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📚 Ubuntu Linux Commands Reference

Complete guide to essential Linux commands - organized alphabetically

Most Linux commands on Ubuntu have detailed manual (man) pages available online through several repositories. For your convenience, each command card on this page includes a direct link to its official Ubuntu man page. You can also access these manuals directly from the command line by typing man <command> (for example, man ls). This will display the manual page for the command in your terminal, providing usage, options, and examples. Whether you prefer browsing online or using the terminal, these resources will help you master Linux commands efficiently.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

🔗
apt
Package management tool for installing, updating, and removing software.
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
Package Management
🔗
apt-get
Lower-level package management tool (older version of apt).
sudo apt-get install package-name
Package Management
🔗
alias
Create shortcuts for long commands.
alias ll='ls -la'
System
🔗
awk
Pattern scanning and text processing language.
awk '{print $1}' file.txt
Text Processing
🔗
adduser
Add a new user to the system.
sudo adduser username
User Management
🔗
at
Schedule commands to run at a specific time.
echo "command" | at 10:00 PM
Scheduling

B

🔗
bash
Bourne Again Shell - the default Linux shell.
bash script.sh
Shell
🔗
bg
Resume a suspended job in the background.
bg %1
Process Management
🔗
basename
Strip directory and suffix from filenames.
basename /path/to/file.txt
File Operations

C

🔗
cat
Display file contents, concatenate files.
cat file.txt
File Operations
cd
Change directory - navigate between folders.
cd /home/user/Documents
Navigation
🔗
chmod
Change file permissions (read, write, execute).
chmod 755 script.sh
Permissions
🔗
chown
Change file owner and group.
sudo chown user:group file.txt
Permissions
🔗
cp
Copy files and directories.
cp source.txt destination.txt
File Operations
🔗
curl
Transfer data from or to a server (HTTP, FTP, etc).
curl https://example.com
Network

D

🔗
date
Display or set the system date and time.
date +"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"
System
🔗
df
Display disk space usage of file systems.
df -h
Disk Management
🔗
diff
Compare files line by line and show differences.
diff file1.txt file2.txt
File Operations
🔗
du
Estimate file and directory space usage.
du -sh *
Disk Management

E

🔗
echo
Display text or variables to the terminal.
echo "Hello World"
Utilities
exit
Exit the current shell or terminal session.
exit
Shell
export
Set environment variables.
export PATH=$PATH:/new/path
System

F

🔗
find
Search for files and directories in a directory hierarchy.
find /path -name "*.txt"
File Operations
🔗
free
Display amount of free and used memory in the system.
free -h
System
🔗
fg
Bring a background job to the foreground.
fg %1
Process Management

G

🔗
grep
Search text using patterns (regular expressions).
grep "pattern" file.txt
Text Processing
🔗
gunzip
Decompress .gz files.
gunzip file.gz
Compression
🔗
gzip
Compress files using gzip compression.
gzip file.txt
Compression

H

🔗
head
Display the first lines of a file.
head -n 10 file.txt
Text Processing
🔗
history
Display command history.
history
Shell
🔗
hostname
Show or set the system's hostname.
hostname
Network

I

🔗
ifconfig
Configure network interfaces (deprecated, use ip).
ifconfig
Network
🔗
ip
Show/manipulate routing, devices, policy routing.
ip addr show
Network

J

🔗
jobs
List active jobs in the current shell.
jobs
Process Management

K

🔗
kill
Terminate processes by PID.
kill -9 1234
Process Management
🔗
killall
Kill processes by name.
killall firefox
Process Management

L

🔗
ls
List directory contents.
ls -la
File Operations
🔗
ln
Create links between files.
ln -s /path/to/file linkname
File Operations
🔗
less
View file contents page by page.
less file.txt
Text Processing
🔗
locate
Find files by name quickly using a database.
locate filename
File Operations

M

🔗
man
Display manual pages for commands.
man ls
Help
🔗
mkdir
Create new directories.
mkdir newfolder
File Operations
🔗
mv
Move or rename files and directories.
mv oldname.txt newname.txt
File Operations
🔗
more
View file contents page by page (basic version of less).
more file.txt
Text Processing

N

🔗
nano
Simple text editor for the terminal.
nano file.txt
Text Editors
🔗
netstat
Display network connections, routing tables, interface statistics.
netstat -tuln
Network

O

🔗
openssl
Cryptography toolkit for SSL/TLS.
openssl version
Security

P

🔗
ps
Display currently running processes.
ps aux
Process Management
🔗
pwd
Print working directory (current directory path).
pwd
Navigation
🔗
ping
Test network connectivity to a host.
ping google.com
Network

Q

🔗
quota
Display disk usage and limits.
quota -v
Disk Management

R

🔗
rm
Remove files or directories.
rm file.txt
File Operations
🔗
rmdir
Remove empty directories.
rmdir foldername
File Operations
🔗
reboot
Restart the system.
sudo reboot
System

S

🔗
sudo
Execute commands with superuser privileges.
sudo apt update
System
🔗
ssh
Secure shell - connect to remote systems.
ssh user@hostname
Network
🔗
sed
Stream editor for filtering and transforming text.
sed 's/old/new/g' file.txt
Text Processing
🔗
sort
Sort lines of text files.
sort file.txt
Text Processing
🔗
shutdown
Shut down or restart the system.
sudo shutdown -h now
System

T

🔗
tar
Archive files (tape archive).
tar -xzvf archive.tar.gz
Compression
🔗
tail
Display the last lines of a file.
tail -f /var/log/syslog
Text Processing
🔗
top
Display real-time system processes and resource usage.
top
Process Management
🔗
touch
Create empty files or update file timestamps.
touch newfile.txt
File Operations

U

🔗
uname
Display system information.
uname -a
System
🔗
unzip
Extract ZIP archives.
unzip archive.zip
Compression
🔗
uptime
Show how long the system has been running.
uptime
System

V

🔗
vi
Powerful text editor (Vi IMproved).
vi file.txt
Text Editors
🔗
vim
Enhanced version of vi text editor.
vim file.txt
Text Editors

W

🔗
wget
Download files from the web.
wget https://example.com/file.zip
Network
🔗
whoami
Display current username.
whoami
User Management
🔗
wc
Count words, lines, and characters in files.
wc -l file.txt
Text Processing

X

🔗
xargs
Build and execute command lines from standard input.
find . -name "*.txt" | xargs rm
Utilities

Y

🔗
yes
Output a string repeatedly until killed.
yes | command
Utilities

Z

🔗
zip
Create ZIP archives.
zip -r archive.zip folder/
Compression
🔗
zcat
View contents of compressed files without extracting.
zcat file.gz
Compression
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