Common Linux Command Cheat Sheet for File, Process, Network, System, and Package Management

File Management

ls — display directory contents.

ls -l — show detailed information.

cd /path/to/directory — change the current working directory.

mkdir new_directory — create a new directory.

rm filename — delete a file.

rm -r directory — recursively delete a directory.

cp file1 file2 — copy a file.

cp -r dir1 dir2 — copy a directory recursively.

mv file1 file2 — move or rename a file.

mv dir1 dir2 — move or rename a directory.

touch newfile.txt — create an empty file or update its timestamp.

cat filename — display file contents.

less filename — view file contents page by page.

grep pattern filename — search for a pattern in a file.

find /path -name "filename" — locate files by name.

chmod 755 filename — change file permissions.

chown user:group filename — change file ownership.

Process Management

ps aux | grep process_name — display process information.

top — monitor system resource usage in real time.

kill PID — terminate a process.

killall process_name — terminate all processes with the given name.

nice -n 19 ./process — set process priority.

renice -n 19 -p PID — dynamically change process priority.

Network Tools

ping www.example.com — test network connectivity.

traceroute www.example.com — trace the path packets take to a host.

netstat -tuln — display network connections and routing tables.

ifconfig eth0 up — show or configure network interfaces.

curl http://www.example.com — transfer data from or to a server.

wget http://www.example.com/file.tar.gz — download files from the internet.

ssh user@remote_host — securely log into a remote machine.

scp file user@remote_host:/path — securely copy files.

nc -l -p 8080 — network debugging and probing.

iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT — configure firewall rules.

System Management

df -h — display disk space usage.

du -sh directory — show size of a directory or file.

free -m — display memory usage.

uname -a — show system information.

date — display or set the system date and time.

cal — display a calendar.

whoami — show the current user name.

su - user — switch user.

sudo apt-get update — run a command with administrative privileges.

tar -czvf archive.tar.gz directory — create a compressed archive.

gzip file — compress a file.

gunzip file.gz — decompress a file.

Package Management

sudo apt-get install package_name — install a package on Debian/Ubuntu.

sudo yum install package_name — install a package on CentOS/RHEL.

sudo dnf install package_name — install a package on Fedora.

rpm -q package_name — query an RPM package.

dpkg -i package.deb — install a Debian package.

pip install package_name — install a Python package.

npm install package_name — install a Node.js package.

tail -f /var/log/syslog — display the end of a log file and follow new entries.

sudo logrotate /etc/logrotate.conf — rotate log files automatically.