If you're just beginning to work on a Linux system, the abundance of commands might prove daunting. To help orient you, the following lists present a sampling of commands on various topics.
| ftp | File Transfer Protocol. |
| login | Sign on. |
| rlogin | Sign on to remote system. |
| rsh | Run shell or single command on remote system. |
| talk | Exchange messages interactively with other terminals. |
| telnet | Connect to another system. |
| tftp | Trivial file transfer protocol. |
| uudecode | Decode file prepared for mailing by uuencode. |
| uuencode | Encode file containing binary characters for mailing. |
| vacation | Respond to mail automatically. |
| cmp | Compare two files, byte by byte. |
| comm | Compare items in two sorted files. |
| diff | Compare two files, line by line. |
| diff3 | Compare three files. |
| cat | Concatenate files or display them. |
| chfn | Change user information for finger, email, etc. |
| cksum | Compute checksum. |
| chmod | Change access modes on files. |
| chsh | Change login shell. |
| cp | Copy files. |
| csplit | Break files at specific locations. |
| dd | Copy files in raw disk form. |
| file | Determine a file's type. |
| head | Show the first few lines of a file. |
| less | Display files by screenful. |
| ln | Create filename aliases. |
| ls | List files or directories. |
| merge | Merge changes from different files. |
| mkdir | Create a directory. |
| more | Display files by screenful. |
| mv | Move or rename files or directories. |
| newgrp | Change current group. |
| pwd | Print working directory. |
| rcp | Copy files to remote system. |
| rm | Remove files. |
| rmdir | Remove directories. |
| split | Split files evenly. |
| tail | Show the last few lines of a file. |
| wc | Count lines, words, and characters. |
| lpq | Show status of print jobs. |
| lpr | Send to the printer. |
| lprm | Remove print job. |
| lpstat | Get printer status. |
| pr | Format and paginate for printing. |
| ar | Create and update library files. |
| as | Generate object file. |
| bison | Generate parsing tables. |
| cpp | Preprocess C code. |
| flex | Lexical analyzer. |
| g++ | GNU C++ compiler. |
| gcc | GNU C compiler. |
| ld | Link editor. |
| m4 | Macro processor. |
| make | Create programs. |
| ranlib | Regenerate archive symbol table. |
| rpcgen | Translate RPC to C code. |
| yacc | Generate parsing tables. |
| cvs | Manage different versions (revisions) of source files. |
| etags | Generate symbol list for use with the Emacs editor. |
| gctags | Generate symbol list for use with the vi editor. |
| gdb | GNU debugger. |
| gprof | Display object file's profile data. |
| imake | Generate makefiles for use with make. |
| make | Maintain, update, and regenerate related programs and files. |
| nm | Display object file's symbol table. |
| patch | Apply patches to source code. |
| rcs | Manage different versions (revisions) of source files. |
| size | Print the size of an object file in bytes. |
| strace | Trace system calls and signals. |
| strip | Strip symbols from an object file. |
| apropos | Search manpages for topic. |
| egrep | Extended version of grep. |
| fgrep | Search files for literal words. |
| find | Search the system for filenames. |
| grep | Search files for text patterns. |
| strings | Search binary files for text patterns. |
| whereis | Find command. |
| echo | Repeat command-line arguments on the output. |
| expr | Perform arithmetic and comparisons. |
| printf | Format and print command-line arguments. |
| sleep | Pause during processing. |
| test | Test a condition. |
| bzip2 | Compress files to free up space. |
| cpio | Create and unpack file archives. |
| gunzip | Expand compressed (.gz and .Z) files (preferred). |
| gzip | Compress files to free up space. |
| shar | Create shell archive. |
| tar | Copy files to or restore files from an archive medium. |
| zcat | Display contents of compressed files. |
| at | Execute commands later. |
| atq | Show jobs queued by at. |
| atrm | Remove job queued by at. |
| chgrp | Change file group. |
| chown | Change file owner. |
| crontab | Automate commands. |
| date | Display or set date. |
| df | Show free disk space. |
| du | Show disk usage. |
| env | Show environment variables. |
| finger | Display information about users. |
| kill | Terminate a running command. |
| printenv | Show environment variables. |
| ps | Show processes. |
| stty | Set or display terminal settings. |
| who | Show who is logged on. |
| col | Process control characters. |
| cut | Select columns for display. |
| ex | Line editor underlying vi. |
| expand | Convert tabs to spaces. |
| fmt | Produce roughly uniform line lengths. |
| fold | Break lines. |
| gawk | Process lines or records one by one. |
| ghostscript | Display PostScript or PDF file. |
| groff | Format troff input. |
| ispell | Interactively check spelling. |
| join | Merge different columns into a database. |
| paste | Merge columns or switch order. |
| rev | Print lines in reverse. |
| sed | Noninteractive text editor. |
| sort | Sort or merge files. |
| tac | Print lines in reverse. |
| tr | Translate (redefine) characters. |
| uniq | Find repeated or unique lines in a file. |
| vi | Visual text editor. |
| xargs | Process many arguments in manageable portions. |
| banner | Make posters from words. |
| bc | Arbitrary precision calculator. |
| cal | Display calendar. |
| clear | Clear the screen. |
| man | Get information on a command. |
| nice | Reduce a job's priority. |
| nohup | Preserve a running job after logging out. |
| passwd | Set your login password. |
| script | Produce a transcript of your login session. |
| su | Become a superuser. |
| tee | Simultaneously store output in file and send to screen. |
| which | Print pathname of a command. |
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