LINUX: Basic Commands Cheat Sheet
In this article, we list down the common commands we usually use in a Linux terminal.
- cd
Change directory. Use this command to move from a directory to another.- ex. cd your_home_path/your_project_path
- cd ..
(cd with a double dot) Change or move to a directory one level up.- For example, you’re in your project path and you want to go to a directory one level up.
- c:\your_home_path\your_project_path cd..
- For example, you’re in your project path and you want to go to a directory one level up.
- cd –
(cd with a hyphen) Move to the previous directory. - cd /
(cd with a slash) Move to the main or parent directory. - chmod
Use to change the read, write, execute permissions of a file or a directory.- ex. chmod -R 777 your_file.txt
- chown
Command used to transfer ownership of a file to another user.- ex. chown user2 your_file.txt
- cp
Copy command to copy files from a directory to another.- ex. cp your_file.txt /new_directory
- diff
Use this command to compare files line by line.- ex. diff file_one.txt file_two.txt
- grep
Search a text or word in a given file. This is helpful when you’re looking for a specific term or keyword in a file.- ex. grep one your_file.txt
- locate
Search a file.- ex. locate your_file.txt
- locate -i
Search a file but making more specific and case sensitive.- ex. locate -i YourFile.txt
- ls
View the content of a directory.- ex. c:\your_home_path\your_project_path ls
- mv
Command used to move a file from one directory to another. Also useful in renaming.- Moving a file to a new directory
- ex. mv your_file.txt /new_file_directory
- Renaming a file
- ex. mv old_filename.txt new_filename.txt
- Moving a file to a new directory
- mkdir
Make directory. Command used to create directory.- ex. mkdir YourDirectory
- pwd
Command to see the full path of the current working directory or file.- ex. c:\your_home_path\your_project_path pwd
- rmdir
Remove directory. Command used for deleting a directory.- ex. rmdir YourDirectory
- sudo
Short for “SuperUser Do”. We add this in a command to run it with administrative permission. NOTE: Not advisable for daily use, unless you’re an administrator of course.- ex. sudo rmdir TheDirectory
- touch
Create a blank new file.- ex. touch /project_path/your_file.txt