Command Description Example
pwd Print working directory pwd
ls List files and directories ls
cd Change directory cd directory_name
mkdir Make directory mkdir new_directory
rmdir Remove directory rmdir empty_directory
cp Copy files or directories cp file.txt /path/to/destination
mv Move files or directories mv file.txt /path/to/destination
rm Remove files or directories rm file.txt
touch Create an empty file touch new_file.txt
cat Display or concatenate files cat file.txt
man Display the manual for a command man ls
chmod Change file permissions chmod 755 file.txt
chown Change file owner and group chown user:group file.txt
kill Terminate a process kill process_id
top Display system activity in real-time top
df Display disk space usage df -h
du Display file and directory space usage du -h
head Display the beginning of a file head file.txt
tail Display the end of a file tail file.txt
grep Search for a pattern in files grep pattern file.txt
find Search for files and directories find /path -name “*.txt”
tar -cvf archive.tar
tar Create or extract tar archives
/path/to/directory
zip Create or extract zip archives zip archive.zip file.txt
unzip Extract files from a zip archive unzip archive.zip
ssh Connect to a remote server ssh username@hostname
whoami Display the current username whoami
Execute a command with superuser
sudo sudo command
privileges
su Switch user or become superuser su username
passwd Change user password passwd
echo Display a message or output to a file echo “Hello, Linux!” > greeting.txt
history Display command history history
wc Count lines, words, and characters in a file wc file.txt
sed Stream editor for text manipulation sed ‘s/old/new/g’ file.txt
