Linux Commands Cheatsheet - Complete Command Reference Guide 2025

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Master Linux with our comprehensive command reference. Search, learn, and use over 500+ Linux commands with examples and syntax guides.

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File Operations

ls

List directory contents

ls [options] [directory]
cd

Change directory

cd [directory]
cp

Copy files and directories

cp [options] source destination
mv

Move/rename files and directories

mv [options] source destination
rm

Remove files or directories

rm [options] file(s)
mkdir

Make directories

mkdir [options] directory
chmod

Change file permissions

chmod [options] mode file(s)
chown

Change file owner and group

chown [options] owner[:group] file(s)
ln

Create links between files

ln [options] target link_name
find

Search for files in directory hierarchy

find [path] [expression]
touch

Create empty files or update timestamps

touch [options] file(s)
stat

Display file status information

stat [options] file(s)
mount

Mount filesystems

mount [options] [device] [directory]

Text Processing

cat

Concatenate and display files

cat [options] file(s)
grep

Search text using patterns

grep [options] pattern [file(s)]
sed

Stream editor for filtering and transforming text

sed [options] 'command' [file(s)]
awk

Pattern scanning and text processing

awk [options] 'program' [file(s)]
sort

Sort lines of text files

sort [options] [file(s)]
cut

Remove sections from lines of files

cut [options] [file]
tr

Translate or delete characters

tr [options] set1 set2
wc

Count lines, words, and bytes

wc [options] [file(s)]

Process Management

ps

Report process status

ps [options]
top

Display system processes

top [options]
kill

Terminate processes

kill [options] pid(s)
nice

Run program with modified scheduling priority

nice [option] command
nohup

Run command immune to hangups

nohup command [args]

Network Operations

ping

Send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST to network hosts

ping [options] destination
ssh

OpenSSH SSH client

ssh [options] [user@]hostname [command]
scp

Secure copy (remote file copy program)

scp [options] source destination
netstat

Network statistics

netstat [options]
curl

Transfer data from or to a server

curl [options] url
wget

Non-interactive network downloader

wget [options] url
dig

DNS lookup utility

dig [@server] [name] [type]
traceroute

Print network path to host

traceroute [options] host

System Administration

systemctl

Control the systemd system and service manager

systemctl [options] command [name]
journalctl

Query the systemd journal

journalctl [options]
useradd

Create a new user

useradd [options] username
crontab

Schedule periodic jobs

crontab [options] [file]
passwd

Change user password

passwd [options] [username]

Package Management

apt

Advanced Package Tool (Debian/Ubuntu)

apt [options] command
yum

Yellowdog Updater Modified (RHEL/CentOS)

yum [options] command
dpkg

Debian Package Management System

dpkg [options] action

Disk Operations

df

Report file system disk space usage

df [options]
du

Estimate file space usage

du [options] [file(s)]
fdisk

Manipulate disk partition table

fdisk [options] device
lsblk

List block devices

lsblk [options]
mkfs

Create filesystem

mkfs [options] device

Security & Permissions

sudo

Execute command as another user

sudo [options] command
openssl

OpenSSL command line tool

openssl command [options]
fail2ban

Ban hosts that cause multiple authentication errors

fail2ban-client [options] command
ufw

Uncomplicated Firewall

ufw [options] command
getenforce

SELinux enforcement status

getenforce

Container Operations

docker

Docker container operations

docker [options] command
podman

Pod Manager tool

podman [options] command

System Monitoring

htop

Interactive process viewer

htop [options]
iotop

Simple top-like I/O monitor

iotop [options]
vmstat

Report virtual memory statistics

vmstat [options] [delay [count]]
lsof

List open files

lsof [options]
free

Display memory usage

free [options]

Backup & Recovery

rsync

Fast, versatile file copying tool

rsync [options] source destination
tar

Tape archiving utility

tar [options] [archive] [file(s)]
dd

Convert and copy a file

dd [operands]

System Boot

grub2-mkconfig

Generate GRUB configuration

grub2-mkconfig [options]
systemd-analyze

Analyze system boot-up performance

systemd-analyze [options] command

Media Processing

ffmpeg

Multimedia framework for handling video/audio

ffmpeg [options] input output
imagemagick

Image manipulation tools

convert [options] input output

Version Control

git

Distributed version control system

git [options] command
svn

Subversion version control

svn [options] command

Performance Analysis

strace

Trace system calls and signals

strace [options] command
perf

Performance analysis tools

perf [options] command

Database Management

mysql

MySQL database client

mysql [options] [database]
postgresql

PostgreSQL database management

psql [options] [dbname]

Virtualization

virsh

Manage virtual machines

virsh [options] command domain
virt-install

Provision new virtual machines

virt-install [options]

Log Analysis

logrotate

Rotate and compress log files

logrotate [options] config
goaccess

Real-time web log analyzer

goaccess [options] log_file

Service Discovery

consul

Service networking platform

consul [command]
eureka

Service registry

eureka [options]

Networking Advanced

tcpdump

Network packet analyzer

tcpdump [options] [expression]
iptables

Administration tool for IPv4 packet filtering

iptables [options] command chain rule
ip

Network configuration tool

ip [options] object command
nftables

Modern packet filtering

nft [options]

Load Balancing

haproxy

High availability load balancer

haproxy [options]
nginx

HTTP and reverse proxy server

nginx [options]

Archive & Compression

zip

Package and compress files

zip [options] archive files
gzip

Compress or expand files

gzip [options] file(s)
7z

7-Zip file archiver

7z [options] command archive files

Hardware Information

lscpu

Display CPU information

lscpu [options]
lsusb

List USB devices

lsusb [options]
dmidecode

DMI table decoder

dmidecode [options]

Scheduling & Jobs

cron

Schedule periodic tasks

crontab [options]
at

Execute commands at specified time

at [options] time

Performance Tuning

sysctl

Configure kernel parameters

sysctl [options] [variable[=value]]
nice

Run with modified scheduling priority

nice [options] command

User Environment

env

Display environment variables

env [options] [name=value] [command]
locale

Get locale-specific information

locale [options]

Authentication & Access

pam

Pluggable Authentication Modules

pam [module] [type] [control] [arguments]
auth

Authentication key management

auth [options] command

SSL/TLS Management

certbot

Automated SSL/TLS certificate management

certbot [options] command
keytool

Key and certificate management tool

keytool [options]

File System Management

mkfs

Build a Linux filesystem

mkfs [options] device
tune2fs

Adjust tunable filesystem parameters

tune2fs [options] device
lvm

Logical Volume Management

lvm [command]

SELinux Management

semanage

SELinux policy management tool

semanage [options] command
sestatus

SELinux status tool

sestatus [options]

Network Diagnostics

mtr

Network diagnostic tool

mtr [options] host
dig

DNS lookup utility

dig [options] name type

Container Orchestration

kubectl

Kubernetes command-line tool

kubectl [command] [type] [name] [flags]
helm

Kubernetes package manager

helm [command] [chart]

System Audit

auditd

Linux Audit daemon

auditd [options]
acct

Process accounting

acct [options]

Cloud Tools

aws

AWS Command Line Interface

aws [options] command
gcloud

Google Cloud Platform CLI

gcloud [group] [command]
az

Azure Command Line Interface

az [group] [command]

Debugging Tools

gdb

GNU Debugger

gdb [options] [program]
valgrind

Memory debugging tool

valgrind [options] program

Service Management

supervisord

Process control system

supervisord [options]
pm2

Process Manager for Node.js

pm2 [options] command

Storage Management

ceph

Distributed storage system

ceph [options] command
gluster

Scale-out filesystem

gluster [command]

Certificate Management

openssl

OpenSSL certificate toolkit

openssl command [options]

DNS Management

nslookup

Query DNS servers

nslookup [options] name [server]
host

DNS lookup utility

host [options] name [server]

Mail & Messaging

postfix

Mail server configuration

postfix [options] command
mutt

Text-based mail client

mutt [options]

Time Management

timedatectl

Control system time and date

timedatectl [options] command
chronyd

NTP client/server

chronyd [options]

Code Analysis

splint

C program verifier

splint [options] files
clang-tidy

C/C++ linter

clang-tidy [options] files

Build Tools

make

Build automation tool

make [options] [target]
cmake

Cross-platform build system

cmake [options] source-dir

Security Scanning

nmap

Network security scanner

nmap [options] target
nikto

Web server scanner

nikto [options] -h target

Remote Management

ansible

IT automation system

ansible [options] pattern
salt

Configuration management

salt [options] target command

Memory Management

vmstat

Virtual memory statistics

vmstat [options] [delay [count]]
swapon

Swap space management

swapon [options] [device]

Kernel Management

modprobe

Add/remove kernel modules

modprobe [options] module
sysctl

Kernel parameter management

sysctl [options] [parameter]

High Availability

pacemaker

Cluster resource manager

pcs [options] command
corosync

Cluster engine

corosync [options]

Monitoring & Metrics

prometheus

Monitoring system

prometheus [flags]
collectd

System statistics collection

collectd [options]

Network Tunneling

wireguard

VPN tunnel configuration

wg [options] command
openvpn

VPN tunnel daemon

openvpn [options] [config]

Identity Management

freeipa

Identity management system

ipa [command]
sssd

System Security Services Daemon

sssd [options]

Load Testing

ab

Apache HTTP server benchmarking

ab [options] URL
siege

HTTP load testing

siege [options] [url]

Configuration Management

puppet

Infrastructure automation

puppet [options] action
chef

Configuration management

chef [options] command

Container Runtime

containerd

Container runtime

ctr [options] command
cri-o

Kubernetes container runtime

crictl [options] command

Database Optimization

mysqltuner

MySQL performance advisor

mysqltuner [options]
pgbench

PostgreSQL benchmark tool

pgbench [options] [dbname]

Message Queues

rabbitmqctl

RabbitMQ management tool

rabbitmqctl [options] command
kafka

Apache Kafka management

kafka-topics [options]

Search & Indexing

elasticsearch

Elasticsearch operations

curl [options] endpoint
solr

Apache Solr management

solr [command]

Machine Learning Tools

conda

Package management for ML

conda [options] command
jupyter

Interactive computing

jupyter [options] command

Network QoS

tc

Traffic control

tc [options] command
wondershaper

Traffic shaping tool

wondershaper [options] interface

Storage Replication

drbd

Distributed storage replication

drbdadm [options] command
rsnapshot

Filesystem snapshot utility

rsnapshot [options] command

API Management

kong

API Gateway management

kong [options] command
swagger

API documentation tool

swagger [command]

Backup Verification

bacula

Backup verification system

bconsole [options]
restic

Backup program verification

restic [options] command

System Recovery

systemrescue

System rescue toolkit

sysresccd [options]
fsck

Filesystem check

fsck [options] device

Compliance Tools

openscap

Security compliance checker

oscap [module] command
lynis

Security auditing tool

lynis [options] command

Network Automation

ansible

Network automation platform

ansible-network [options]
nornir

Network automation framework

nornir [options]

Storage Encryption

cryptsetup

Disk encryption tool

cryptsetup [options] command
veracrypt

Disk encryption utility

veracrypt [options]

Service Mesh

istio

Service mesh platform

istioctl [command]
linkerd

Ultralight service mesh

linkerd [command]

Log Management

logstash

Log processing pipeline

logstash [options]
fluentd

Data collector

fluentd [options]

Infrastructure Testing

terraform

Infrastructure testing

terraform [command]
inspec

Infrastructure spec testing

inspec [command]

Cloud Native Tools

helm

Kubernetes package manager

helm [command]
argocd

GitOps continuous delivery

argocd [command]

Access Control

keycloak

Identity and access management

kcadm.sh [command]
authelia

Authentication server

authelia [command]

Performance Profiling

perf

Performance analysis tool

perf [command]
flame

Flamegraph generator

flamegraph.pl [options]

Distributed Systems

zookeeper

Distributed coordination

zkCli.sh [options]
etcd

Key-value store

etcdctl [command]

Monitoring Tools

grafana

Metrics visualization

grafana-cli [command]
prometheus

Metrics collection

promtool [command]

GitOps Tools

flux

GitOps toolkit

flux [command]
jenkinsx

Cloud native CI/CD

jx [command]

Serverless Tools

serverless

Serverless framework

serverless [options]
openfaas

Functions as a service

faas-cli [command]

Network Security

snort

Network intrusion detection

snort [options]
suricata

Network security monitor

suricata [options]

Application Performance

arthas

Java diagnostics tool

arthas [command]
jmeter

Load testing tool

jmeter [options]

Container Security

trivy

Container vulnerability scanner

trivy [options] target
falco

Runtime security

falco [options]

Infrastructure Automation

terraform

Infrastructure as code

terraform [command]
pulumi

Modern infrastructure as code

pulumi [command]

Site Reliability

chaos-mesh

Chaos engineering platform

chaos-mesh [command]
litmus

Chaos engineering toolkit

litmusctl [command]

Data Pipeline Tools

airflow

Workflow orchestration

airflow [command]
nifi

Data flow automation

nifi [command]

Edge Computing

k3s

Lightweight Kubernetes

k3s [command]
edgex

Edge computing framework

edgex [command]

Observability Tools

jaeger

Distributed tracing

jaeger [command]
datadog

Monitoring and analytics

datadog-agent [command]

Pipeline Security

snyk

Security scanning

snyk [command]
anchore

Container security

anchore-cli [command]

Low-Level System Tools

strace

System call tracer

strace [options] command
ltrace

Library call tracer

ltrace [options] command
sysdig

System exploration and troubleshooting

sysdig [options]

High Availability Tools

heartbeat

Node availability monitoring

heartbeat [options]
keepalived

Load balancing and high-availability

keepalived [options]

Caching Systems

redis-cli

Redis command line interface

redis-cli [options] [command]
memcached

Memory caching system

memcached [options]

Event Streaming

kafka

Distributed streaming platform

kafka-topics.sh [options]
rabbitmq

Message broker

rabbitmqctl [command]

AI/ML Operations

kubeflow

Machine learning toolkit for Kubernetes

kfctl [command]
mlflow

Machine learning lifecycle platform

mlflow [command]

Database Replication

pgpool

PostgreSQL connection pooling/replication

pgpool [options]
galera

MySQL/MariaDB synchronous replication

galera_new_cluster

Network Optimization

netdata

Real-time performance monitoring

netdata [options]
bmon

Bandwidth monitor

bmon [options]

Cluster Management

rancher

Container management platform

rancher [command]
openshift

Enterprise Kubernetes platform

oc [command]

Security Hardening

apparmor

Application security system

apparmor_parser [options]
auditd

System audit daemon

auditctl [options]

Visualization Tools

kibana

Data visualization platform

kibana [options]
grafana

Metrics visualization

grafana-server [options]

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