A Linux command is a program and/or utility that runs on the CLI (Command Line Interface). Linux commands are executed on the terminal. These commands have usage ranging from package management to file manipulation.

A basic Linux command syntax looks like this

command [option(s)] [parameter(s)]

One thing you should keep in your mind, Linux Commands are case-sensitive.

For trying out the commands, you might want to pull up a terminal.

15 Commonly used Linux Commands

• ls command

The ls command is used to display a directory's files and folders.

This command is very useful if you want to explore the contents of the directory without navigating to the GUI Folder.

ls -l

• cd command

'cd' expands to change directory which gives us a fair hint of what this command does. It is used to change the current working directory to a specified folder inside the terminal.

cd src/

This would move you to the 'src' directory.

If you want to move up to the parent directory, then use .. like this:

cd ..

• pwd command

'pwd' translates to Print Working Directory and it is used to display the path of current working directory.

pwd

• echo command

The echo command displays a string which is passed in as an arguement. For example:

echo "random string"

This will display random string as an output.

echo -e "Amesome \nBlog" : The -e flag enables the echo command to recognize the backslash escape sequences inside the arguement.

$ echo -e "Amesome \nBlog"
Awesome
Blog

• mkdir command

The 'mkdir' command is used to create new directories inside the current working directory from the terminal.

mkdir <foldername>

• rm command

The 'rm' command helps to delete files and directories. For example:

rm index.html

This line would remove the file 'index.html' from the current working directory.

If you want to remove a directory, then supply the rm command with -R flag, like this:

rm -R folderName

• rmdir command

The 'rmdir' command provides the utility to remove empty directories from the system. If the directory contains any files/folders inside it, 'rmdir' will throw up an error. Syntax:

rmdir folderName

• man command

The 'man' command is used to display the documentation/mannual of any Linuz command that can be run on the terminal.

If we want to see the documentation/mannual of ls command, we would write:

man ls

• cat command

The 'cat' command is used to read the contents of one or more files and display their contents inside the terminal. For example:

cat file.txt

This would print the contents of 'file.txt' onto the terminal. If we write:

cat -n file.txt

This would print the contents of 'file.txt' along with the line numbers.

Suppose we want to concatenate the contents of 'file.txt' and 'names.txt' and place them in another file 'another.txt', we would write:

cat file.txt names.txt > another.txt

• touch command

The 'touch' command is ussed to create a new file without any content inside it. For example:

touch style.css

This would make a file named 'style.css' in the working directory. Multiple files can be created simlutaneously as:

touch index.html style.js

• mv command

The 'mv' command expands to move and it performs two major functions:

1. It helps to rename a file/directory.

2. It helps to move a file/directory from one location to another.

Syntax:

mv <source> <destination>

Example:

mv style.css src/

This would move the file 'style.css' to 'src/' directory.

Syntax for renaming:

mv <initial_filename> <new_filename>

Example:

mv style.css newStyle.css

The file name changed from 'style.css' to 'newStyle.css'.

• cp command

The 'cp' command expands to copy and it helps to copy files/directory from one location to another. For example:

cp style.css src/style.css

This would copy the file 'style.css' to the 'src/' folder.

• tree command

The 'tree' command can be used to list out the contents of directories in a tree-like fashion.

tree

• head command

The 'head' command prints the first N lines of a given file content. For example:

head -n 5 style.css

This would print the first 5 lines of the file 'style.css'.

• tail command

The 'tail' command prints the last N lines of a given file content. For example:

tail -n 3 style.css

This would print the last 3 lines of the file 'style.css'.

There you go with the 15 Linux commands. Pretty awesome right! ✨

Connect with me:

🔗 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/harshit-sharma--

🔗 My YouTube Channel: youtube.com/c/CoderBuddy?sub_confirmation=1

🔗 GitHub: github.com/harshit-sharma-gits