Linux Command Line Cheat Sheet
File System Navigation & Management
Command Example Output/Explanation
pwd pwd /home/user
ls ls file1.txt file2.txt dir1
ls -l ls -l -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 Sep 14 file1.txt
cd [dir] cd Documents Moves into Documents directory
mkdir [dir] mkdir test Creates 'test' directory
rmdir [dir] rmdir test Removes 'test' if empty
touch [file] touch new.txt Creates 'new.txt'
cp [src] [dest] cp file1.txt backup.txt Copies file1.txt to backup.txt
mv [src] [dest] mv file1.txt docs/ Moves file1.txt into docs/
rm [file] rm old.txt Deletes old.txt
rm -r [dir] rm -r temp Deletes directory 'temp' and contents
File Content Viewing & Manipulation
Command Example Output/Explanation
cat [file] cat file.txt Displays file contents
less [file] less bigfile.txt Opens file for page-by-page viewing
head [file] head file.txt Shows first 10 lines
tail [file] tail file.txt Shows last 10 lines
grep [pattern] [file] grep hello file.txt Finds lines with 'hello'
sort [file] sort names.txt Outputs sorted lines
wc [file] wc file.txt 5 20 120 file.txt
Permissions & Ownership
Command Example Output/Explanation
chmod u+x [file] chmod u+x script.sh Gives user execute permission
chmod 755 [file] chmod 755 script.sh User rwx, Group r-x, Others r-x
chown [user]:[group] [file] chown root:root file.txt Changes owner to root
System Info & Utilities
Command Example Output/Explanation
echo [text] echo Hello Hello
man [command] man ls Opens manual for 'ls'
history history Shows command history
clear clear Clears terminal screen
df -h df -h Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
ps aux ps aux Shows running processes
kill [PID] kill 1234 Terminates process with ID 1234
Input/Output Redirection & Pipes
Command Example Output/Explanation
> echo Hello > file.txt Writes 'Hello' into file.txt
>> echo World >> file.txt Appends 'World' into file.txt
< wc -l < file.txt Counts lines of file.txt
| ls | grep txt Filters list for .txt files
Hotkeys & Shortcuts
Command Example Output/Explanation
Ctrl+A Press Ctrl+A Move to beginning of line
Ctrl+E Press Ctrl+E Move to end of line
Ctrl+R Press Ctrl+R Search history
!! !! Repeats last command
!$ echo !$ Uses last argument of previous command
