Basic Shell Commands

A reference for the most common Linux shell commands.

File Operations

ls: List directory contents.
- ls -la: List all files (including hidden) with details.
cd <dir>: Change directory.
- cd ..: Go up one level.
- cd ~: Go to home directory.
cp <source> <dest>: Copy files or directories.
- cp -r: Copy recursively.
mv <source> <dest>: Move or rename files.
rm <file>: Remove file.
- rm -r <dir>: Remove directory.
- rm -rf <path>: Force remove (careful!).
mkdir <dir>: Create directory.
- mkdir -p /path/to/dir: Create nested directories.
touch <file>: Create an empty file or update timestamp.

cat <file>: Print file content to terminal.
less <file>: View file content page by page.
nano <file>: Simple terminal text editor.
vim <file>: Advanced terminal text editor.
grep "pattern" <file>: Search for text in a file.
- grep -r "pattern" .: Search recursively in current directory.

chmod <perms> <file>: Change file mode (permissions).
- chmod +x script.sh: Make executable.
- chmod 755 file: Owner rwx, others rx.
chown <user>:<group> <file>: Change file owner and group.
- chown -R user:group dir/: Change recursively.