Practicing 100 Basic Linux Commands

July 14, 2025

Contents
1 Introduction 1

2 File and Directory Management 1

3 System Information 3

4 File Content Manipulation 4

5 Networking 4

6 Process Management 5

7 System Administration 5

8 Compression and Archiving 6

9 Miscellaneous 7

10 Practice Suggestions 7

11 Tips 7

12 Challenge Tasks 7

1 Introduction
This guide provides a comprehensive list of 100 essential Linux commands for beginners. Or-
ganized by category, each command includes a brief description and common usage examples.
Practice these commands in a Linux terminal (e.g., Ubuntu or CentOS) to build proficiency. Use
a virtual machine for safety, and refer to man pages (e.g., man ls) for detailed documentation.

2 File and Directory Management

1. pwd – Prints the current working directory.
Example: pwd
2. ls – Lists directory contents.
Example: ls -l (long format), ls -a (hidden files).

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3. cd – Changes directory.
Example: cd /etc, cd .., cd ˜.
4. mkdir – Creates a new directory.
Example: mkdir my_folder.
5. touch – Creates an empty file or updates timestamp.
Example: touch [Link].
6. cp – Copies files or directories.
Example: cp [Link] file_copy.txt, cp -r dir1 dir2.
7. mv – Moves or renames files/directories.
Example: mv [Link] new_file.txt.
8. rm – Removes files or directories.
Example: rm [Link], rm -r dir.
9. cat – Displays or concatenates file contents.
Example: cat [Link].
10. less – Views file contents page by page.
Example: less [Link].
11. more – Paginates file output.
Example: more [Link].
12. head – Shows the first 10 lines of a file.
Example: head -n 5 [Link].
13. tail – Shows the last 10 lines of a file.
Example: tail -f [Link].
14. nano – Simple terminal text editor.
Example: nano [Link].
15. vim – Advanced terminal text editor.
Example: vim [Link].
16. ln – Creates hard or symbolic links.
Example: ln -s [Link] [Link].
17. find – Searches for files/directories.
Example: find / -name "[Link]".
18. locate – Quickly finds files using a database.
Example: locate [Link].
19. du – Displays disk usage.
Example: du -h folder.
20. df – Shows disk space usage.
Example: df -h.
21. chmod – Changes file permissions.
Example: chmod 755 [Link].
22. chown – Changes file ownership.
Example: chown user:group [Link].
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23. wc – Counts lines, words, or characters.

Example: wc -l [Link].
24. tee – Writes to stdout and files.
Example: echo "test" | tee [Link].
25. stat – Shows detailed file status.
Example: stat [Link].

3 System Information
26. uname – Displays system information.
Example: uname -a.
27. whoami – Shows the current user.
Example: whoami.
28. id – Displays user and group IDs.
Example: id.
29. hostname – Shows or sets hostname.
Example: hostname.
30. uptime – Shows system uptime and load.
Example: uptime.
31. free – Displays memory usage.
Example: free -h.
32. top – Shows running processes (interactive).
Example: top.
33. htop – Enhanced process viewer.
Example: htop.
34. ps – Shows running processes.
Example: ps aux.
35. lscpu – Displays CPU information.
Example: lscpu.
36. lsblk – Lists block devices.
Example: lsblk.
37. dmidecode – Shows hardware info from BIOS.
Example: sudo dmidecode -t memory.
38. date – Displays or sets date/time.
Example: date.
39. cal – Displays a calendar.
Example: cal.
40. env – Displays environment variables.
Example: env.
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4 File Content Manipulation

41. echo – Prints text or writes to a file.
Example: echo "Hello" > [Link].
42. grep – Searches text patterns.
Example: grep "error" [Link].
43. sed – Stream editor for text transformation.
Example: sed ’s/old/new/g’ [Link].
44. awk – Processes text patterns.
Example: awk ’{print $1}’ [Link].
45. cut – Extracts sections from lines.
Example: cut -d’,’ -f1 [Link].
46. sort – Sorts lines in a file.
Example: sort [Link].
47. uniq – Removes duplicate lines.
Example: sort [Link] | uniq.
48. tr – Translates or deletes characters.
Example: echo "hello" | tr ’a-z’ ’A-Z’.
49. diff – Compares files line by line.
Example: diff [Link] [Link].
50. paste – Merges lines of files.
Example: paste [Link] [Link].

5 Networking
51. ping – Checks connectivity to a host.
Example: ping [Link].
52. curl – Transfers data from/to a server.
Example: curl [Link]
53. wget – Downloads files from the web.
Example: wget [Link]
54. netstat – Displays network connections.
Example: netstat -tuln.
55. ifconfig – Shows network interfaces (older systems).
Example: ifconfig.
56. ip – Manages network configuration.
Example: ip addr.
57. ss – Displays socket statistics.
Example: ss -tuln.
58. nslookup – Queries DNS information.
Example: nslookup [Link].
59. dig – Advanced DNS lookup tool.
Example: dig [Link].
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60. traceroute – Traces packet routes.

Example: traceroute [Link].
61. telnet – Tests connectivity to a host/port.
Example: telnet localhost 22.
62. scp – Securely copies files over SSH.
Example: scp [Link] user@remote:/path.
63. rsync – Syncs files/directories efficiently.
Example: rsync -av source/ destination/.
64. who – Shows logged-in users.
Example: who.
65. arp – Displays or modifies ARP cache.
Example: arp -a.

6 Process Management
66. kill – Terminates a process by PID.
Example: kill 1234.
67. killall – Terminates processes by name.
Example: killall firefox.
68. pkill – Kills processes by name or criteria.
Example: pkill -u user.
69. nice – Sets process priority.
Example: nice -n 10 command.
70. renice – Changes priority of running processes.
Example: renice 10 -p 1234.
71. jobs – Lists background jobs.
Example: jobs.
72. fg – Brings a background job to foreground.
Example: fg %1.
73. bg – Runs a stopped job in the background.
Example: bg %1.
74. nohup – Runs a command immune to hangups.
Example: nohup [Link] &.
75. watch – Runs a command repeatedly.
Example: watch -n 2 date.

7 System Administration
76. sudo – Executes a command as another user.
Example: sudo apt update.
77. su – Switches to another user or root.
Example: su -.
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78. passwd – Changes user password.

Example: passwd.
79. adduser – Adds a new user.
Example: sudo adduser newuser.
80. userdel – Deletes a user.
Example: sudo userdel user.
81. groupadd – Creates a new group.
Example: sudo groupadd mygroup.
82. usermod – Modifies user account.
Example: sudo usermod -aG group user.
83. reboot – Reboots the system.
Example: sudo reboot.
84. shutdown – Powers off or reboots the system.
Example: sudo shutdown -h now.
85. journalctl – Views system logs.
Example: journalctl -u ssh.

8 Compression and Archiving

86. tar – Archives files.
Example: tar -cvf [Link] folder.
87. gzip – Compresses files.
Example: gzip [Link].
88. gunzip – Decompresses .gz files.
Example: gunzip [Link].
89. zip – Creates a zip archive.
Example: zip [Link] [Link].
90. unzip – Extracts a zip archive.
Example: unzip [Link].
91. bzip2 – Compresses files (smaller than gzip).
Example: bzip2 [Link].
92. bunzip2 – Decompresses .bz2 files.
Example: bunzip2 [Link].bz2.
93. xz – Compresses files with high ratio.
Example: xz [Link].
94. unxz – Decompresses .xz files.
Example: unxz [Link].
95. zcat – Displays compressed file contents.
Example: zcat [Link].
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9 Miscellaneous
96. clear – Clears the terminal screen.
Example: clear.
97. history – Shows command history.
Example: history.
98. man – Displays manual pages.
Example: man ls.
99. which – Locates a command’s executable.
Example: which python3.
100. alias – Creates command shortcuts.
Example: alias ll=’ls -l’.

10 Practice Suggestions
• Beginner: Practice the first 25 commands. Create a directory, add files, copy/move
them, and delete them. Use man for details.
• Intermediate: Combine commands with pipes (|). Example: ls -l | grep txt or cat
[Link] | sort | uniq.
• Advanced: Write a script using nano or vim with grep, awk, or sed. Use chmod to make
it executable.

11 Tips
• Be cautious with rm, sudo, and chmod. Test in a virtual machine.
• Use tab completion to auto-complete commands or filenames.
• Refer to man or –help for command details.

12 Challenge Tasks
1. Create a directory test_lab, add three files, and compress them into a .[Link] archive.
2. Use grep to find "error" in a log file (e.g., /var/log/syslog).
3. Create an alias for ls -la and add it to /̃.bashrc.