Common Linux Commands

From WikiHack

This is a list of common Linux and bash shell commands, ranging from basic navigation/editing to drive overhaul to security hardening.

Contents 1 Basic Commands 1.1 man 2 Navigation 2.1 cd 2.2 ls 2.3 pwd 3 File and Disk Management 3.1 mv 3.2 cp 3.3 rm 4 Process Management 5 User Groups and Privileges 5.1 passwd 5.2 chpasswd 6 Networking 6.1 ifconfig 6.2 iwconfig 7 Basic System Administration 7.1 shutdown

Basic Commands

man

shows a manual page for a program

$ man bzip2 - shows the bzip2 help page.

Navigation

cd

Changes directory to that specified.

$ cd - returns to the user's home directory.

$ cd /etc - moves to the /etc directory.

$ cd foo - moves to the foo directory within the current one.

$ cd ~ - returns to the user's home directory.

$ cd .. - move to the parent directory of the one you are in.

ls

Lists the contents of a directory.

$ ls - lists the contents of the current directory.

$ ls /usr/local - lists the contents of the /usr/local directory.

$ ls -l foo - lists the contents of foo with permission information.

$ ls -l -h foo - lists the contents of foo with permission information, and outputs size information in human-readable form.

$ ls -a foo - lists all the files in foo, including hidden ones.

pwd

Outputs the directory the user is currently working in.

File and Disk Management

mv

Moves a file or directory from one place to another.

$ mv foo.bar /etc/ - Moves foo.bar, located in the working directory, to /etc/foo.bar

$ mv foo.bar foo2.bar - Renames foo.bar to foo2.bar

$ mv -v foo/ /etc/ - Moves the directory foo/ to /etc/foo/ with verbose output

cp

Copies a file from one location to another.

rm

Removes a file from the system.

Process Management

User Groups and Privileges

passwd

Changes the password for the current user

chpasswd

Root-only method for changing passwords of other users

Networking

ifconfig

Configures a network interface

$ ifconfig - Displays all network card information for all interfaces

$ ifconfig eth0 - Displays all network card information for the eth0 interface

iwconfig

Configures a wireless network interface

$ iwconfig - Displays all wireless extension information for all interfaces

$ ifconfig wlan0 - Displays all wireless extension information for the wlan0 interface

Basic System Administration

shutdown

Controls the shutting down of a system.

# shutdown -h now - Shuts down the system and halts it (powers off) immediately

# shutdown -r now - Shuts down the system and reboots the system immediately