Linux Commands Cheat Sheet

Basic

Command Purpose Mnemonic Example
echo Output text or variables to terminal or file. Everything Comes Here Out. echo "Hello" > file.txt
cat Display or concatenate file content. Think of a cat lying on a book, reading. cat file1.txt
ls List directory contents. Look at Stuff. ls -l
pwd Show current directory path. Path We're Doing. pwd
cd Change to another directory. Change Direction. cd /home/user
touch Create a new file or update its timestamp. Imagine touching a file to create or update it. touch newfile.txt
mkdir Create a new directory. Make DIRectory. mkdir my_folder
rm Delete files or directories. Remove Mess. rm file.txt
cp Copy files or directories. Clone Pieces. cp file1.txt backup.txt
mv Move or rename files/directories. Move Values. mv oldname.txt newname.txt
man Display the manual for a command. MANual. man ls
clear Clear the terminal screen. Start with a clear screen. clear
whoami Display the current user. Who am I? whoami
uname Show system information. Unique NAME. uname -a
hostname Display the system hostname. The name of the host system. hostname

File Management

Command Purpose Mnemonic Example
nano Open a simple text editor. Nano: Small but mighty editor. nano file.txt
vi Open the vi text editor. VIsual editor. vi file.txt
less View file contents page by page. Read less at a time. less bigfile.txt
head Display the first few lines of a file. The head of the file. head file.txt
tail Display the last few lines of a file. The tail of the file. tail file.txt
find Search for files in a directory. Find things. find /home -name "*.txt"
locate Quickly locate files by name. Locate faster than find. locate file.txt
stat Display detailed info about a file. Statistics of a file. stat file.txt
file Determine the file type. What kind of file is it? file image.png

User Management

Command Purpose Mnemonic Example
id Display user ID and group information. IDentity. id
who List logged-in users. Who is online? who
groups Show groups of the current user. Groups you belong to. groups
adduser Add a new user to the system. Add User. sudo adduser newuser
passwd Change user password. Update passwd. passwd

Disk and System Info

Command Purpose Mnemonic Example
df Show disk space usage. Disk Free. df -h
du Show directory/file sizes. Disk Usage. du -sh folder
free Display memory usage. Show free RAM. free -h
top Monitor system processes. Top running processes. top
htop Interactive process viewer. Human-friendly top. htop

Networking

Command Purpose Mnemonic Example
ping Check connectivity to a host. Ping a server to "ping-pong." ping google.com
wget Download files from the web. Web GET. wget http://example.com/file.zip
curl Transfer data from/to a server. Client URL. curl http://example.com
ifconfig View or configure network interfaces. Interface Configuration. ifconfig
netstat Show network connections. Network Statistics. netstat -tuln

Permissions and Ownership

Command Purpose Mnemonic Example
chmod Change file permissions. CHange MODe. chmod 755 file.sh
chown Change file ownership. CHange OWNer. sudo chown user:group file.txt
umask Set default permissions. User MASK. umask 022

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Tip: Look for easter eggs in the commands!