show system and kernel |
| head -n1 /etc/issue | Show distribution |
| mount | Show mounted filesystems |
| date | Show system date |
| uptime | Show uptime |
| whoami | Show your username |
| man command | Show manual for command |
| pwd | Show current directory |
| mkdir dir | Make directory dir |
| cd dir | Change directory to dir |
| cd .. | Go up a directory |
| ls | List files |
| Files | |
| Ctrl-R | Read file |
| Ctrl-O | Save file |
| Ctrl-X | Close file |
| Cut and Paste | |
| ALT-A | Start marking text |
| CTRL-K | Cut marked text or line |
| CTRL-U | Paste text |
| Navigate File | |
| ALT-/ | End of file |
| CTRL-U | Paste text |
| CTRL-A | Beginning of line |
| CTRL-E | End of line |
| CTRL-C | Show line number |
| CTRL-_ | Go to line number |
| Search File | |
| CTRL-W | Find |
| ALT-W | Find next |
| CTRL-\ | Search and replace |
| CTRL-c | Stop current command |
| CTRL-z | Sleep program |
| CTRL-a | Go to start of line |
| CTRL-e | Go to end of line |
| CTRL-u | Cut from start of line |
| CTRL-k | Cut to end of line |
| CTRL-r | Search history |
| !! | Repeat last command |
| !abc | Run last command starting with abc |
| !abc:p | Print last command starting with abc |
| !$ | Last argument of previous command |
| ALT-. | Last argument of previous command |
| !* | All arguments of previous command |
| ^abc^123 | Run previous command, replacing abc with 123 |
| -a | Show all (including hidden) |
| -R | Recursive list |
| -r | Reverse order |
| -t | Sort by last modified |
| -S | Sort by file size |
| -l | Long listing format |
| -1 | One file per line |
| -m | Comma-separated output |
| -Q | Quoted output |
| env | Show environment variables |
| echo $NAME | Output value of $NAME variable |
| export NAME=value | Set $NAME to value |
| $PATH | Executable search path |
| $HOME | Home directory |
| $SHELL | Current shell |
| grep pattern files | Search for pattern in files |
| grep -i | Case insensitive search |
| grep -r | Recursive search |
| grep -v | Inverted search |
| grep -o | Show matched part of file only |
| find /dir/ -name name* | Find files starting with name in dir |
| find /dir/ -user name | Find files owned by name in dir |
| find /dir/ -mmin num | Find files modifed less than num minutes ago in dir |
| whereis command | Find binary / source / manual for command |
| locate file | Find file (quick search of system index) |
| screen | Start a screen session. |
| screen -r | Resume a screen session. |
| screen -list | Show your current screen sessions. |
| CTRL-A | Activate commands for screen |
| CTRL-A c | Create a new instance of terminal. |
| CTRL-A n | Go to the next instance of terminal. |
| CTRL-A p | Go to the previous instance of terminal. |
| CTRL-A " | Show current instances of terminals. |
| CTRL-A A | Rename the current instance. |
| env | Show environment variables |
| echo $NAME | Output value of $NAME variable |
| export NAME=value | Set $NAME to value |
| $PATH | Executable search path |
| $HOME | Home directory |
| $SHELL | Current shell |
| cmd < file | Input of cmd from file |
| cmd1 <(cmd2) | Output of cmd2 as file input to cmd1 |
| cmd > file | Standard output (stdout) of cmd to file |
| cmd > /dev/null | Discard stdout of cmd |
| cmd >> file | Append stdout to file |
| cmd 2> file | Error output (stderr) of cmd to file |
| cmd 1>&2 | stdout to same place as stderr |
| cmd 2>&1 | stderr to same place as stdout |
| cmd &> file | Every output of cmd to file |
| cmd refers to a command. | |
| touch file1 | Create file1 |
| cat file1 file2 | Concatenate files and output |
| less file1 | View and paginate file1 |
| file file1 | Get type of file1 |
| cp file1 file2 | Copy file1 to file2 |
| mv file1 file2 | Move file1 to file2 |
| rm file1 | Delete file1 |
| head file1 | Show first 10 lines of file1 |
| tail file1 | Show last 10 lines of file1 |
| tail -F file1 | Output last lines of file1 as it changes |
| chmod 775 file | Change mode of file to 775 |
| chmod -R 600 folder | Recursively chmod folder to 600 |
| chown user:group file | Change file owner to user and group to group |
| cmd1 | cmd2 | stdout of cmd1 to cmd2 |
| cmd1 |& cmd2 | stderr of cmd1 to cmd2 |
| watch -n 5 'ntpq -p' | Issue the 'ntpq -p' command every 5 seconds and display output |
| cmd1 ; cmd2 | Run cmd1 then cmd2 |
| cmd1 && cmd2 | Run cmd2 if cmd1 is successful |
| cmd1 || cmd2 | Run cmd2 if cmd1 is not successful |
| cmd & | Run cmd in a subshell |
| ps | Show snapshot of processes |
| top | Show real time processes |
| kill pid | Kill process with id pid |
| pkill name | Kill process with name name |
| killall name | Kill all processes with names beginning name |