8/29/25, 11:02 AM Essential Unix Commands - GeeksforGeeks
File System Navigation Unix Command
Command Description Example
cd Changes the current working directory. cd Documents
ls Lists files and directories in the current directory. ls
pwd Prints the current working directory. pwd
mkdir Creates a new directory. mkdir new_folder
rmdir Removes an empty directory. rmdir empty_folder
mv Moves files or directories. mv [Link] Documents/
File Manipulation Unix Command
Command Description Example
touch Creates an empty file or updates the access and
touch new_file.txt
modification times.
cp Copies files or directories. cp [Link] [Link]
mv Moves files or directories. mv [Link] Documents
rm Remove files or directories. rm old_file.txt
chmod Changes the permissions of a file or directory. chmod 644 [Link]
chown Changes the owner and group of a file or directory. chown user:group [Link]
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Command Description Example
ln Creates links between files. ln -s target_file symlink
cat Concatenates files and displays their contents. cat [Link] [Link]
head Displays the first few lines of a file. head [Link]
tail Displays the last few lines of a file. tail [Link]
more Displays the contents of a file page by page. more [Link]
less Displays the contents of a file with advanced
less [Link]
navigation features.
diff Compares files line by line. diff [Link] [Link]
patch patch [Link] <
Applies a diff file to update a target file. [Link]
Process Management Unix Command
Command Description Example
ps Displays information about active processes, including their
ps aux
status and IDs.
top Displays a dynamic real-time view of system processes and
top
their resource usage.
kill Terminates processes using their process IDs (PIDs). kill <pid>
pkill Sends signals to processes based on name or other pkill -9
attributes. firefox
killall killall -9
Terminates processes by name. firefox
renice renice -n 10
Changes the priority of running processes. <pid>
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Command Description Example
nice nice -n 10
Runs a command with modified scheduling priority. command
pstree Displays running processes as a tree. pstree
pgrep Searches for processes by name or other attributes. pgrep firefox
jobs Lists active jobs and their status in the current shell session. jobs
bg Puts a job in the background. bg <job_id>
fg Brings a background job to the foreground. fg <job_id>
nohup Runs a command immune to hangups, with output to a
nohup command &
specified file.
disown Removes jobs from the shell's job table, allowing them to run
disown <job_id>
independently.
Text Processing Unix Command
Command Description Example
grep Searches for patterns in text files. grep "error" [Link]
sed sed 's/old_string/new_string/g'
Processes and transforms text streams. [Link]
awk Processes and analyzes text files using a
pattern scanning and processing awk '{print $1, $3}' [Link]
language.
Network Communication Unix Command
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Command Description Example
ping Tests connectivity with another host using
ping [Link]
ICMP echo requests.
traceroute Traces the route that packets take to reach a
traceroute [Link]
destination.
nslookup Queries DNS servers for domain name
nslookup [Link]
resolution and IP address information.
dig Performs DNS queries, providing detailed
dig [Link]
information about DNS records.
host Performs DNS lookups, displaying domain
host [Link]
name to IP address resolution.
whois Retrieves information about domain registration
whois [Link]
and ownership.
ssh Provides secure remote access to a system. ssh username@hostname
scp Securely copies files between hosts over a scp [Link]
network. username@hostname:/path/
ftp Transfers files between hosts using the File
ftp hostname
Transfer Protocol (FTP).
telnet Establishes interactive text-based
telnet hostname
communication with a remote host.
netstat Displays network connections, routing tables,
interface statistics, masquerade connections, netstat -tuln
and multicast memberships.
ifconfig Displays or configures network interfaces and
ifconfig
their settings.
iwconfig Configures wireless network interfaces. iwconfig wlan0
route Displays or modifies the IP routing table. route -n
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Command Description Example
arp Displays or modifies the Address Resolution
arp -a
Protocol (ARP) cache.
ss Displays socket statistics. ss -tuln
hostname Displays or sets the system's hostname. hostname
mtr Combines the functionality of ping and
traceroute, providing detailed network mtr [Link]
diagnostic information.
System Administration Unix Command
Command Description Example
df Displays disk space usage. df -h
du du -sh
Displays disk usage of files and directories.
/path/to/directory
crontab -e Manages cron jobs, which are scheduled tasks that run
crontab -e
at predefined times or intervals.
Text Editors in Unix
Text Description Example
Editor
Vi / Vim Vi (Vim) is a highly configurable, powerful, and Open a file with Vim: vim
feature-rich text editor based on the original Vi filename
editor. Vim offers modes for both command-line Exit Vim editor: Press Esc, then
operations and text editing. type :wq and press Enter
Emacs Emacs is a versatile text editor with extensive Open a file with Emacs: emacs
customization capabilities and support for various filename
programming languages. Save and exit Emacs:
Press Ctrl + X, then Ctrl +
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Text Description Example
Editor
S and Ctrl + X, then Ctrl +
C to exit
Nano Open a file with Nano: nano
Nano is a simple and user-friendly text editor filename
designed for ease of use and accessibility. Save and exit Nano:
Press Ctrl + O, then Ctrl + X
Ed Open a file with Ed: ed
Ed is a standard Unix text editor that operates in
filename
line-oriented mode, making it suitable for batch
Exit Ed editor: Type q and
processing and automation tasks.
press Enter
Jed Open a file with Jed: jed
Jed is a lightweight yet powerful text editor that filename
provides an intuitive interface and support for Save and exit Jed: Press Alt +
various programming languages. X, then type exit and
press Enter
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