Linux Commands

Navigation

pwd

Current directory

ls

List files

ls -l

Detailed list

ls -la

Show hidden files too

ls -lh

Human-readable sizes

cd folder

Enter folder

cd ..

Go up one level

cd ~

Home directory

tree

Show folder structure

Files & Folders

touch file.txt

Create file

mkdir folder

Create folder

mkdir -p a/b/c

Create nested folders (parents)

cp file backup

Copy file

cp -r folder backup

Copy folder recursively

mv old new

Rename or move

rm file

Delete file

rm -r folder

Delete folder and contents

rm -rf folder

Force delete (use with care)

rmdir folder

Delete empty folder

Viewing Files

cat file.txt

Display file

less file.txt

View file page by page

more file.txt

Another pager

head file.txt
head -n 20 file.txt

Show top lines (optionally first 20)

tail file.txt
tail -n 20 file.txt
tail -f logfile.log

Tail file; follow live with -f

nl file.txt

Show line numbers

Searching

find . -name "*.txt"

Find files by name

find . -type f

Find files (type f)

grep word file.txt
grep -i word file.txt
grep -r word folder

Search inside files

locate firefox
which firefox
whereis firefox

Locate binaries or packages

Permissions

chmod +x script.sh
chmod 755 file
chmod 644 file

Change permissions

chown user file
chown user:group file

Change owner and group

755 = Owner full, others read+execute
644 = Owner write, others read
777 = Everyone everything
600 = Private file

Common permission meanings

Processes

ps
ps aux

List processes

top
htop

Interactive monitors

kill PID
kill -9 PID
pkill firefox
pgrep firefox

Terminate or find processes

System Information

uname -a
hostname
uptime
whoami
id

Basic system and user info

free -h
df -h
du -sh folder
lsblk
lscpu
neofetch

Memory, disks and hardware info

Networking

ping google.com
ip a
ip r
curl https://example.com
wget URL
traceroute google.com
ss -tulpn

Common networking commands

Archives

tar -cvf archive.tar folder
tar -xvf archive.tar

tar -czvf archive.tar.gz folder
tar -xzvf archive.tar.gz

zip file.zip folder
unzip file.zip

Create and extract archives

Pacman (EndeavourOS)

sudo pacman -Syu   # Update everything
sudo pacman -S package
sudo pacman -R package
sudo pacman -Rns package
pacman -Ss firefox
pacman -Qs firefox
pacman -Si firefox
pacman -Qi firefox
pacman -Q
pacman -Qe
pacman -Qdt
sudo pacman -Sc
sudo pacman -Scc

Common pacman package manager commands

Yay (AUR)

yay -S package
yay -R package
yay -Ss package
yay -Syu

AUR helper commands

Services (systemd)

systemctl status service
sudo systemctl start service
sudo systemctl stop service
sudo systemctl restart service
sudo systemctl enable service
sudo systemctl disable service

# Example
sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager

Manage systemd services

Logs

journalctl
journalctl -xe
journalctl -u service
journalctl -f

View systemd journal logs

Disks

lsblk
blkid
mount
umount /dev/sdb1
df -h

Disk and mount utilities

Users

who
w
users
sudo useradd bob
sudo passwd bob
sudo userdel bob

User account and session commands

SSH

ssh user@host
scp file user@host:/folder
ssh-keygen
ssh-copy-id user@host

Remote shell and key setup

KDE Plasma

kquitapp6 plasmashell
plasmashell &

# or
plasmashell --replace &

Restart Plasma shell

Hardware

lspci
lsusb
inxi -F
sensors
xrandr

Hardware inspection tools

Git

git clone URL
git status
git add .
git commit -m "message"
git push
git pull

Common Git commands

Useful Terminal Tricks

sudo command
command &   # run in background
# Stop current process: Ctrl+C
# Suspend process: Ctrl+Z
clear
Ctrl+L

Quick terminal tips

Most Common Flags

-a  All
-A  Almost all
-l  Long listing
-h  Human readable
-r  Recursive / reverse
-R  Recursive
-i  Interactive
-f  Force
-v  Verbose
-q  Quiet
-s  Search / summarize
-u  Update
-y  Refresh databases
-x  Extract
-c  Create
-z  Gzip
-n  Number / no config
-e  Enable
-d  Delete / dependencies
-p  Parents
--help  Show help
--version  Show version

Common flags and meanings