Unix - Basic commands

List of few commonly used *nix commands and their use.
|
Command |
Description |
|
cat |
Display File Contents |
|
cd |
Changes Directory to dirname |
|
chgrp |
change file group |
|
chmod |
Changing Permissions |
|
cp |
Copy source file into destination |
|
file |
Determine file type |
|
find |
Find files |
|
grep |
Search files for regular expressions. |
|
head |
Display first few lines of a file |
|
ln |
Create softlink on oldname |
|
ls |
Display information about file type. |
|
mkdir |
Create a new directory dirname |
|
more |
Display data in paginated form. |
|
mv |
Move (Rename) a oldname to newname. |
|
pwd |
Print current working directory. |
|
rm |
Remove (Delete) filename |
|
rmdir |
Delete an existing directory provided it is empty. |
|
tail |
Prints last few lines in a file. |
|
touch |
Update access and modification time of a file. |
|
awk |
Pattern scanning and processing language |
|
cmp |
Compare the contents of two files |
|
comm |
Compare sorted data |
|
cut |
Cut out selected fields of each line of a file |
|
diff |
Differential file comparator |
|
expand |
Expand tabs to spaces |
|
join |
Join files on some common field |
|
perl |
Data manipulation language |
|
sed |
Stream text editor |
|
sort |
Sort file data |
|
split |
Split file into smaller files |
|
tr |
Translate characters |
|
uniq |
Report repeated lines in a file |
|
wc |
Count words, lines, and characters |
|
vi |
Opens vi text editor |
|
vim |
Opens vim text editor |
|
fmt |
Simple text formatter |
|
spell |
Check text for spelling error |
|
ispell |
Check text for spelling error |
|
emacs |
GNU project Emacs |
|
ex, edit |
Line editor |
|
compress |
Compress files |
|
gunzip |
Uncompress gzipped files |
|
gzip |
GNU alternative compression method |
|
uncompress |
Uncompress files |
|
unzip |
List, test and extract compressed files in a ZIP archive |
|
zcat |
Cat a compressed file |
|
zcmp |
Compare compressed files |
|
zdiff |
Compare compressed files |
|
zmore |
File perusal filter for crt viewing of compressed text |
|
apropos |
Locate commands by keyword lookup |
|
info |
Displays command information pages online |
|
man |
Displays manual pages online |
|
whatis |
Search the whatis database for complete words. |
|
yelp |
GNOME help viewer |
|
evolution |
GUI mail handling tool on Linux |
|
|
Simple send or read mail program |
|
mesg |
Permit or deny messages |
|
parcel |
Send files to another user |
|
ftp |
File transfer program |
|
rcp |
Remote file copy |
|
rlogin |
Remote login to a UNIX host |
|
rsh |
Remote shell |
|
tftp |
Trivial file transfer program |
|
telnet |
Make terminal connection to another host |
|
ssh |
Secure shell terminal or command connection |
|
scp |
Secure shell remote file copy |
|
sftp |
secure shell file transfer program |
|
pine |
Vdu-based mail utility |
|
talk |
Talk to another user |
|
write |
Write message to another user |
|
dbx |
Sun debugger |
|
gdb |
GNU debugger |
|
make |
Maintain program groups and compile programs. |
|
nm |
Print program's name list |
|
size |
Print program's sizes |
|
strip |
Remove symbol table and relocation bits |
|
cb |
C program beautifier |
|
cc |
ANSI C compiler for Suns SPARC systems |
|
ctrace |
C program debugger |
|
gcc |
GNU ANSI C Compiler |
|
indent |
Indent and format C program source |
|
bc |
Interactive arithmetic language processor |
|
gcl |
GNU Common Lisp |
|
perl |
General purpose language |
|
php |
Web page embedded language |
|
py |
Python language interpreter |
|
asp |
Web page embedded language |
|
CC |
C++ compiler for Suns SPARC systems |
|
g++ |
GNU C++ Compiler |
|
javac |
JAVA compiler |
|
appletvieweir |
JAVA applet viewer |
|
netbeans |
Java integrated development environment on Linux |
|
sqlplus |
Run the Oracle SQL interpreter |
|
sqlldr |
Run the Oracle SQL data loader |
|
mysql |
Run the mysql SQL interpreter |
|
chfn |
Change your finger information |
|
chgrp |
Change the group ownership of a file |
|
chown |
Change owner |
|
date |
Print the date |
|
determin |
Automatically find terminal type |
|
du |
Print amount of disk usage |
|
echo |
Echo arguments to the standard options |
|
exit |
Quit the system |
|
finger |
Print information about logged-in users |
|
groupadd |
Create a user group |
|
groups |
Show group memberships |
|
homequota |
Show quota and file usage |
|
iostat |
Report I/O statistics |
|
kill |
Send a signal to a process |
|
last |
Show last logins of users |
|
logout |
log off UNIX |
|
lun |
List user names or login ID |
|
netstat |
Show network status |
|
passwd |
Change your login password |
|
printenv |
Display value of a shell variable |
|
ps |
Display the status of current processes |
|
quota -v |
Display disk usage and limits |
|
reset |
Reset terminal mode |
|
script |
Save the output of a command or process |
|
setenv |
Set environment variables |
|
stty |
Set terminal options |
|
time |
Time a command |
|
top |
Display all system processes |
|
tset |
Set terminal mode |
|
tty |
Print current terminal name |
|
umask |
Show the permissions that are given to view files by default |
|
uname |
Display name of the current system |
|
uptime |
Get the system up time |
|
useradd |
Create a user account |
|
users |
Print names of logged in users |
|
vmstat |
Report virtual memory statistics |
|
w |
Show what logged in users are doing |
|
who |
List logged in users |