Top 50 Linux Commands With Examples:

Linux is one of the most popular operating systems with an extensive user-base around the world, most commonly programmers and developers. The open-source Unix-like operating system (OS) is rooted from the Linux kernel – an operating system developed by Linus Torvalds.

Below are some of the most common Linux distributions such as:

  • Debian
  • Fedora
  • Mandriva Linux
  • openSUSE
  • Arch Linux
  • Gentoo
  • Slackware
  • Ubunt

Its global use proves the fact that Linux is the most used operating system. Over 80% of the internet runs on Linux servers. More so, about 70-80% of smartphones operate on the Linux operating system.

1. cd Command:

The ‘cd’ is one of the most common and basic commands used on Linux. The primary purpose of the command is to alter the current directory

2. Alias Command

The command Alias is an amazing way to personalize and organize all your commands. It allows users to designate a name to a single command or even a string of commands.

3. curl Command

The curl is a highly functional tool to recover data from URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) or internet repositories.. Other distributions have to use the package managers. Package managers terminate the need to install software and instead makes

4. cat Command

The cat command is simple, and one of the most frequently used commands that are used in a variety of ways. 

5. df Command

The df is a fundamental command on Linux. Using df, coders can display the size, available space, and used space on the filesystems of the device.

6. chmod Command

The chmod command allows users to alter or assign file permissions flags on a file or folder. The permission defines who can read, write, or run the file.

7. diff Command

The diff command comes in very handy for those that deal with organizing a lot of data. The command will compare data between two text files and display the difference.

8. chown Command

The chown command is frequently used and is very simple to execute. It allows users to change the owner and the group owner of a particular file.

9. echo Command

The echo command is leveraged to print a string of text passed as an argument to the terminal window. It comes as the built-in command and is frequently used get output status text in shell scripts. For example, a user wants to print ‘play with a string of text’ in the terminal.

10. exit Command

The exit is the most basic command of all. All it does is exit the shell in which it is active, close the terminal and even logs out of an SSH remote session.

11. find Command

The find command is one of the most useful commands on Linux. It is common not to know the location of files, and therefore, coders can run the find command to look for it.

12. uname Command

The uname command provides users with the system information of the Linux system or computer they are using. It comes with several options that enable users to view all or specific information they want. Below is the option programmers can use with the uname command:

13. finger Command

The finger command is leveraged by programmers to look up and obtain brief information on users. It presents various data such as full name of the user account, real name, latest login information, idle time.

14. free Command

The free command-line utility provides users with a summary of the total available free space on the computer.

15. grep Command

The grep command is one of the most useful commands on Linux. It is an acronym, and its full form is; global regular expression print.’ The sheer adequacy makes it a frequently used command on Linux.

16. groups Command

Linux has to mechanism two manage users – users and groups. In simple words, the groups are a collection of users.

17. gzip Command

The gzip is a useful command when it comes to file management. It is a file compressing tool with its primary goal is to reduce file size.

18. whoami Command

The whoami command is simple and mostly comes handy for amateur Linux users. It tells the user with a username they are logged in as. More so, coders can use the command to know if anyone has logged into an unnamed Linux terminal.

19. top Command

The top command is a task management program that presents a real-time display of CPU and memory usage of the Linux computer.

20. tar Command

The tar command is one of the most useful accounts when it comes to file management. Using tar, you can create archive files that can perform as storage for multiple files.

21. tail Command

The tail command is a command-line utility that lists the last lines of a file that are given via standard input.

22. sudo Command

The Sudo command is one of the most advanced Linux commands. While the syntax is basic, but dealing with it is critical as it requires root access.

23. SSH Command

The SSH command allows users to connect to remote Linux machines. You can even log into your account on the remote computer using the command.

24. head Command

The head command provides users with the first lines of the file. By default, the output is set to the first 10 lines. However, users can alter it by using the -n (number) option. The head is the opposite of the command,

25. history Command

The history command is a way to view the commands that a user has inputted previously on the command line. The default limit is set to display only the latest five hundred commands.

26. kill Command

The kill command offers the liberty to end the process from the command line. It is useful for those monitoring CPU processes as it makes it easy to terminate processes without working on it manually.

27. less Command

the less command, one does not have to use an editor to view files. It allows users to view files without fearing it being modified.

28. ls Command

The ‘ls’ is the most basic and probably one of the first commands anyone learns. It is a simple command to list the directory of files and directories.

29. man Command

The man command displays the ‘man pages’ or user manual a command. It is advantageous as the programmer who is new to commands will have a better understanding before executing any Linux commands.

30. mkdir Command

A coder only has to provide the name of the directory, and mkdir will create it. It can also create multiple directories simultaneously and even set up permissions for the same.

31. shutdown Command

The shutdown command is simple as it sounds and most users will come across as soon as they learn about Linux commands. As the name sounds, the shutdown command will switch off or shut down your Linux system.

32. pwd Command

The pwd command is simple as it can get. Its primary output is to print the active (in-use) directory commencing from the root/directory. It is an acronym and stands for Print Working Directory.

33. ps Command

The ps command displays a process that is currently running on the Linux machine. It provides a real-time display of all active processes. The ps command provides a basic summary of the process that includes its Process ID. In many operating systems.

34. mv Command

The mv command enables programmers to shift files and directories between other directories.

35. passwd Command

the passwd command, users can change the password for a user. It not only lets you change your password but also of other users. The passwd command is also one of the most frequently used Linux commands.

36. ping Command

ping command, users can verify if the network connectivity status between computer and source over an IP network. More so, you can view the response time from a network.

37. Enable Command

The enable command is a built-in shell command akin to the disable command. Coders use the enable to initiate the printers or classes, and similarly utilizes the disable option to cease the printers. Programmers can use the command with various options

38. Cp Command

The cp command is standard across many of the Unix-like operating systems. It stands for copy, and its primary function is to copy files and directories.

39. Locate Command

In Linux, the two most potent and widely used commands to search for files are ‘find and locate.’ While find is good without a doubt, the locate command is more powerful and presents results faster than the find command.

40. Netstat Command

The netstat is a command-line tool that presents an overview of the network connections. Beyond that, the command also provides several network interface statistics, multicast memberships, routing

41. Cron Command

The cron command is a software utility that is provided by Unix-like operating systems. The primary job of the utility is to schedule the task at a predefined time.

42. Traceroute Command

The traceroute command tracks the route that a particular packet of information takes to reach to the host.

43. rsync Command

Rsync stands for Remote Sync is a very standard command leveraged to synchronize files and directories. The software utility is usual among many Unix-like operating systems.

44. RPM Command

RPM stands for Red Hat Package Manager, which is a tool that permits users to install, verify, manage, and uninstall software packages in Linux and Unix-like operating systems.

45. Ifup Command

The ifup command is an essential and straightforward way to bring the network interface up and enable it to transfer and receive data. 

46. Screen Command

The screen command permits users to initiate multiple shell sessions via a single ssh session. The best feature of the screen command is that the process can be detached from a session and then join the session again at a later period.

47. Declare Command

The declare is a bash shell builtin command which means that it is a part of the shell. It has multiple purposes, such as declare shell functions, display variables, and more.

48. Cpio Command

The cpio command is a standard among many Unix-like operating systems with the primary purpose being processing archive files. 

49. Exec Command

The exec command is leveraged to run a command directly from the bash. Therefore it does create a new process but instead substitutes it with the command that has to be executed.

50. Awk Command

Awk is a software utility that one can leverage to write small programs in the way of statements. Users can utilize these statements to define text patterns which can be searched in a document.

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