Skip to content
FindUtils
Sponsor

Linux & Terminal · Cheatsheet

Linux Commands Cheatsheet

Essential Linux commands for file management, processes, networking, and system administration

61 commands 8 sections

File & Directory Operations

  • ls -la List all files with details
  • cd <dir> Change directory
  • pwd Print working directory
  • mkdir -p <dir/sub> Create nested directories
  • rm -rf <dir> Remove directory recursively (use with caution)
  • cp -r <src> <dest> Copy directory recursively
  • mv <src> <dest> Move or rename file/directory
  • touch <file> Create empty file or update timestamp
  • ln -s <target> <link> Create symbolic link
  • find . -name "*.log" Find files by name pattern

File Content

  • cat <file> Display file contents
  • less <file> View file with pagination
  • head -n 20 <file> Show first 20 lines
  • tail -f <file> Follow file updates in real-time
  • wc -l <file> Count lines in file
  • sort <file> Sort file lines
  • uniq Remove duplicate adjacent lines
  • diff <file1> <file2> Compare two files

Search & Filter

  • grep -r "pattern" . Search recursively in files
  • grep -i "pattern" <file> Case-insensitive search
  • grep -n "pattern" <file> Search and show line numbers
  • grep -v "pattern" <file> Show lines NOT matching
  • find . -type f -mtime -7 Files modified in last 7 days
  • find . -size +100M Files larger than 100MB
  • locate <filename> Fast file search (uses index)
  • which <command> Show path of command binary

Permissions & Ownership

  • chmod 755 <file> Set rwxr-xr-x permissions
  • chmod +x <file> Make file executable
  • chmod -R 644 <dir> Set permissions recursively
  • chown user:group <file> Change file owner and group
  • chown -R user:group <dir> Change ownership recursively
  • umask 022 Set default file creation permissions

Process Management

  • ps aux List all running processes
  • ps aux | grep <name> Find process by name
  • top Real-time process monitor
  • htop Interactive process viewer
  • kill <PID> Send SIGTERM to process
  • kill -9 <PID> Force kill a process
  • killall <name> Kill all processes by name
  • nohup <cmd> & Run command immune to hangups
  • bg / fg Move job to background / foreground

Networking

  • curl -X GET <url> Make HTTP request
  • wget <url> Download file from URL
  • ping <host> Test network connectivity
  • netstat -tulpn Show listening ports
  • ss -tulpn Show listening ports (modern)
  • ip addr show Show network interfaces
  • dig <domain> DNS lookup
  • ssh user@host SSH into remote machine
  • scp <file> user@host:<path> Copy file to remote machine

Disk & System Info

  • df -h Show disk space usage
  • du -sh <dir> Show directory size
  • free -h Show memory usage
  • uname -a Show system information
  • uptime Show system uptime
  • whoami Show current user
  • hostname Show system hostname

Sources

  • https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/ GNU Coreutils: file, text, ownership, and permission commands.
  • https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/ GNU Bash: shell builtins and job control.
  • https://curl.se/docs/manpage.html curl: HTTP request options and their limits.
  • https://man.openbsd.org/ssh OpenSSH: remote connection options.

Related cheatsheets

Guides that use these commands

From FindUtils

More to explore

Products and services from the team behind FindUtils.

Promote your tool
Featured product seeranks.com SeeRanks — transparent product discovery A public ranking board where paid placement is always labeled and every product keeps its earned position. View SeeRanks Free favicon tool emojifavicons.com Emoji Favicons Turn any emoji into a favicon with one HTML line. SVG, PNG or ICO, no sign-up. <link rel="icon" href=".../🦊.svg"> Create a favicon
FindUtils service findutils.com Articles for software tools A sourced article for your channels, or a sponsored FindUtils publication with editorial review. Compare packages Domain portfolio findutils.com Domain names for sale .com.dev.sh.app.io Unused names across dev tools, AI, PDF and commerce. Make an offer. Browse the list Playable ranking towerscore.io TowerScore — stack the skyline Play to climb, or buy a floor. Paid floors are labeled. Open TowerScore