100+ Essential Linux Commands for Every Linux User

Essential Linux Commands
Essential Linux Commands

Linux is a popular open-source operating system that is based on the Linux kernel. It is widely used in enterprise environments to support production workloads and host crucial enterprise applications.

Initially, Linux targeted power users and enterprise environments. Its lack of a graphical display made it quite intimidating for most users. Administration of the system was purely done on the command line interface (CLI) which entails running commands on a black console.

Over time, Linux has grown in leaps and bounds and has seen its adoption by desktop lovers and home users. Modern Linux distributions provide a desktop environment that enhances user experience and makes it easy especially easy for beginners to learn the ropes and use the system. Popular desktop Linux distributions include Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, Zorin, and Elementary Linux.

Regardless of the numerous distributions that offer a GUI (Graphical User Interface) for user interaction, the most preferred way of running a Linux system is through the command line interface (CLI). Running commands is considered the professional way of managing a Linux system. After all, most of the VPS or cloud instances running Linux are only administered via the command line interface.

As such, having a good grasp of Linux commands will set you apart from your peers and provide you with crucial skills needed to manage a Linux system. Familiarity with working on the command line will also prove valuable as you scale the IT ladder and venture into other disciplines such as Cloud and Cybersecurity.

This section provides a list of essential Linux commands that will help you get started.

Linux Basic Commands

1ls commandHow to List Files and Directories in Linux – {15 Examples}
2pwd commandHow to Check Current Working Directory in Linux – {15 Examples}
3cd commandHow to Change Current Working Directory in Linux – {15 Examples}
4clear commandHow to Clear Terminal Screen in Linux – {4 Examples}
5mkdir commandHow to Create Directories in Linux – {6 Examples}
6mv commandHow to Move or Rename Files and Directories in Linux – {9 Examples}
7cp commandHow to Copy Files and Directories in Linux – {14 Examples}
8rmdir commandHow to Remove Empty Directories in Linux – {5 Examples}
9touch commandHow to Change or Modify Timestamps of File or Directory – {8 Examples}
10cat commandHow to Print or View Contents of File in Linux – {13 Examples}
11echo commandHow to Print Line of Text or String in Linux – {15 Examples}
12less commandHow to Read Contents of Text File in Linux – {6 Examples}
13tar commandHow to Create and Extract Tar Archive Files in Linux – {21 Examples}
14gzip commandHow to Use the Gzip Command in Linux – {13 Examples}
15grep commandHow to Search Text or String in Files on Linux – {12 Examples}
16head commandHow to Print First 10 Lines of Files in Linux – {6 Examples}
17tail commandHow to Print Last 10 Lines of Files in Linux – {6 Examples}
18cut commandHow to Cut Sections of Line in File – {8 Examples}
19tee commandHow to Use ‘tee’ Command in Linux – {8 Examples}
20sort commandHow to Sort Files Based on Sizes in Linux – {14 Examples}
21uniq commandHow to Remove Duplicate Lines in Linux – {8 Examples}
22ps commandHow to List Currently Running Linux Processes – {30 Examples}
23kill commandHow to Kill a Running Linux Process – {4 Examples}
24df commandHow to Check Disk Usage of Linux File System – {12 Examples}
25chown commandHow to Change File Owner and Group in Linux – {11 Examples}
26ifconfig commandHow to Configure Network Interface in Linux – {15 Examples}
27ip commandHow to Configure Network Interface in Linux – {24 Examples}
28wget commandHow to Download Files from Network in Linux – {10 Examples}
29curl commandHow to Transfer Data From or To a Server in Linux – {15 Examples}
30apt commandHow to Install Packages in Debian-based Systems – {15 Examples}
31apt-get commandHow to Manage Packages in Debian-based Systems – {25 Examples}
32yum commandHow to Install Software Packages in RHEL-based Systems – {20 Examples}
33dnf commandHow to Install Software Packages in Fedora – {27 Examples}
34rpm commandHow to Install RPM Packages in RHEL-based Systems – {20 Examples}
35alias commandHow to Create and Use Alias Command in Linux
36dd commandHow to Learn dd Command in Linux – {15 Useful Examples}
37top commandHow to Monitor Running Linux Processes – {16 Examples}
38useradd commandHow to Create New Users in Linux – {15 Examples}
39sleep commandHow to Use “sleep” Command in Linux – {6 Examples}
40screen commandGetting Started with Linux Screen Command – {20 Examples}
41pv commandHow to Monitor Progress of Data in Linux
42fgrep commandHow to Use fgrep Command to Search for Strings in Linux – {12 Examples}
43dir commandHow to Create New Directories in Linux – {8 Examples}
44egrep commandHow to Search Patterns in Files in Linux – {20 Examples}
45ssh commandBasic SSH Command Usage and Configuration in Linux
46fd commandA Simple and Fast Alternative to Find Command
47lsof commandHow to List Open Files in Linux – {10 Examples}
48dig commandHow to Query DNS in Linux – {10 Examples}
49nslookup commandHow to Query Internet Domain Name Servers – {8 Examples}
50du commandHow to Find Disk Usage of Files and Directories – {10 Examples}
51tree commandHow to List Directory in Tree-like Format in Linux – {12 Examples}
52ss commandHow to Monitor Network Connection Statistics in Linux – {12 Examples}
53partx commandHow to List Disk Partitions in Linux – {8 Examples}
54uptime commandHow to Check the Running Time of Linux System
55tr commandHow to Translate or Delete Characters in Linux – {10 Examples}
56ping commandHow to Check Network Connectivity Between Hosts in Linux – {12 Examples}
57zcat commandHow to View Contents of Compressed File in Linux – {6 Examples}
58xargs commandHow to Build and Execute Commands from Standard Input – {12 Examples}
59rm commandHow to Delete Files and Directories in Linux – {8 Examples}
60stat commandHow to Check File or File System Status in Linux – {5 Examples}
61who commandHow to Check Who is Logged-On in Linux – {10 Examples}
62locate commandHow to Find Files by Name in Linux – {10 Examples}
63host commandHow to Find IP Address of Domain Name in Linu – {13 Examples}
64find commandHow to Find Files and Directories in Linux – {35 Examples}
65fuser commandHow to Find PIDs of Processes Using Files or Sockets in Linux – {4 Examples}
66at commandHow to Schedule a Command on Particular Time in Linux
67fdisk commandHow to Create and Manage Disk Partitions in Linux – {10 Examples}
68parted commandHow to Create, Resize, and Rescue Disk Partitions in Linux – {8 Examples}
69wc commandHow to Count Number of Lines, Words, Characters in Linux – {6 Examples}
70dpkg commandHow to Manage .deb Packages in Debian-based Systems – {15 Examples}
71nmap commandA Network and Security Auditing Tool for Linux – {29 Examples}
72dmesg commandHow to Troubleshoot and Collect Information of Linux Systems – {7 Examples}
73chattr commandHow to Make Important Files IMMUTABLE in Linux – {5 Examples}
74usermod commandHow to Modify User Accounts in Linux – {15 Examples}
75free commandHow to Check Memory Usage in Linux – {10 Examples}
76cron commandHow to Check Memory Usage in Linux – {11 Examples}
77mysql commandHow to Backup and Restore MySQL Databases in Linux – {20 Examples}
78sdiff commandHow to Check Difference Between Two Files in Linux – {11 Examples}
79history commandHow to View Previously Executed Linux Command – {10 Examples}
80netstat commandHow to Check Network Listening Ports in Linux – {20 Examples}
81sftp commandHow to Securely Transfer Files Between Linux Systems – {10 Examples}
82tcpdump commandHow to Analyzer Network Packets in Linux – {12 Examples}
83scp commandHow to Copy Files and Directories Between Remote Linux – {10 Examples}
84rsync commandHow to Sync Files and Directories Between Remote Linux – {10 Examples}
85fsck commandHow to Repair File System Errors in Linux
86bc commandHow to Do Basic Calculations in Linux – {10 Examples}
87chage commandHow to Manage User Password Expiration and Aging in Linux – {5 Examples}
88ffmpeg commandHow to Convert Video, Audio, and Image in Linux – {15 Examples}
89mknod commandHow to Create Device Files in Linux – {5 Examples}

Li90nux Advance Commands

907 Quirky ‘ls’ Command Tricks Every Linux User Should Know
916 Deprecated Linux Commands and Alternative Tools You Should Use
9213 Most Commonly Used Linux Commands You Should Know
9310 Most Dangerous Commands You Should Never Execute on Linux
9430 Useful Linux Commands for System Administrators
9513 Linux Network Configuration and Troubleshooting Commands
9620 Commands for Newbies Who Switched from Windows to Linux
9722 Linux Networking Commands for Sysadmin
986 Interesting Funny Commands of Linux (Fun in Terminal)
9920 Funny Commands of Linux or Linux is Fun in Terminal
100Deprecated Linux Networking Commands and Their Replacements
10112 Useful Commands For Filtering Text for Effective File Operations in Linux
10210 Interesting Linux Command Line Tricks and Tips Worth Knowing
10311 Advanced Linux ‘Grep’ Commands on Character Classes and Bracket Expressions
1048 Useful Commands to Monitor Swap Space Usage in Linux
1055 Useful Commands to Manage File Types and System Time in Linux
10610 Useful Linux Command Line Tricks for Newbies
10710 Amazing and Mysterious Uses of (!) Symbol or Operator in Linux Commands
10851 Useful Lesser Known Commands for Linux Users
10910 Lesser Known Useful Linux Commands
11010 Useful Chaining Operators in Linux with Practical Examples
11110 Lesser Known Effective Linux Commands
11260 Commands of Linux: A Guide from Newbies to System Administrator
11320 Advanced Commands for Linux Experts
11420 Advanced Commands for Middle-Level Linux Users

Linux Alternative Commands

115Exa – A Modern Replacement for “ls Command” Written in Rust
116bd – Quickly Go Back to a Parent Directory Instead of Typing ‘cd’ Command
117Bat – A Cat Clone with Syntax Highlighting and Git Integration
118ccat – Show ‘cat Command’ Output with Syntax Highlighting or Colorizing
119Autojump – An Advanced ‘cd’ Command to Quickly Navigate Linux Filesystem

Learning essential Linux commands will help you to perform various basic and system administrative tasks easily and effectively from the Linux command line. In most cases, each command consists of three parts – a command name, a flag, and a parameter.

In this section, we’ve added links to 100+ articles on essential Linux commands that will help you get started with the command line. As we add more articles to TecMint, we will continue to add links to those articles on this page.

article: https://www.tecmint.com/essential-linux-commands/

Tags: ,