Introduction to Linux & Basic Linux commands

Command

Description

cd

change directory.

cd . .

moves to the previous directory.

cd ~

takes you back to the home directory.

ls

list directory contents.

ls -a

lists all the files including hidden files.

ls -x

lists the content in row-wise format.

ls -r

lists the contents sorted in reverse alphabetical order.

ls -t

lists the directory contents sorted by last creation time.

ls -R

lists all sub_directories under a current directory.

ls -l

displays all files & directories in long format.

ls -u

lists the contents based on access time or usage time.

ls [abc]

lists all the files starting with the letter a/b/c.

ls [!abc]

lists all the files that don't start with the letter a/b/c.

ls /

root directory contents will be displayed.

ls ../

displays the content of the parent directory.

ls /

lists the contents of all subdirectories of the current directory.

ls -d

displays all directories followed by filenames.

touch

creates an empty file.

touch -a

changes the access time of a file.

touch -m

changes the modification time of a file.

mv

used to move or rename files and directories.

mv -f

forces overwriting of the target file.

mv -i

prompts before overwriting the destination file.

mv -p

preserves the attributes from 1 file to another file.

rm

removing or deleting 1 or more files.

rm -i

prompts before deleting each file.

rm -r

recursively delete a directory and all its contents.

uname

shows the name and certain features of the system.

uname -r

displays OS release details.

uname -m

displays machine details.

uname -v

displays version details.

cp

copy file or a group of files across directories.

pwd

prints current working directory.

mkdir

creates the directory.

rmdir

removes the directory.

echo

displays messages.

cat

used to concatenate and display files.

whoami

gives self-login details.

sudo

lets us use our account and password to execute system commands with root privileges.