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This is a compilation of my Ubuntu and Debian commands I consider useful.
pwd
Print name of current/working directory.ls path
List directory contents (definition of path and wildcards in computing).cd path
Change directory.man command
Display summary information of a command.command --help
Display short summary information of a command.command -h
Another way to display short summary information of a command.info command
Display detailed manual of a command. Only works for some commands.cp source_path destination_path
Copy a file.cp -r source_path destination_path
Copy a directory.mv source_path destination_path
Move and/or rename files and directories.mkdir path
Make empty directories.rm path
Remove a file.rm -r path
Remove a directory.ln source_path destination_path
Create a hard link of a file.ln -s source_path destination_path
Create a symbolic link of a file.nano path_text_file
Edit a text file. Nano is a simple text editor.echo 'text'
Display a line of text.echo $PATH
Show the content of the variable PATH.cat
Concatenate files and print on the standard output.head path_file
Print the first 10 lines of a text file.tail path_file
Print the last 10 lines of a text file.more path_file
Visualize the contents of a text file.less path_file
Visualize the contents of a text file with more features.grep pattern path_file
Print lines of a text file that match a pattern.locate pattern
Search and print files and folders that match a pattern: , sudo updatedb
.file path
Print file type.stat path
Print detailed information about a file or directory.wc path_file
Print newline, word, and byte counts of a text file.ldd path_executable
Print shared library dependencies of a dynamic executable.diff --color path_file_A path_file_B
Compare two text files line by line.sudo command
Execute a command as the superuser (enable sudo on Debian).su username
Change user ID.su
or su root
Become superuser.command1 && command2 && commandN
Execute multiple commands (AND).command &
Execute a command in the background../executable
Run an executable in the current directory that is not in your PATH.bash script.sh
Run a Bash script (executable with the header #!/bin/bash
).command_A | command_B
Redirect standard output of command A to standard input of command B.command > file
Redirect standard output of a command to a new file.command 2> file
Redirect standard error of a command to a new file.command &> file
Redirect standard or error output of a command to a new file.command >> file
Append standard output of a command to a file.command 2>> file
Append standard error of a command to a file.command &&> file
Append standard or error output of a command to a file.Tab
Autocomplete files, folders, commands, packages, etc.Tab
+ Tab
List all available files, folders, commands, packages, etc.↑
Go to previous command.↓
Go to next command.Ctrl
+ R
Search through previously used commands.Ctrl
+ C
Terminate the current process (SIGINT).Ctrl
+ Z
Suspend the current process (SIGTSTP).sudo apt-get install ./package.deb
Install a local .deb package.sudo apt-get install package
Install a package from the repository.sudo apt-get purge package
Uninstall a package from the repository.sudo apt-get update
Resynchronize the package index files from their sources.sudo apt-get upgrade
Install the newest versions of all packages currently installed.sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
Handle changing dependencies with new versions of packages.sudo apt-get autoremove
Remove packages that are no longer needed.ps
Display the running processes of the current terminal of the current user.ps -e
Display all running processes.pstree
Show running processes as a tree.kill
Send a signal to a process.kill -9 PID
Kill a process given their PID.top
Dynamic real-time viewer of processes.htop
Interactive process viewer (install it with sudo apt-get install htop
).id username
Print real and effective user and group IDs.who
Print information about users who are currently logged in.whoami
Print the username associated with the current effective user ID.chmod
Change file mode bits.umask
Set file mode creation mask.chown
Change file owner and group.chgrp
Change group ownership.lsblk
List block devices.df -H
Report file system disk space usage.du -hs path_folder
Report disk space usage of a folder.sudo mount device_path destination_path
Mount a filesystem.sudo umount mounted_device_path
Unmount a filesystem.sudo mkfs.vfat -I /dev/sdx -n NAME && sync
Format disk x to VFAT.sudo mkfs.vfat -I /dev/sdxY -n NAME && sync
Format partition Y from disk x to VFAT.sudo dd bs=512K if=input.iso of=/dev/sdx && sync
Burn an ISO file to a disk.sudo gdisk /dev/sdx
GPT editor for disk x (install it with sudo apt-get install gdisk
).Execute sudo apt-get install p7zip-full
or yum install p7zip
to install 7-Zip.
7z x path_zip_file
Extract a ZIP file.7z x path_iso_file
Extract an ISO file.7z a filename.zip path_folder
Compress a directory in a ZIP file.ssh user@server
Log in to a shell of a remote host by SSH.ssh user@server -X
Log in to a shell of a remote host with X11 forwarding by SSH.scp user@host:path_remote_file path_local
Copy a file from a remote host to local host.scp path_local_file user@host:path_remote
Copy a file from a local host to remote host.scp -r user@host:path_folder path_local
Copy a folder from a remote host to local host.scp -r path_folder user@host:path_remote
Copy a folder from a local host to remote host.wget URL
Retrieves a file from the web.wavemon
Wireless network monitor (install it with sudo apt-get install wavemon
).ip
Sshow and manipulate routing, network devices, interfaces and tunnels.find .
Find files and folders recursively in current directory.find . -name *.png -exec cp '{}' ~/images \;
Copy all PNG files to ~/images folder.find . -name *.txt -exec mv '{}' ./txt \;
Move all TXT files to ./txt folder.find . -name .svn -prune -exec rm -r '{}' \;
Delete all .svn folders.find . -type f -exec file '{}' \;
Run files.Execute sudo apt-get install git
or yum install git
to install Git.
git clone uri_repository.git
Clone a repository into a new directory.git pull
Incorporates changes from a remote repository into the current branch.git status
Show the working tree status.git add .
Update the index using the current content found in the working tree.git commit -m 'message'
Record changes to the repository.git push
Update remote references (refs) along with associated objects.Run sudo apt-get install subversion
or yum install subversion
to install SVN.
svnadmin create repository_name
Create new repository.svn co svn+ssh://user@server/path_to_repository
Checkout.svn update
Update working copy.svn status
Get status of current copy.svn add *
Add all items recursively.svn add item_name
Add an item (if folder, adds recursively).svn delete item_name
Delete an item (if folder, deletes recursively).svn commit -m 'message'
Commit with log message.Run sudo apt-get install ffmpeg
to install FFmpeg.
ffmpeg -loop 1 -i 01.png -t 5 out.mp4
Convert image to 5 sec. video.ffmpeg -f concat -i mylist.txt -c copy out.mp4
Concatenate videos.ffmpeg -r 3 -i %02d.png -r 30 out.mp4
15 images to 30 Hz 5 sec. video.ffmpeg -i input.webm -s 1280x720 out.webm
Resize video to 720p.ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -vf 'fade=in:0:25, fade=out:975:25' out.mp4
Fade in and out.Run sudo apt-get install screen
or yum install screen
to install Screen.
screen
Create a screen session.Ctrl
+ A
then D
Detach from the current screen session.screen -ls
List the screen session identification strings.screen -r session_id_string
Reattach to a screen session.exit
, or Ctrl
+ A
then :quit
Terminate the current screen session.Ctrl
+ A
then Esc
then ↑
/↓
/PgUp
/PgDn
Scroll up/down during session.Run sudo apt-get install pdftk
to install PDFtk.
pdftk *.pdf cat output out.pdf
Join all PDF files into a new PDF file.pdftk in1.pdf in2.pdf in3.pdf cat output out.pdf
Join 3 PDF files.pdftk in.pdf cat 1 25-35 end output out.pdf
Extract pages from a PDF.Many of the descriptions of the commands are from their manual pages.
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