Common Linux Commands with Usage Examples

1. cd: Change the current working directory. cd /var/www/html

2. ls: List files and directories in the specified path. ls /var/www/html

3. touch: Create an empty file. touch test.php

4. mkdir: Create a new directory. mkdir images

5. cp: Copy a file or directory. cp index.php /var/www/html

6. mv: Move (or rename) a file or directory. mv index.php /var/www/html

7. rm: Delete a file or directory. rm index.php

8. chmod: Change file or directory permissions. chmod 755 index.php

9. chown: Change file or directory ownership. chown www-data:www-data index.php

10. ps: Display information about active processes. ps aux

11. top: Real‑time view of system processes and resource usage. top

12. tar: Archive and compress files or directories. tar -czvf backup.tar.gz /var/www/html

13. grep: Search for matching strings within files. grep "hello" test.txt

14. sed: Perform text substitution, deletion, or insertion. sed 's/hello/world/g' test.txt

15. find: Locate files or directories based on criteria. find /var/www/html -name "*.php"

16. ssh: Connect to a remote server via SSH. ssh [email protected]

17. scp: Securely copy files between local and remote hosts. scp local_file remote_user@remote_host:/remote/dir

18. ping: Test network connectivity to a host. ping google.com

19. netstat: Show current network connections, listening ports, and routing tables. netstat -an

20. ifconfig: Display network interface configuration details. ifconfig eth0