Linux terminal cheat sheet

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  • Apache

  • Start Apache:$ service apache2 start
  • Restart Apache:$ service apache2 restart

  • Archive and compress

  • Archive to tar: $ tar -cvf archive.tar dir_to_archive/
  • Extract from tar: $ tar -xvf archive.tar
  • Compress to gzip: $ tar -czvf archive.tar.gz dir_to_compress/
  • Extract from gzip: $ tar -xzvf archive.tar.gz
  • Archive to zip: $ zip -r archive.zip dir_to_archive/
  • Extract from zip: $ unzip archive.zip

  • Files and directories

  • Create a file: $ touch file_name
  • Copy file to directory: $ cp file to_dir/
  • Rename file: $ mv original_name new_name
  • Move file to directory: $ mv file_name some_dir/file_name
  • Delete file: $ rm file_name
  • Clear file content w/o deleting: $ truncate -s 0 file_name
  • Create a directory: $ mkdir dir_name/
  • Recursive make dir: $ mkdir -p dir_name/
  • Copy directory A to directory B: $ cp -r dir_A/ dir_B/
  • Move directory A to directory B: $ mv -r dir_A/ dir_B/
  • Move the content of directory A to directory B: $ mv -rv dir_A/* dir_B/
  • Compare directories, only showing the names of files that differ: $ diff --side-by-side dir_A dir_B
  • Delete directory recursively: $ rm -r dir_name
  • Force directory deletion: $ rm -rf dir_name
  • Delte directories older than x dats: $ find dir_name/* -mtime +x -exec rm -rf {} \;
  • Download file to dir: $ wget https://example.com/file-name dir-name
  • Open directory in the file manager: $ gnome-open dir-name/

  • Keyboard shortcuts

  • Open terminal: Ctrl+Alt+T
  • Tab completion: tab, tab X 2
  • Switch windows: Alt+Tab
  • Switch languages: Sup+Space
  • Previous commands: up arrow
  • Recent commands: Ctrl+R
  • Kill process: Ctrl+C
  • Exit session: Ctrl+D
  • Copy: Ctrl+Shift+C
  • Clear the terminal: Ctrl+L
  • Repeat last command: !!
  • Suspend process: Ctrl+Z
  • Paste: Ctrl+Shift+V
  • Hide the history: CTRL+L

  • Navigate

  • Where am I? $ pwd
  • Navigate to home: $ ~
  • Navigate to directory: $ cd [directory_name]
  • Navigate back to the last dir: $ cd -

  • Network

  • Ping a domain by ip: $ ping ip
  • Get whois information for domain: $ whois domain
  • Connect a remote server: $ ssh -l domain-user example.com

  • List directory contents

  • Detailed list: $ ls -l
  • Including hidden: $ ls -a
  • List by time: $ ls -t

  • Package management

  • Install a Debian package: $ sudo dpkg -i [package.deb]
  • Remove Debian package: $ sudo dpkg -r [package]
  • Install packge: $ yum install package_name
  • Show package data: $ yum info package_name
  • Uninstall package: $ yum remove package_name
  • Install a specific package: $ apt-get install package_name
  • Install multiple packages: $ apt-get install package1 package2
  • Update the package list: $ apt update
  • Upgrade the package list: $ apt-get upgrade
  • Update and upgrade without asking: $ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade --yes
  • Update; upgrade (even if update fails): $ sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get upgrade
  • Upgrade specific package: $ apt-get upgrade package_name
  • Clean your system: $ apt-get autoremove
  • Uninstall package: $ apt remove --assume-yes package_name
  • Remove PPA: $ add-apt-repository --remove ppa:[ppa_name]

  • Permissions

  • Set privileges recursively: $ chmod -R 755 dir
  • Set privileges on a file: $ chmod 644 file
  • Set ownership on a file: $ chown username:group file
  • Set user on a file: $ chown username file
  • Set group on a file: $ chown :group file
  • Set ownership recursively: $ chown -R username:group directory

  • Process management

  • Show active processes: $ ps
  • Show the hierarchy of the commands: $ ps f
  • Show active processes by pattern: $ ps ax | grep pattern
  • Show jobs status: $ jobs
  • Bring a job into the foreground: $ fg %n
  • Send a job into the background: $ bg %n
  • Show the top processes: $ top
  • Monitor all traffic on HTTP (port 80): $ tcpdump -i eth0 'port 80'
  • Kill process safely by pid: $ kill pid
  • Dirty killing (if nothing else works): $ kill -9 pid
  • Suspended a process (Ctrl+Z): $ kill -20 pid
  • Restart a suspended process: $ kill -18 pid
  • Kill all processes by pattern: $ pkill -f pattern

  • Read files

  • Read a file: $ cat filename
  • Read n first lines of file: $ cat -n filename
  • Read while showing the line numbers: $ nl filename
  • Read in reverse order: $ tac filename
  • Count lines, words, characters: $ wc filename
  • Show the first lines: $ head filename
  • Show the last lines: $ tail filename
  • Show lines matching pattern: $ cat filename | grep {pattern}
  • Watch the last lines as they update: $ tail -f filename
  • Put in alphabetical order: $ sort filename
  • Filter out non unique lines: $ sort filename | uniq
  • Read a file with pagination: $ less filename

  • Search

  • Find files and directories by name: $ locate name
  • Find files in /home that start with "ax": $ find /home/ -name 'ax*'
  • Find file in /home by type: $ find /home -name '*.txt'
  • Find files in /home larger than 30MB: $ find /home/ -size +30M
  • Linux find command tutorial
  • Search for pattern in file: $ grep pattern file
  • Search recursively for pattern in dir: $ grep -r pattern directory
  • Find string within a file: grep 'str' file_name
  • Find string within multiple files: grep 'str' file1 file2 file3
  • Find multiple strings within a file: grep 'str1 str2' file1 file2 file3
  • Recursive search: grep -r 'str' /path/to/dir/
  • Recursive search: grep -d recurse 'str' /path/to/dir/
  • Ignore case: grep -i 'str' file_name
  • Find only words: grep -w 'word' file_name
  • Find more than 1 word: grep -w 'word1|word2' file_name
  • List only the names of the matching files: grep -l 'str' /path/to/dir/
  • List only files with the extension: grep -ril --include=\*.js 'pattern' /path/to/dir/
  • Show 3 lines before the pattern: grep -ri -B3 'pattern' /path/to/dir/
  • Show 3 lines after the pattern: grep -ri -A3 'pattern' /path/to/dir/
  • Show 3 lines before and after: grep -ri -C3 'pattern' /path/to/dir/
  • Show 3 lines consider file extension: grep --include=\*.js -ri -C3 'pattern' /path/to/dir/
  • Limit the number of results with grep: grep -m3 'str' file_name
  • Find pattern starting with (-): grep -e '-str' *.js
  • Linux grep command tutorial
  • Replace in directory if file ends with 'js':
    find dir/ -name '*.js' | xargs sed -i 's/old/new/g'
  • Search and replace recursively:
    grep -rl 'oldtext' dir/ | xargs sed -i 's/old/new/g'

  • System

  • Check os version: $ lsb_release -a
  • Show current date and time: $ date
  • Show current uptime: $ uptime
  • Show memory usage: $ free -h
  • Check available disk space: $ df -h
  • How much space a file or directory takes: $ du -h
  • DNS name of the machine: $ hostname
  • Show the IP address: $ hostname -i
  • Show command info: $ man command-name
  • Show the latest commands: $ history
  • Show Linux system data: $ uname -a
  • Show who is online: $ w
  • Who am I logged in as: $ whoami

  • Terminal

  • Run command in exactly the same way you last ran it: $ ![command_name]
  • Rerun the last command: $ !!
  • Rerun last command with privileges: $ sudo !!
  • Show a list of the latest commands used: $ history
  • Run command number xxx from the history: $ !xxx
  • Search in history: CTRL+R
  • Wipe the history: $ clear
  • Hide the history: CTRL+L
  • Decrease font size: CTRL+Minus(-)
  • Increase font size: CTRL+Plus(+)
  • Move cursor to the beginning of the line: CTRL+A
  • Delete line: CTRL+K
  • Move cursor to the end of the line: CTRL+E
  • Full screen (IN & OUT): F11
  • Run command A then B: $ [command_A] && [command_B]
  • Run command A then B (independently): $ [command_A]; [command_B]

  • Vim editor

  • Show line numbers :set number
  • Move to INSERT mode; put cursor before i
  • Move to INSERT mode; put cursor after a
  • Move to INSERT mode; put cursor in a new line below o
  • Move to INSERT mode; put cursor at the start of line Shift + i
  • Move to INSERT mode; put cursor at the end of line Shift + a
  • Move to INSERT mode; put cursor in a new line above Shift + o
  • Move to COMMAND mode ESC
  • Undo last operation u
  • Go to the first line of the file gg
  • Go to line 3 of the file 3gg
  • Go to the last line of the file G
  • Move 3 lines up 3 + ↑
  • Move 5 lines down 5 + ↓
  • Move 6 places right 6 + →
  • Move 2 places back 2 + ←
  • Go to the start of the line 0
  • Go to the end of line $
  • Search for pattern /{pattern}
  • Search backward for pattern ?{pattern}
  • Repeat search in same direction n
  • Repeat search in opposite direction N
  • Copy current line yy
  • Copy everything within & including apostrophe yi"
  • Copy everything within & including parentheses yi(
  • Copy everything within & including brackets yi[
  • Paste after cursor p
  • Replace :%s/old/new
  • Replace all with confirmation :%s/old/new/gc
  • Delete the character under the cursor x
  • Delete current line dd
  • Delete lines 8 to 10 :8,10d
  • Swap the current line with the line below it ddp
  • Delete all lines containing pattern :g/{pattern}/d
  • Delete all lines not containing pattern :g!/{pattern}/d
  • Delete everything between apostrophe da"
  • Delete everything between parentheses da(
  • Delete everything between brackets da[
  • Save file :w
  • Quit if no changes were made :q
  • Quit file without saving :q!
  • Save file and quit :wq

  • Fun

  • Matrix: $ cmatrix
  • Put anything in a cow's mouth: $ echo "whatever ..." | cowsay
  • List of characters other than cows: $ cowsay -l
  • Put words in the mouth of a different character: $ echo "whatever ..." | cowsay -f daemon
  • ASCII text banner: $ figlet "your text here"