Linux Top 50 Most Used Commands!

Subh Dhungana
5 min readJul 28, 2023

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In this article, I’m going to share linux most used commands based on my experience. I’m going too list down the most used commands in unix terminal that I often use it.

Commands name would be listed in this article with its meaning, use case, example and syntax each.

  1. ls
  • Meaning: List files and directories.
  • Uses: Display the contents of a directory.
  • Example: ls /home/user/documents
  • Syntax: ls [options] [directory]

2. cd

  • Meaning: Change the current working directory.
  • Uses: Move between directories.
  • Example: cd /var/log
  • Syntax: cd [directory]

3. pwd

  • Meaning: Print the current working directory.
  • Uses: Display the path of the current directory.
  • Example: pwd
  • Syntax: pwd

4. mkdir

  • Meaning: Make a new directory.
  • Uses: Create a new directory in the current location.
  • Example: mkdir new_directory
  • Syntax: mkdir [directory_name]

5. rmdir

  • Meaning: Remove an empty directory.
  • Uses: Delete a directory that is empty.
  • Example: rmdir empty_directory
  • Syntax: rmdir [directory_name]

6. cp

  • Meaning: Copy files or directories.
  • Uses: Duplicate files or move them to a different location.
  • Example: cp file.txt /destination
  • Syntax: cp [source] [destination]

7. mv

  • Meaning: Move or rename files or directories.
  • Uses: Move files to a different location or rename them.
  • Example: mv file.txt new_file.txt
  • Syntax: mv [source] [destination]

8. rm

  • Meaning: Remove files or directories.
  • Uses: Delete files or directories permanently.
  • Example: rm file.txt
  • Syntax: rm [file]

9. cat

  • Meaning: Concatenate and display file content.
  • Uses: Display the contents of a file.
  • Example: cat file.txt
  • Syntax: cat [file]

10. more

  • Meaning: View file content page by page.
  • Uses: Display large file contents interactively.
  • Example: more big_file.txt
  • Syntax: more [file]

11. less

  • Meaning: View file content with backward navigation.
  • Uses: Display file contents with interactive scrolling and search capabilities.
  • Example: less long_log_file.txt
  • Syntax: less [file]

12. head

  • Meaning: Display the beginning lines of a file.
  • Uses: Show the first few lines of a file.
  • Example: head -n 5 file.txt
  • Syntax: head [options] [file]

13. tail

  • Meaning: Display the last lines of a file.
  • Uses: Show the last few lines of a file (e.g., log files).
  • Example: tail -n 10 log.txt
  • Syntax: tail [options] [file]

14. grep

  • Meaning: Search for patterns in files.
  • Uses: Find specific text patterns in files.
  • Example: grep "error" log.txt
  • Syntax: grep [options] "pattern" [file]

15. find

  • Meaning: Search for files and directories.
  • Uses: Locate files based on various criteria (e.g., name, size, type).
  • Example: find /path/to/search -name "*.txt"
  • Syntax: find [starting_directory] [options] [expression]

16. chmod

  • Meaning: Change file permissions.
  • Uses: Modify file permissions (read, write, execute) for users and groups.
  • Example: chmod 644 file.txt
  • Syntax: chmod [permission] [file]

17. chown

  • Meaning: Change file ownership.
  • Uses: Change the owner and group of a file.
  • Example: chown user:group file.txt
  • Syntax: chown [user]:[group] [file]

18. ps

  • Meaning: Display information about running processes.
  • Uses: Show a list of active processes.
  • Example: ps -ef
  • Syntax: ps [options]

19. top

  • Meaning: Monitor system processes in real-time.
  • Uses: View dynamic process information and system resource usage.
  • Example: top
  • Syntax: top

20. kill

  • Meaning: Terminate a process.
  • Uses: End a running process by sending a signal.
  • Example: kill PID
  • Syntax: kill [signal] [PID]

21. ping

  • Meaning: Test network connectivity to a host.
  • Uses: Check if a remote host is reachable.
  • Example: ping google.com
  • Syntax: ping [host]

22. ifconfig

  • Meaning: Configure network interfaces (deprecated in some systems).
  • Uses: Display and configure network interface settings.
  • Example: ifconfig eth0 up
  • Syntax: ifconfig [interface] [options]

23. ip

  • Meaning: Configure network interfaces (modern replacement for ifconfig).
  • Uses: Manage and display network interface information.
  • Example: ip addr show
  • Syntax: ip [options] [object] [command]

24. ssh

  • Meaning: Securely connect to a remote server.
  • Uses: Establish a secure shell connection to a remote host.
  • Example: ssh user@remote_host
  • Syntax: ssh [user]@[host]

25. scp

  • Meaning: Securely copy files between local and remote hosts.
  • Uses: Transfer files securely between two hosts.
  • Example: scp file.txt user@remote_host:/path
  • Syntax: scp [options] [source] [user]@[host]:[destination]

26. tar

  • Meaning: Archive files into a tarball.
  • Uses: Compress multiple files and directories into a single archive file.
  • Example: tar -cvzf archive.tar.gz files/
  • Syntax: tar [options] [archive_file] [files/directories]

27. untar

  • Meaning: Extract files from a tarball.
  • Uses: Decompress and extract files from a tarball archive.
  • Example: tar -xvzf archive.tar.gz
  • Syntax: tar [options] [archive_file]

28. zip

  • Meaning: Create a zip archive.
  • Uses: Compress files and directories into a zip file.
  • Example: zip archive.zip files/
  • Syntax: zip [options] [archive_name] [files/directories]

29. unzip

  • Meaning: Extract files from a zip archive.
  • Uses: Decompress and extract files from a zip archive.
  • Example: unzip archive.zip
  • Syntax: unzip [options] [archive_file]

30. df

  • Meaning: Display disk space usage of file systems.
  • Uses: Show the disk space usage of all mounted file systems.
  • Example: df -h
  • Syntax: df [options]

31. du

  • Meaning: Estimate file and directory space usage.
  • Uses: Calculate the size of files and directories.
  • Example: du -sh directory/
  • Syntax: du [options] [file/directory]

32. free

  • Meaning: Display system memory usage.
  • Uses: Show the system’s free and used memory.
  • Example: free -h
  • Syntax: free [options]

33. uptime

  • Meaning: Display the system’s uptime.
  • Uses: Show how long the system has been running.
  • Example: uptime
  • Syntax: uptime

34. date

  • Meaning: Display or set the system date and time.
  • Uses: View or set the current date and time.
  • Example: date
  • Syntax: date [options]

35. cal

  • Meaning: Display the calendar.
  • Uses: Show the current month’s calendar.
  • Example: cal
  • Syntax: cal [options]

36. history

  • Meaning: Display command history.
  • Uses: Show a list of previously executed commands.
  • Example: history
  • Syntax: history [options]

37. man

  • Meaning: Display the manual page for a command.
  • Uses: Get detailed documentation for a command.
  • Example: man ls
  • Syntax: man [command]

38. alias

  • Meaning: Create a custom command alias.
  • Uses: Set a shortcut for frequently used commands.
  • Example: alias ll='ls -l'
  • Syntax: alias [alias_name]='[command_with_options]'

39. echo

  • Meaning: Display a message.
  • Uses: Output a message or variable value.
  • Example: echo "Hello, World!"
  • Syntax: echo [message]

40. wc

  • Meaning: Count lines, words, and characters in a file.
  • Uses: Calculate the number of lines, words, and characters in a file.
  • Example: wc file.txt
  • Syntax: wc [options] [file]

41. cut

  • Meaning: Remove sections from each line of a file.
  • Uses: Extract specific columns from a file.
  • Example: cut -d',' -f2 file.csv
  • Syntax: cut [options] [file]

42. sort

  • Meaning: Sort lines of text files.
  • Uses: Arrange lines in alphabetical or numerical order.
  • Example: sort file.txt
  • Syntax: sort [options] [file]

43. grep

  • Meaning: Search for patterns in files.
  • Uses: Find specific text patterns in files.
  • Example: grep "error" log.txt
  • Syntax: grep [options] "pattern" [file]

44. find

  • Meaning: Search for files and directories.
  • Uses: Locate files based on various criteria (e.g., name, size, type).
  • Example: find /path/to/search -name "*.txt"
  • Syntax: find [starting_directory] [options] [expression]

45. wc

  • Meaning: Count lines, words, and characters in a file.
  • Uses: Calculate the number of lines, words, and characters in a file.
  • Example: wc file.txt
  • Syntax: wc [options] [file]

46. grep

  • Meaning: Search for patterns in files.
  • Uses: Find specific text patterns in files.
  • Example: grep "error" log.txt
  • Syntax: grep [options] "pattern" [file]

47. find

  • Meaning: Search for files and directories.
  • Uses: Locate files based on various criteria (e.g., name, size, type).
  • Example: find /path/to/search -name "*.txt"
  • Syntax: find [starting_directory] [options] [expression]

48. chmod

  • Meaning: Change file permissions.
  • Uses: Modify file permissions (read, write, execute) for users and groups.
  • Example: chmod 644 file.txt
  • Syntax: chmod [permission] [file]

49. chown

  • Meaning: Change file ownership.
  • Uses: Change the owner and group of a file.
  • Example: chown user:group file.txt
  • Syntax: chown [user]:[group] [file]

50. ps

  • Meaning: Display information about running processes.
  • Uses: Show a list of active processes.
  • Example: ps -ef
  • Syntax: ps [options]

Thank You For Reading!

By Shubham Dhungana

Cyber Security Researcher

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Subh Dhungana
Subh Dhungana

Written by Subh Dhungana

Offensive Side | Bug Bounty Hunter | Programmer Having Affair With Cyber Sec