🐧 Linux Commands Cheat Sheet 

File Commands

Command	Description	Options	Example
ls	List files	-lah	ls -lah
cd	Change directory	.. ~	cd /var/log
pwd	Current directory	-	pwd
cp	Copy files	-rv	cp -r a b
mv	Move files	-iv	mv a b
rm	Delete files	-rf	rm -rf tmp
mkdir	Create directory	-p	mkdir -p a/b
rmdir	Remove empty dir	-	rmdir test
touch	Create empty file	-	touch f
stat	File stats	-	stat f
file	Detect file type	-	file f
tree	Directory tree	-	tree .
basename	Filename only	-	basename /a/b
dirname	Directory path	-	dirname /a/b
realpath	Resolve path	-	realpath f
readlink	Read symlink	-f	readlink -f f
ln	Create links	-s	ln -s a b
statx	Extended stats	-	statx f
du	Dir size	-sh	du -sh .
df	Disk usage	-h	df -h
watch	Repeat command	-n	watch ls
find	Search files	-name	find . -name '*.log'
locate	Fast search	-	locate ssh
which	Binary path	-	which ls
whereis	Binary locations	-	whereis bash
chown	Change owner	-R	chown user f
chgrp	Change group	-	chgrp dev f
chmod	Change perms	755	chmod 755 f
setfacl	Set ACL	-m	setfacl -m u:a:r f
getfacl	Get ACL	-	getfacl f
sync	Flush writes	-	sync
copy-progress	Copy progress	-	cp -rv
statfs	FS stats	-	stat -f .
pathchk	Path validity	-	pathchk f
vdir	Verbose ls	-	vdir
dir	List dir	-	dir
statx	File ext stats	-	statx f
shred	Overwrite file	-u	shred f
unlink	Remove file	-	unlink f
fallocate	Preallocate file	-l	fallocate -l 1G f
stat	Metadata	-	stat f
tempfile	Create temp file	-	tempfile
chattr	File attrs	+i	chattr +i f
lsattr	List attrs	-	lsattr f
rename	Batch rename	-	rename s/a/b/ *
stat	File info	-	stat f
statx	Kernel stats	-	statx f

Text Commands

Command	Description	Options	Example
cat	View file	-n	cat f
tac	Reverse cat	-	tac f
less	Pager	-N	less f
more	Pager	-	more f
head	First lines	-n	head -10 f
tail	Last lines	-f	tail -f f
wc	Count text	-l	wc -l f
grep	Search text	-ir	grep err f
egrep	Regex grep	-	egrep a|b f
fgrep	Fixed grep	-	fgrep a f
sed	Stream edit	-i	sed 's/a/b/' f
awk	Text processing	-	awk '{print }' f
sort	Sort text	-nr	sort -nr f
uniq	Unique lines	-c	uniq -c f
column	Align output	-t	column -t f
fmt	Format text	-	fmt f
nl	Number lines	-	nl f
cut	Cut fields	-d	cut -d: -f1 f
paste	Merge lines	-	paste f1 f2
join	Join files	-	join f1 f2
split	Split files	-l	split -l 100 f
tr	Translate chars	-	tr a b
iconv	Charset convert	-	iconv -f a -t b
dos2unix	CRLF fix	-	dos2unix f
unix2dos	LF to CRLF	-	unix2dos f
strings	Extract strings	-	strings bin
hexdump	Hex view	-C	hexdump -C f
xxd	Hex editor	-	xxd f
rev	Reverse text	-	rev f
fold	Line wrap	-w	fold -w 80 f
pr	Pretty print	-	pr f
expand	Tabs to spaces	-	expand f
unexpand	Spaces to tabs	-	unexpand f
sha1sum	SHA1 hash	-	sha1sum f
sha256sum	SHA256 hash	-	sha256sum f
md5sum	MD5 hash	-	md5sum f
cksum	CRC checksum	-	cksum f
base64	Encode/decode	-d	base64 f
watch	Watch output	-	watch wc f
yes	Repeat output	-	yes y
col	Filter output	-b	col -b
script	Record terminal	-	script out
scriptreplay	Replay session	-	scriptreplay

Process Commands

Command	Description	Options	Example
ps	Process list	aux	ps aux
top	Live monitor	-	top
htop	Enhanced top	-	htop
atop	Advanced monitor	-	atop
htop	Interactive monitor	-	htop
kill	Kill PID	-9	kill -9 123
pkill	Kill by name	-f	pkill nginx
killall	Kill all	-	killall bash
bg	Background job	-	bg %1
fg	Foreground job	-	fg %1
jobs	List jobs	-	jobs
uptime	System uptime	-	uptime
tload	Terminal load	-	tload
watch	Repeat command	-	watch free
nice	Set priority	-	nice -n 10 cmd
renice	Change priority	-	renice 10 123
strace	Syscall trace	-	strace ls
ltrace	Library trace	-	ltrace ls
time	Time command	-	time ls
vmstat	Memory stats	-	vmstat
iostat	IO stats	-	iostat
mpstat	CPU stats	-	mpstat
free	Memory usage	-h	free -h
uptime	Runtime	-	uptime
watch	Refresh output	-	watch df

Network Commands

Command	Description	Options	Example
ip	Network config	addr	ip a
ifconfig	Legacy net	-	ifconfig
ping	Connectivity	-c	ping -c 4 google.com
curl	HTTP client	-I	curl -I site
wget	Download	-c	wget url
ss	Socket stats	-tulnp	ss -tulnp
netstat	Legacy stats	-tulnp	netstat -tulnp
traceroute	Route trace	-	traceroute google.com
tracepath	Trace path	-	tracepath google.com
nslookup	DNS lookup	-	nslookup google.com
dig	DNS query	-	dig google.com
tcpdump	Packet capture	-i	tcpdump -i eth0
nmap	Port scan	-	nmap localhost
arp	ARP table	-a	arp -a
route	Routing table	-n	route -n
nmcli	NetworkManager	-	nmcli dev status
iw	WiFi config	-	iw dev
iwconfig	Wireless legacy	-	iwconfig
bluetoothctl	Bluetooth	-	bluetoothctl
ssh	Remote shell	-i	ssh user@host
scp	Secure copy	-r	scp a host:/tmp
rsync	File sync	-avz	rsync -avz a b
ftp	FTP client	-	ftp host
sftp	Secure FTP	-	sftp host
nc	Netcat	-	nc -l 8080
socat	Socket relay	-	socat TCP-LISTEN:80 STDOUT
ufw	Firewall	allow	ufw allow 22
iptables	Firewall rules	-	iptables -L

User Commands

Command	Description	Options	Example
whoami	Current user	-	whoami
id	User ID	-	id
who	Logged users	-	who
w	Who is logged	-	w
last	Login history	-	last
lastlog	Last login	-	lastlog
su	Switch user	-	su -
sudo	Run as root	-	sudo cmd
adduser	Add user	-	adduser test
deluser	Delete user	-	deluser test
passwd	Change password	-	passwd user
groups	User groups	-	groups
usermod	Modify user	-aG	usermod -aG sudo user
login	Login shell	-	login
logout	Logout shell	-	logout
chsh	Change shell	-	chsh user
ulimit	Resource limits	-a	ulimit -a
crontab	Schedule jobs	-e	crontab -e
at	One-time job	-	at now+1min

Package Commands

Command	Description	Options	Example
apt	Package manager	-	apt install nginx
apt-get	Legacy apt	-	apt-get update
apt-cache	APT cache	-	apt-cache search nginx
dpkg	Deb tool	-i	dpkg -i a.deb
snap	Snap packages	-	snap list
snapctl	Snap control	-	snapctl services
flatpak	Flatpak mgr	-	flatpak list

Archive Commands

Command	Description	Options	Example
tar	Archive files	-czf	tar -czf a.tgz dir
gzip	Compress file	-	gzip f
gunzip	Decompress	-	gunzip f.gz
zcat	View gzip	-	zcat f.gz
zip	Zip files	-r	zip -r a.zip dir
unzip	Extract zip	-	unzip a.zip
7z	7zip archive	a x	7z x a.7z
ar	Archive tool	-	ar x a.a
cpio	Copy IO	-	cpio -id