1.

File Operations:

 ls: Lists all files and directories in the present working directory
 ls -R: Lists files in sub-directories as well
 ls -a: Shows hidden files
 ls -al: Lists files and directories with detailed information like
permissions, size, owner, etc.
 cd directoryname: Changes the directory
 cd ..: Moves one level up
 pwd: Displays the present working directory
 cat > filename: Creates a new file
 cat filename: Displays the file content
 cat file1 file2 > file3: Joins two files (file1 and file2) and stores the
output in a new file (file3)
 touch filename: Creates or modifies a file
 rm filename: Deletes a file
 cp source destination: Copies files from the source path to the
destination path
 mv source destination: Moves files from the source path to the
destination path
 find / -name filename: Finds a file or a directory by its name starting
from root
 file filename: Determines the file type
 less filename: Views the file content page by page
 head filename: Views the first ten lines of a file
 tail filename: Views the last ten lines of a file
 lsof: Shows which files are opened by which process.
 du -h --max-depth=1: Shows the size of each directory. Use --max-
depth=1 to limit the output to the current directory and its
immediate children.
 fdisk: Disk partition manipulation command.
2. Directory Operations:

 mkdir directoryname: Creates a new directory in the present working

directory
 rmdir directoryname: Deletes a directory
 cp -r source destination: Copies directories recursively
 mv olddir newdir: Renames directories
 find / -type d -name directoryname: Finds a directory starting from
root

3. Process Operations:

 ps: Displays your currently active processes

 top: Displays all running processes
 kill pid: Kills the process with given pid
 pkill name: Kills the process with the given name
 bg: Resumes suspended jobs without bringing them to foreground
 fg: Brings the most recent job to foreground
 fg n: Brings job n to the foreground
 renice +n [pid]: Change the priority of a running process.
 &>filename: Redirects both the stdout and the stderr to the file
filename.
 1>filename: Redirect the stdout to file filename.
 2>filename: Redirect stderr to file filename.

4. File Permissions:

 chmod octal filename: Change the permissions of file to octal, which

can be between 0 (no permissions) to 7 (full permissions)
 chown ownername filename: Change file owner
 chgrp groupname filename: Change group owner
5. Networking:

 ping host: Ping a host and outputs results

 whois domain: Get whois information for domain
 dig domain: Get DNS information for domain
 netstat -pnltu: Display various network related information such as
network connections, routing tables, interface statistics etc.
 ifconfig: Displays IP addresses of all network interfaces
 ssh user@host: Remote login into the host as user
 scp: Transfers files between hosts over ssh
 wget url: Download files from the web
 curl url: Sends a request to a URL and returns the response
 traceroute domain: Prints the route that a packet takes to reach the
domain.
 mtr domain: mtr combines the functionality of the traceroute and ping
programs in a single network diagnostic tool.
 ss: Another utility to investigate sockets. It's a more modern alternative
to netstat.
 nmap: Network exploration tool and security scanner.
6. Archives and Compression:

 tar cf file.tar files: Create a tar named file.tar containing files

 tar xf file.tar: Extract the files from file.tar
 gzip file: Compresses file and renames it to file.gz
 gzip -d file.gz: Decompresses file.gz back to file
 zip -r file.zip files: Create a zip archive named file.zip
 unzip file.zip: Extract the contents of a zip file

1. Text Processing:

● grep pattern files: Search for pattern in files

● grep -r pattern dir: Search recursively for pattern in
dir
 ● command | grep pattern: Pipe the output of command
to grep for searching
● echo 'text': Prints text
● sed 's/string1/string2/g' filename: Replaces string1 with
string2 in filename
● diff file1 file2: Compares two files and shows the
differences
● wc filename: Count lines, words, and characters in a file
● awk: A versatile programming language for working on
files.
● sed -i 's/string1/string2/g' filename: Replace string1 with
string2 in filename. The -i option edits the file in-
place.
● cut -d':' -f1 /etc/passwd: Cut out the first field of each
line in
/etc/passwd, using colon as a field delimiter.

2. Disk Usage:

● df: Shows disk usage

● du: Shows directory space usage
● free: Show memory and swap usage
● whereis app: Show possible locations of app

3. System Info:

● date: Show the current date and time

● cal: Show this month's calendar
● uptime: Show current uptime
● w: Display who is online
● whoami: Who you are logged in as
● uname -a: Show kernel information
● df -h: Disk usage in human readable format
● du -sh: Disk usage of current directory in human
readable format
● free -m: Show free and used memory in MB
4. Package Installations:

● sudo apt-get update: Updates package lists for upgrades

● sudo apt-get upgrade: Upgrades all upgradable packages
● sudo apt-get install pkgname: Install pkgname
● sudo apt-get remove pkgname: Removes pkgname

5. Others (mostly used in scripts):

● command1 ; command2: Run command1 and then command2

● command1 && command2: Run command2 if command1 is
successful
● command1 || command2: Run command2 if command1 is not
successful
● command &: Run command in background

6. Version Control (Git commands):

● git init: Initialize a local git repository

● git clone url: Create a local copy of a remote
repository
● git add filename: Add a file to the staging area
● git commit -m "Commit message": Commit changes with a
message
● git status: Check the status of the working directory
● git pull: Pull latest changes from the remote
repository
● git push: Push changes to the remote repository
● git branch: List all local branches
● git branch branchname: Create a new branch
● git checkout branchname: Switch to a branch
● git merge branchname: Merge a branch into the active
 branch
● git stash: Stash changes in a dirty working directory
● git stash apply: Apply changes from a stash
● git log: View commit history
● git reset: Reset your HEAD pointer to a previous commit
● git rm filename: Remove a file from version control
● git rebase: Reapply commits on top of another base tip.
 ● git revert: Create a new commit that undoes all of
the changes made in a particular commit, then apply
it to the current branch.
● git cherry-pick commitID: Apply the changes
introduced by some existing commits.

7. Environment Variables:

● env: Display all environment variables

● echo $VARIABLE: Display the value of an environment
variable
● export VARIABLE=value: Set the value of an environment
variable
● alias new_command='old_command options': Create a new
command that executes the old command with the
specified options.
● echo $PATH: Print the PATH environment variable.
● export PATH=$PATH:/new/path: Add /new/path to the PATH.

8. Job Scheduling (Cron Jobs):

● crontab -l: List all your cron jobs

● crontab -e: Edit your cron jobs
● crontab -r: Remove all your cron jobs
● crontab -v: Display the last time you edited your cron
jobs
● crontab file: Install a cron job from a file
● @reboot command: Schedule a job to run at startup
9. Package Installations (using pip, a Python package
installer):

● pip install packagename: Install a Python package.

● pip uninstall packagename: Uninstall a Python package.
● pip freeze > requirements.txt: Freeze the installed
packages into a requirements file.
● pip install -r requirements.txt: Install
packages from a requirements file.
10. Shell Scripting:

● #!/bin/bash: Shebang line to specify the script

interpreter.
● $0, $1, ..., $9, ${10}, ${11}: Script arguments.
● if [condition]; then ... fi: if statement in bash
scripts.
● for i in {1..10}; do ... done: for loop in bash scripts.
● while [condition]; do ... done: while loop in bash
scripts.
● function name() {...}: Define a function.

11. System Monitoring and Performance:

● iostat: Reports Central Processing Unit (CPU)

statistics and input/output statistics for
devices, partitions, and network filesystems.
● vmstat: Reports information about processes, memory,
paging, block IO, traps, disks, and CPU activity.
● htop: An interactive process viewer for Unix systems.
It's a more user-friendly alternative to top.

10. Search and Find:

● locate filename: Find a file by its name. The

database updated by updatedb command.
● whereis programname: Locate the binary, source, and
manual page files for a command.
● which commandname: Shows the full path of (shell)
commands.
11. Compression / Archives:

● tar -cvf archive.tar dirname/: Create a tar archive.

● tar -xvf archive.tar: Extract a tar archive.
● tar -jcvf archive.tar.bz2 dirname/: Create a
compressed bz2 archive.
● tar -jxvf archive.tar.bz2: Extract a bz2 archive.
12. Disk Usage:

● dd if=/dev/zero of=/tmp/output.img bs=8k count=256k: Create a

file of a certain size for testing disk speed.
● hdparm -Tt /dev/sda: Measure the read speed of your hard
drive.

13. Others:

● yes > /dev/null &: Use this command to push a system to

its limit.
● :(){ :|:& };:: A fork bomb – handle with care.
Do not run this command on a production system.

Remember, you can always use the man command (e.g. man ls) to
get more information about each command.