Keep this Linux command cheat sheet on your desk printed, I am sure you will learn them quickly and will be a Linux expert very soon. We have added had both pdf and image (png) format of the cheat sheet.
Command are categorized into different sections according to its usage. We have designed the command in white color with black background as we often use on Linux shell. We have added bit color for attraction.
We have grouped Linux commands in the below sections for better understanding.
Linux command cheat sheet
- System
- Hardware
- Users
- File Commands
- Process Related
- File Permission
- Network
- Compression / Archives
- Install Packages
- Install Source
- Search
- Login
- File Transfer
- Directory Traverse
Download your linux commands cheat sheet in pdf format which is updated in 2019. Please keep us posted if you have any suggestions or if you find any command that we missed out.
If you are looking to print Linux commands cheat sheet in A4 size paper its available for download.
1) System
uname | Displays Linux system information |
uname -r | Displays kernel release information |
uptime | Displays how long the system has been running including load average |
hostname | Shows the system hostname |
hostname -i | Displays the IP address of the system |
last reboot | Shows system reboot history |
date | Displays current system date and time |
timedatectl | Query and change the System clock |
cal | Displays the current calendar month and day |
w | Displays currently logged in users in the system |
whoami | Displays who you are logged in as |
finger username | Displays information about the user |
2) Hardware
dmesg | Displays bootup messages |
cat /proc/cpuinfo | Displays more information about CPU e.g model, model name, cores, vendor id |
cat /proc/meminfo | Displays more information about hardware memory e.g. Total and Free memory |
lshw | Displays information about system's hardware configuration |
lsblk | Displays block devices related information |
free -m | Displays free and used memory in the system (-m flag indicates memory in MB) |
lspci -tv | Displays PCI devices in a tree-like diagram |
lsusb -tv | Displays USB devices in a tree-like diagram |
dmidecode | Displays hardware information from the BIOS |
hdparm -i /dev/xda | Displays information about disk data |
hdparm -tT /dev/xda <:code> | Conducts a read speed test on device xda |
badblocks -s /dev/xda | Tests for unreadable blocks on disk |
3) Users
id | Displays the details of the active user e.g. uid, gid, and groups |
last | Shows the last logins in the system |
who | Shows who is logged in to the system |
groupadd "admin" | Adds the group 'admin' |
adduser "Sam" | Adds user Sam |
userdel "Sam" | Deletes user Sam |
usermod | Used for changing / modifying user information |
4) File Commands
ls -al | Lists files - both regular & hidden files and their permissions as well. |
pwd | Displays the current directory file path |
mkdir 'directory_name' | Creates a new directory |
rm file_name | Removes a file |
rm -f filename | Forcefully removes a file |
rm -r directory_name | Removes a directory recursively |
rm -rf directory_name | Removes a directory forcefully and recursively |
cp file1 file2 | Copies the contents of file1 to file2 |
cp -r dir1 dir2 | Recursively Copies dir1 to dir2. dir2 is created if it does not exist |
mv file1 file2 | Renames file1 to file2 |
ln -s /path/to/file_name link_name | Creates a symbolic link to file_name |
touch file_name | Creates a new file |
cat > file_name | Places standard input into a file |
more file_name | Outputs the contents of a file |
head file_name | Displays the first 10 lines of a file |
tail file_name | Displays the last 10 lines of a file |
gpg -c file_name | Encrypts a file |
gpg file_name.gpg | Decrypts a file |
wc | Prints the number of bytes, words and lines in a file |
xargs | Executes commands from standard input |
5) Process Related
ps | Display currently active processes |
ps aux | grep 'telnet' | Searches for the id of the process 'telnet' |
pmap | Displays memory map of processes |
top | Displays all running processes |
kill pid | Terminates process with a given pid |
killall proc | Kills / Terminates all processes named proc |
pkill process-name | Sends a signal to a process with its name |
bg | Resumes suspended jobs in the background |
fg | Brings suspended jobs to the foreground |
fg n | job n to the foreground |
lsof | Lists files that are open by processes |
renice 19 PID | makes a process run with very low priority |
pgrep firefox | find Firefox process ID |
pstree | visualizing processes in tree model |
6) File Permission
chmod octal filename | Change file permissions of the file to octal |
| | |
| Example | |
chmod 777 /data/test.c | Set rwx permissions to owner, group and everyone (everyone else who has access to the server) |
chmod 755 /data/test.c | Set rwx to the owner and r_x to group and everyone |
chmod 766 /data/test.c | Sets rwx for owner, rw for group and everyone |
chown owner user-file | Change ownership of the file |
chown owner-user:owner-group file_name | Change owner and group owner of the file |
chown owner-user:owner-group directory | Change owner and group owner of the directory |
7) Network
ip addr show | Displays IP addresses and all the network interfaces |
ip address add 192.168.0.1/24 dev eth0 | Assigns IP address 192.168.0.1 to interface eth0 |
ifconfig | Displays IP addresses of all network interfaces |
ping host | ping command sends an ICMP echo request to establish a connection to server / PC |
whois domain | Retrieves more information about a domain name |
dig domain | Retrieves DNS information about the domain |
dig -x host | Performs reverse lookup on a domain |
host google.com | Performs an IP lookup for the domain name |
hostname -i | Displays local IP address |
wget file_name | Downloads a file from an online source |
netstat -pnltu | Displays all active listening ports |
8) Compression/Archives
tar -cf home.tar home<:code> | Creates archive file called 'home.tar' from file 'home' |
tar -xf files.tar | Extract archive file 'files.tar' |
tar -zcvf home.tar.gz source-folder | Creates gzipped tar archive file from the source folder |
gzip file | Compression a file with .gz extension |
9) Install Packages
rpm -i pkg_name.rpm | Install an rpm package |
rpm -e pkg_name | Removes an rpm package |
dnf install pkg_name | Install package using dnf utility |
10) Install Source (Compilation)
./configure | Checks your system for the required software needed to build the program. It will build the Makefile containing the instructions required to effectively build the project |
make | It reads the Makefile to compile the program with the required operations. The process may take some time, depending on your system and the size of the program |
make install | The command installs the binaries in the default/modified paths after the compilation |
11) Search
grep 'pattern' files | Search for a given pattern in files |
grep -r pattern dir | Search recursively for a pattern in a given directory |
locate file | Find all instances of the file |
find /home/ -name "index" | Find file names that begin with 'index' in /home folder |
find /home -size +10000k | Find files greater than 10000k in the home folder |
12) Login
ssh user@host | Securely connect to host as user |
ssh -p port_number user@host | Securely connect to host using a specified port |
ssh host | Securely connect to the system via SSH default port 22 |
telnet host | Connect to host via telnet default port 23 |
13) File Transfer
scp file1.txt server2/tmp | Securely copy file1.txt to server2 in /tmp directory |
rsync -a /home/apps /backup/ | Synchronize contents in /home/apps directory with /backup directory |
14) Disk Usage
df -h | Displays free space on mounted systems |
df -i | Displays free inodes on filesystems |
fdisk -l | Shows disk partitions, sizes, and types |
du -sh | Displays disk usage in the current directory in a human-readable format |
findmnt | Displays target mount point for all filesystems |
mount device-path mount-point | Mount a device |
15) Directory Traverse
cd .. | Move up one level in the directory tree structure |
cd | Change directory to $HOME directory |
cd /test | Change directory to /test directory |
Read Also:
Download your linux commands cheat sheet in pdf format which is updated in 2019. Please keep us posted if you have any suggestions or if you find any command that we missed out.
Wow, very good idea, this cheat-sheet is very nice to have under the keyboard.
Seeing forward for more commands on this sheet.
Philip, sure will add more commands as it goes.
People want the important stuff first. that is all systemd business and of course xrandr.
Handy chart, but why this order? Why not by frequency of use, order of likely need, or alphabetical?
Hi Paul, thanks for sharing your ideas. Many users use different frequency based on their specific job. Alphabetical order will not likely help specific requirement. "Order of like" suggestion is good idea :-)
I really like the layout of this Paul. I am just learning linux and trying to learn some commands. If I wanted to put a link in a file directory or delete a directory then trying to find it alphabetically would be hard since I don't know the command I am looking for. Also the poster is right. Which commands someone uses most often depends upon what they usually work with. If I know I want to change a directory or file I can just look into the appropriate category.
How about moving sections like system and hardware far away from the top and sticking to commonly used but harder to remember sections like process, install from package etc near the top.
Nice sheet.
I use just about all these commands, and more; only thing I learned is that should really be using hostname -i more often instead of scanning through ifconfig -a for my IP. :)
Also wanted to point at an error in your cheat sheet:
"bg" does not "Lists stopped or background jobs"; it puts the most recent job in the background (ctrl-z then bg). It's "jobs" that lists 'em (which I always have aliased to just "j").
Awesome stuff, thank you. Would you consider doing it as a 16:9 Wallpaper?
@Craig Yes will design a wallpaper sketch. There are few minor errors on the cheat sheet , once I correct all then I will do
Small typo after uname -r. Says "isplay kernel information" instead of "Display.."
Bundle of thanks brother
Thanks Javed
Why each command begins with '#'? It makes the whole very useful thing less readable!
@TesTeq "#" symbol is removed :-)
Thank you! Great cheat sheet!
Great thanks for this cheat sheet
Maybe a write-background for printing would be an idea?
@Tobbi Thanks for the comments. I will see if i can make a change the background :-)
Cool ;-)
Hi Bobbin,
I came back to see if you'd fixed the error I pointed out on your cheat sheet, but instead I see that not only was it not fixed, but my comment pointing it was DELETED. Why? I'm not wrong.
To be clear - The ERROR above is that "bg" does NOT "list stopped or background jobs"; the "jobs" command does that. "bg" puts the most recent job in the background.
Hi Jason, You are 100% correct. I am really thankful for pointing out this. I really saw your comments other day. Please give me couple days , I will change it on infograph. I have already changed on the html page(detailed command page).
@Jason please find the updated sheet
There's a typo in the chart:
In the File Permission related section: #chmod 755 sets rwx for owner, r_x for group and world. #chmod 766 would sets rwx for owner, rw for group and world
@David I will correct typo soon. Thanks... :-)
@David its sorted :-)
White background? Please?
@Keven check http://goo.gl/WVTTUu one friend made print copy :-)
The only MAJOR problem I have with this so far is that the page clearly states at the top that this page is 'supposed' to be for the Black & White version of the Cheatsheet, however the .pdf file linked to is for the Color version. And the cheatsheet image itself is the color version as well. So where do we actually get the Black & White version from?
Ok, I'll ask again since my post was apparently deleted. Why is this page titled "Linux Commands Cheat Sheet in Black & White" when only the color version is supplied as a .pdf and the image shown is the color version. I'd like to download the BLACK & WHITE .pdf version, not the color .pdf one, not the color .png one, but yes the BLACK & WHITE version. (if you're not going to provide the Black & White version on a page that is clearly labeled as being for the Black & White version then the least you can do is change the name of the page to reflect that fact!!!)
Hi Edwin , thanks for the comments. Let me see if I can get black & white version. Other option would be print document in black & white ink then scan the document to pdf version
A cool idea but I have some suggestions;
1) How about adding package managers other then rpm (apt-get at least, since most Linux n00bs will be using Debian-based distros)
2) Could you provide us with source files so anyone can make translated versions of the infographic and submi it back here?
Cheers!
Let me see if i can edit it and will check with graphic designer who did it :-)
Hi Bobbin great thanks.. this sheet is very useful for me to learn hdfs file operations in hadoop.
thanks
Hareesh
Thanks Hareesh
Please INVERT colors before printing!
It would be really really helpful to have a true black & white version. The color version is very nice, but not all printers handle pdf color inversion correctly. Excellent work collecting this useful cheat-sheet.
I wanted a more copy/search-friendly version, FWIW https://gist.github.com/paulredmond/b6c509d24666619e4b9ced8e1b6fcb64
nice :-)
Awesome!
I love Linux thank you very much
One of the best sites I have come across. Brilliant job Bobbin.
Hi Faisal,
Your comment really encourages us. Thanks for that.