Complete Linux Commands Reference Cheat Sheet

Complete Linux Commands Reference Cheat Sheet – A to Z Commands – If you won’t become a pro hacker you need to remember all Linux commands because the Linux operating system all tools task command base or graphically, it has many hacking and penetration testing tools those work complete command line base. Best Important Linux Commands.

Most Used Linux OS Commands – Linux Commands You Can Use Everyday

ls – list files and directories
cd – change directory
mkdir – make a directory
rm – remove file or directory
mv – move or rename file or directory
cp – copy file or directory
touch – create an empty file or update the modified time
chmod – change permissions of file or directory
chown – change the owner of the file or directory
sudo – execute the command as superuser
grep – search for text in files
tar – create or extract compressed archive
top – display system resource usage
ps – display running processes
kill – terminate a process
ping – test network connection
ssh – connect to the remote server over SSH
scp – copy files securely between servers over SSH
curl – transfer data over the network
wget – download files from the internet.

Complete Linux Commands Reference Cheat Sheet (A to Z) Commands

Many of these commands may not work on your Linux version. Important Linux Commands You Should Know. The alias command lets you give your own name to a command or sequence of commands.

See More: Termux Command For Android Hacking

Linux commands are run in the terminal provided by the Linux system. let’s start to learn useful Linux commands. Complete Linux Commands Reference Cheat Sheet

Complete Linux Commands With a Description

Text commands often work regardless of which Linux-based operating system you use, and the results are often faster than what a graphical desktop interface can offer. so basically if you know Linux Commands You are better than others.

Also Read: kali Linux Commands PDF Free Download

A to Z Useful Linux Commands With Description

A – Linux Commands

Commands	Description
apt	Advanced Package Tool / A package management system.
apt-get	Install / remove / update packages
aptitude	A utility to add / remove / upgrade packages
apmd	Used to handle events reported by APM BIOS drivers.
awk	Used to find and replace text in a file .
atrm	Delete jobs queued by the at command.
aumix	A audio mixer utility
autoupdate	Update a configure.
as	A portable GNU assembler.
at	Schedule command execution at specified date & time.
atq	List a user’s pending jobs
autoheader	Create a template header for configure.
acpi	Show information about the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface.
access	Check a user’s RWX permission for a file.
aclocal	GNU autoconf too
aconnect	ALSA sequencer connection manager.
acpid	Informs user-space programs about ACPI events.
addr2line	Used to convert addresses into file names and line numbers.
addresses	Formats for internet mail addresses.
aplay	Sound recorder and player for CLI.
anacron	run commands periodically.
alias	Create an alias for Linux commands
amidi	Perform read/write operation for ALSA RawMIDI ports.
amixer	Access CLI-based mixer for ALSA soundcard driver.
apropos	Shows the list of all man pages containing a specific keyword

B – Linux Commands

Commands	Description
break	Used to exit from a loop.
bzip2	A block-sorting file compressor.
bison	A GNU parser generator.
bind	Used to attach a name to a socket.
bc	Access the GNU bc calculator utility.
bash	GNU Bourne-Again Shell.
bg	Send processes to the background.
badblocks	Search a disk partition for bad sectors.
banner	Used to print characters as a poster.

C – Linux Commands

Commands	Description
cut	remove sections from each line of a file.
cp	Copy contents of one file to another.
clear	Used to clear the terminal window.
comm	Used to compare two sorted files line by line.
continue	Resume the next iteration of a loop.
cpp	GNU C language processor.
cron	A daemon to execute scheduled commands.
csplit	Split a file into sections on the basis of context lines.
curl	Transfer data from or to a server.
chrt	Alter process attributed.
chsh	Switch login shell.
cksum	Perform a CRC checksum for files.
col	Filter reverse from the input.
cpio	Copy files from and to archives.
ctags	Make a list of functions and macro names defined in a programming source file.
cal	Show calendar.
cat	Concatenate files and print them on the screen.
cc	GNU C and C++ compiler.
cd	Change directory.
cdda2wav	Rip a CD-ROM and make WAV file.
chmod	Change access permission for a file
chpasswd	Update password in a batch.
chroot	Run a command with root privileges.
chkconfig	Manage execution of runlevel services.
chgrp	Used to change group ownership for file.
chvt	Change foreground virtual terminal.

D – Linux Commands

Commands	Description
df	Show disk usage.
dir	List the contents of a directory.
dc	Desk calculator utility.
date	Show system date and time.
dirname	Display pathname after removing the last slash and characters thereafter.
du	Show disk usage summary for a file.
dump	Backup utility for ext2/ext3 file systems.
dumpe2fs	Dump ext2/ext3/ext4 file systems.
dumpkeys	Show information about the keyboard driver’s current translation tables.
dmesg	Examine and control the kernel ring buffer.
disable	Restrict access to a printer.
dirs	Show the list of remembered directories.
declare	Used to declare variables and assign attributes.
ddrescue	Used to recover data from a crashed partition.
debugfs	File system debugger for ext2/ext3/ext4
depmod	Generate modules.dep and map files.
dmesg	Examine and control the kernel ring buffer.
dnssec-signkey	Sign a secure DNS keyset with key signatures specified in the list of key-identifiers.

E – Linux Commands

Commands	Description
exit	Exit from the terminal.
eject	Eject removable media.
enable	Enable/disable shell builtin commands.
esdcat	Use EsounD to send audio data from a specified file.
esdctl	EsounD control program.
esdplay	EsounD system to play a file.
e2fsck	Check ext2/ext3/ext4 file systems.
ed	GNU Ed – a line-oriented text editor.
egrep	Search and display text matching a pattern.
export	Set an environment variable.
expect	An extension to the Tcl script
ex	Interactive command
echo	display text on the screen.
esdplay	EsounD system to play a file.
e2label	Show or change the label on an ext2/ext3/ext4 filesystem.
edquota	Edit filesystem quotas using a text editor
emacs	Emacs text editor command line utility.
env	Show/set/delete environment variables.

F – Linux Commands

Commands	Description
file	Determine file type for a file.
fingerd	Provides a network interface for the finger program.
fuser	Find and kill a process accessing a file.
ftp	File transfer protocol user interface.
free	Show free and used system memory.
fsck	Check and repair a Linux file system.
format	Format disks.
ftpd	FTP server process.
function	Define function macros.
factor	Display prime factors of specified integer numbers.
false	Exit with a status code indicating failure, Do nothing, unsuccessfully.
fc-list	Show the list of available fonts.
fdformat	Do a low-level format on a floppy disk.
fetchmail	Fetch mail from mail servers and forward it to the local mail delivery system.
fg	Used to send a job to the foreground.
find	Do a file search in a directory hierarchy.
flex	Generate programs that perform pattern-matching on text.
for	Expand words and run commands for each one in the resultant list.
find	Do a file search in a directory hierarchy.
fold	Wrap input line to fit in a specified width.
fc-cache	Make font information cache after scanning the directories.

G – Linux Commands

Commands	Description
groffer	Displays groff files and man pages.
gprof	Shows call graph profile data.
getopts	A utility to parse positional parameters.
gpgv	Used to verify OpenPGP signatures.
groffer	Displays groff files and man pages.
groupdel	Remove a user group.
groupadd	Add a new user group.
groupmod	Modify a group definition.
groups	Show the group.
grpck	Verifies the integrity of group files.
gunzip	A utility to compress/expand files.
gzip	Same as gzip.
g++	Run the g++ compiler.
gcc	A C and C++ compiler by GNU.
gdb	A utility to debug programs and know about where it crashes.
getkeycodes	Displays the kernel scancode-to-keycode mapping table.
gpasswd	Allows an administrator to change group passwords.
gpg	Enables encryption and signing services as per the OpenPGP standard.
gpgsplit	Used to split an OpenPGP message into packets.
gpm	It enables cut and paste functionality and a mouse server for the Linux console.
grep	Searches input files for a given pattern and displays the relevant lines.
groff	Serves as the front-end of the groff document formatting system.

H – Linux Commands

Commands	Description
help	Display’s help for a built-in command.
host	A utility to perform DNS lookups.
history	Shows the command history.
help	Display’s help for a built-in command.
halt	Command used to half the machine.
head	Shows first 10 lines from each specified file.
hexdump	Shows specified file output in hexadecimal, octal, decimal, or ASCII format.
hwclock	Show or configure the system’s hardware clock.

htop	An interactive process viewer for the command line.
hostid	Shows host’s numeric ID in hexadecimal format.
hostname	Display/set the hostname of the system.

I – Linux Commands

Commands	Description
info	Used to read the documentation in Info format.
install	Used to copy files to specified locations and set attributions during the install process.
ip	Display/manipulate routing, devices, policy, routing and tunnels.
ipcrm	Used to remove System V interprocess communication (IPC) objects and associated data structures.
ipcs	Show information on IPC facilities for which calling process has read access.
isoinfo	A utility to perform directory like listings of iso9660 images.
isosize	Show the length of an iso9660 filesystem contained in a specified file.
isovfy	Verifies the integrity of an iso9660 image.
iconv	Convert text file from one encoding to another.
if	Execute a command conditionally.
ifconfig	Used to configure network interfaces.
ifup	Starts a network interface.
imapd	An IMAP (Interactive Mail Access Protocol) server daemon.
iostat	Shows statistics for CPU, I/O devices, partitions, network filesystems.
isodump	A utility that shows the content iso9660 images to verify the integrity of directory contents.
ispell	A CLI-based spell-check utility.
import	Capture an X server screen and saves it as an image.
ipcs	Show information on IPC facilities for which calling process has read access.
iptables	Administration tool for IPv4 packet filtering and NAT.

J- Linux Commands

Commands	Description
join	join them using a command field and display on standard output.
jobs	Show the list of active jobs and their status.

K – Linux Commands

Commands	Description
kill	Send a kill processes.
kbd_mode	Set a keyboard mode , shows the current keyboard mode.
killall	Kills a process.
kudzu	Used to detect new and enhanced hardware by comparing it with existing database.
kbdrate	Reset keyboard repeat rate and delay time.

L – Linux Commands

Commands	Description
ls	Shows the list of files in the current directory.
lprm	Cancel print jobs.
lpr	Submit files for printing.
losetup	Set up and control loop devices.
lsusb	List USB devices.
lspci	List all PCI devices.
ld	The Unix linker
ldconfig	Configure dynamic linker run-time bindings.
let	Perform integer artithmetic on shell variables.
local	Create function variables.
locate	Find files by their name.
login	Create a new session on the system.
look	Shows any lines in a file containing a given string in the beginning.
logout	Performs the logout operation.
logger	Make entries in the system log.
lpc	Line printer control program
lpmove	Move on or more printing jobs to a new destination.
lprint	Used to print a file.
last	Shows a list of recent logins on the system.
ldd	Shows shared object dependencies.

M – Linux Commands

Commands	Description
mv	Move/rename files or directories.
mkdir	Used to create directories.
mt	Control magnetic tape drive operation.
mtools	Utilities to access MS-DOS disks.
mpg321	Similar to mpg123.
mpg123	Command-line mp3 player.
most	Browse or page through a text file.
mzip	Change protection mode and eject disk on Zip/ drive.
man	Shows manual pages for Linux commands.
makemap	Creates database maps
make	Utility to maintain groups of programs.
mail	Utility to compose, receive, send, forward, and reply to emails.
mailq	Shows to list all emails queued for delivery
mattrib	Change MS-DOS file attribute flags.
mcat	Dump raw disk image.
mcd	Used to change MS-DOS directory.
mcopy	Used to copy MS-DOS files from or to Unix.
mdir	Used to display an MS-DOS directory.
minfo	Display parameters of an MS-DOS filesystem.
mrd	Remove an MS-DOS sub directory.
mkfs	Build a Linux filesystem on a hard disk partition.
mklost+found	Create a lost+found directory on a mounted ext2 filesystem.
mknod	Create a FIFO, block special file.
mmv	Mass move and rename files.
more	Display content of a file page-by-page.
mount	Mount a filesystem.
mountd	NFS mount daemon.
mpg321	Similar to mpg123.
merge	file merge

N – Linux Commands

Commands	Description
nslookup	Used performs DNS queries
nsupdate	Dynamic DNS update utility.
nm	List symbols from object files.
send	A program to send desktop notifications.
nice	Run a program with modified scheduling priority.
netstat	Show network information.
nfsd	Special filesystem for controlling Linux NFS server.
newgrp	Log-in to a new group.
newaliases	Rebuilds mail alias database.
named	Internet domain name server.

O – Linux Commands

Commands	Description
open	Open a file.
od	Dump files in octal and other formats.
openvt	Start a program on a new virtual terminal
op	Operator access. (allows system administrators to grant users access to certain root operations that require superuser privileges)
objcopy	Copy and translate object files.
objdump	Display information from object files.

P – Linux Commands

Commands	Description
poweroff	Shuts down the machine.
perl	Perl 5 language interpreter.
passwd	Change user password.
paste	Merge lines of files.
patch	Apply a patchfile to an original file.
pathchk	Check if file names are valid or portable.
ping	Send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST to network hosts.
pmap	Report memory map of a process.
pppd	Point-to-point protocol daemon.
printf	Show arguments
pv	Monitor progress of data through a pipe.
ptx	Produce a permuted index of file contents.
pr	Convert text files for printing.
pinky	Lightweight finger.
pgrep	List process IDs matching the specified criteria among all the running processes.
pkill	Send kill signal to processes based on name and other attributes.
pwck	Verify integrity of password files.

Q – Linux Commands

Commands	Description
quotactl	Make changes to disk quotas.
quotaon	Disable enforcement of filesystem quotas.
quotastats	Shows the report of quota system statistics gathered from the kernel.
quota	Shows disk usage.
quotacheck	Scan a file system for disk usage.

R – Linux Commands

Commands	Description
read	Read from a file descriptor.
reboot	Restart the machine.
reset	Reinitialize the terminal.
rm	Removes specified files and directories.
rwhod	Acts as a server for rwho and ruptime commands.
rwall	Sends messages to all users on the local network.
rmmod	A program to remove modules from Linux kernel.
rename	Rename one or more files.
rar	Create and manage RAR file.
raidstart	Start/stop RAID devices.
ram	RAM disk device used to access the RAM disk in raw mode.
amsize	Show usage information for the RAM disk.
rcp	Remote copy command to copy files between remote computers.
rdev	Set or query RAM disk size, image root device, or video mode.
rdate	Set system date and time by fetching information from a remote machine.
readcd	Read/write compact disks.
renice	Change priority of active processes.
rmail	Handle remote mail received via uucp.
route	Show/change IP routing table.
rsh	Remote shell
rshd	A daemon that acts as a server for rsh and rcp commands.
ruptime	Shows uptime and login details of the machines on the local network.
rusers	Shows the list of the users logged-in to the host or on all machines on the local network.
rwall	Sends messages to all users on the local network.
rwho	Reports who is logged-in to the hosts on the local network.
rwhod	Acts as a server for rwho and ruptime commands.
readarray	Read lines from a file into an array variable.
readelf	Shows information about ELF files.

S – Linux Commands

Commands	Description
su	Change user ID or become superuser.
sudo	Execute a command as superuser.
swapoff	Disable devices for paging and swapping.
sysctl	Configure kernel parameters at runtime.
syslogd	Read and log system messages to the system console and log files.
sysklogd	Linux system logging utilities. Provides syslogd and klogd functionalities.
swapon	Enable devices for paging and swapping.
sync	Synchronize cached writes to persistent storage.
suspend	Suspend the execution of the current shell.
sum	Checksum and count the block in a file.
ss	Display socket statistics, similar to netstat.
stat	Display file or filesystem status.
snice	Reset priority for processes.
ssh	An SSH client for logging in to a remote machine.
split	Split a file into pieces of fixed size.
ssh-agent	Holds private keys used for public key authentication.
sshd	Server for the ssh program.
ssh-keyscan	Gather ssh public keys.
ssh-keygen	A Generates, manages, converts authentication keys for ssh.
source	Run commands from a specified file.
sane-find-scanner	Find SCSI and USB scanner and determine their device files.
scp	Copy files between hosts on a network securely using SSH.
scanadf	Retrieve multiple images from a scanner equipped .
script	Make a typescript of everything displayed on the screen during a terminal session.
select	Synchronous I/O multiplexing.
sendmail	mail router or an MTA. (Mail Transfer Agent)
sensors	Shows the current readings of all sensor chips.
sed	Stream editor for filtering and transforming text
set	Used to manipulate shell variables and functions.
setkeycodes	Load kernel scancode-to-keycode mapping table entries.
setmetamode	Define keyboard meta key handling.
setquota	Set disk quotas for users and groups.
sftp	Secure File Transfer program.
shift	Shift positional parameters.
shopt	Shell options.
size	Lists section size and the total size of a specified file.
skill	Send a signal to processes.
sleep	Suspend execution.

T – Linux Commands

Commands	Description
tar	GNU version of the tar archiving utility.
telnet	Telnet protocol user interface. Used to interact with another host using telnet.
tftp	User interface to the internet TFTP (Trivial File Transfer Protocol).
test	Check file type and compare values.
tftpd	TFTP server.
touch	Change file access and modification times.
type	Write a description for a command type.
tty	Display the filename of the terminal connected to standard input.
tset	Initialize terminal.
top	Displays real-time view of processes running on the system.
touch	Change file access and modification times.
tac	Concatenate and print files in reverse order.
talk	A two-way screen-oriented communication utility that allows two user to exchange messages simultaneously.
taskset	Set/retrieve a process’s CPU affinity.
tee	Read from standard input and write to standard output and files.
telinit	Change SysV runlevel.
TRUE	Exit with a status code indicating success.
telnetd	A server for the telnet protocol.
time	Run programs and summarize system resource usage.
timeout	Execute a command with a time limit.
tload	Shows a graph of the current system load average to the specified tty.
tr	Translate, squeeze, or delete characters from standard input and display on standard output.

U – Linux Commands

Commands	Description
uname	Show system information.
ul	Underline text.
uname	Show system information.
unrar	Extract files from a RAR archive.
unset	Remove variable or function names.
uncompress	Uncompress the files compressed.
uuidgen	Created a new UUID (Universally Unique Identifier) table.
usleep	Suspend execution for microsecond intervals.
until	Execute command until a given condition is true.
ulimit	Get and set user limits for the calling process.
uniq	Report or omit repeating lines.
umask	Set file mode creation mask.
uptime	Tell how long the system has been running.
useradd	Create a new user or update default user information.
userdel	Delete a user account and related files.
usermod	Modify a user account.
users	Show the list of active users on the machine.

V – Linux Commands

Commands	Description
vi	A text editor utility.
vim	Vi Improved, a text-based editor which is a successor to vi.
vdir	Same as ls -l -b. Verbosely list directory contents.
vmstat	Shows information about processes, memory, paging, block IO, traps, disks, and CPU activity.
vidmode S	et the video mode for a kernel image.

W – Linux Commands

Commands	Description
write	Display a message on other user’s terminal.
who	Shows who is logged on.
whereis	Locate the binary, source, and man page files for a command.
watch	Runs commands repeatedly until interrupted and shows their output and errors.
w	Show who is logged-on and what they’re doing.
wait	Waits for a specified process ID(s) to terminate and returns the termination status.
wget	A non-interactive file download utility.
who	Shows who is logged on.
whoami	Displays the username tied to the current effective user ID.
whois	Looks for an object in a WHOIS database
warnquota	Send mail to the users who’ve exceeded their disk quota soft limit.
while	Conditionally execute commands (while loop).

X – Linux Commands

Commands	Description
xinetd	Extended internet services daemon. Works similar to inetd.
xz	Compress/ Decompress .xz and .lzma files.
xargs	Runs a command using initial arguments and then reads remaining arguments from standard input.
xdg-open	Open a file or URL in an application preferred by the user.

Y – Linux Commands

Commands	Description
ypxfr	Transfers NIS server map from server to a local host.
yppasswdd	Acts as a server for the yppasswd command. Receives and executes requests.
yes	Repeatedly output a line with a specified string(s) until killed.
ypbind	A daemon that helps client processes to connect to an NIS server.
yacc	A GNU Project parser generator.
ypcat	Shows the NIS map (or database) for the specified Map Name parameter.
yppoll	Shows the ID number or version of NIS map currently used on the NIS server.
ypinit	Sets up NIS maps on an NIS server.
ypmatch	Shows values for specified keys from an NIS map.
ypserv	A daemon activated at system startup. It looks for information in local NIS maps.
ypset	Point a client (running ypbind) to a specifc server (running ypserv).

Z – Linux Commands

Commands	Description
zip	A file compression and packaging utility.
znew	Recompress .z files to .gz. files.
zcat	Used to compress/uncompress files. Similar to gzip
zcmp	Compare compressed files.
zforce	Adds .gz extension to all gzipped files.
zic	Creates time conversion information files using the specified input files.
zless	Displays information of a compressed file (using less command) on the terminal one screen at a time.
zmore	Displays output of a compressed file (using more command) on the terminal one page at a time.
zdiff	Compare compressed files line by line.

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