Here's An A-Z Of Handy Linux Commands!

Here's a handy glossary (well, almost!) of some of the more prominent Linux commands for Linux beginners looking to make strides in the field. We know, there are literally hundreds of such commands out there, however, this is a good start we suppose.

apropos: Search through the Help manual pages
apt-get: Install and search for software packages
aspell: Spell checker
awk: It lets you find text and replace it

basename: Strips suffixes off files and directories
bash: GNU Bourne-Again Shell
bc: Arbitrary precision calculator language
bg: Sends to the background
break: Exit from a loop
builtin: Run a shell builtin
bzip2: Compresses or decompresses files

cal: Displays calendar
case: Perform a command conditionally
cat: Displays the content of the files after concatenation
cd: Change Directory
cfdisk: Partition table manipulator
chgrp: Changes the ownership of a group
chmod: Changes the access permissions
chown: Changes the owner and group of a file
chroot: Run a command, but with a different root directory
cksum: It displays the CRC checksum ad byte counts
clear: Clears the terminal screen
cmp: Compares two files
comm: Compares two sorted files line by line
continue: Resumes the next iteration of a particular loop
cp: Makes a copy of files to a different location
cron: Executes scheduled commands
crontab: Schedules a command that will run at a specified time
csplit: Splits a file into context-determined pieces

date: Changes the date and time
dc: Desk Calculator
ddrescue: Disk recovery tool
declare: Declares the variables and gives attributes
df: Gives the free space on your disk
diff: Prints the differences between two files
dig: Looks up the DNS
dir: Lists directory contents briefly
dirname: Changes a full pathname into just a path
dirs: Shows you the list of directories that are remembered
du: Get an estimation of the file space usage

echo: Displays message on the screen
egrep: Searches for files that have lines matching an extended expression
enable: Disable/enable bulletin shell commands
ethtool: Ethernet card settings
eval: Evaluates many commands
exec: Executes a command
exit: Exiting the shell
expand: Converts all the tabs to spaces
export: Sets an environment variable
expr: Evaluates expressions

false: Do nothing, unsuccessfully
fdformat: Perform low level format of a floppy disk
fdisk: Partition table manipulator for Linux systems
fg: Sends a task to the foreground
fgrep: Searches through files for tasks that match a string
file: Determines the file type
find: Find files that match a desired criteria
fmt: Reformats paragraph text
fold: Wraps text in order to fit a certain width
format: Formats tapes/disks
free: Reveals the memory usage
fsck: Checks the consistency of the file system and repairs it
fuser: Identifies and kills the process accessing a file

gawk: Finds text within files and replaces it
getopts: Parse positional parameters
grep: Searches in files for lines matching a certain pattern
groupadd: Adds security user groups
groupdel: Deletes a certain group
groupmod: Modifies a group
groups: Prints the names of groups in which a user is located
gzip: Compresses/decompresses files

hash: Complete pathname of a name argument
head: Outputs the first part of files
history: Command History
hostname: Print/set system name

iconv: Converts the character set in files
id: Displays the group ids/user ids
if: Conditional command
ifconfig: Configures network interfaces
ifdown: Stops a network interface
ifup: Starts a network interface app
import: Captures a screen and saves image in X server
Install: Sets attributes and copies files

jobs: Lists jobs that are active
Join: Joins lines on a common field

kill: Stops a process from running
Killall: Kills processes by name

less: Displays the output on a single screen at a time
let: Performs arithmetic on shell variables
link: Creates a link to another file
ln: Creates a symbolic link to another file
local: Creates variables
locate: Finds files
logname: Print the login name being used currently
logout: Use this command to exit a login shell.
lpc: Line Printer Control
lpr: Offline print
lprint: Prints a file
lprintd: Aborts an ongoing print job
lprintq: Lists the print queue
lprm: Removes the jobs from the print queue

make: Recompiles the group of programs
man: Provides help on a command
mkdir: Creates directories
mkfifo: Makes FIFOs
mknod: Creates character special files or block files
more: Displays the output in a single screen at a time
mount: Mounts a particular filesystem
mtools: Manipulates files from MS-DOS
mtr: Network diagnostics command
mv: Moves and renames files and directories
mmv: Mass Move and Rename

netstat: Provides information on networking
nice: Sets the priority of a job or a command
nl: Writes files and number lines
nohup: Runs a command not affected by hangups
notify-send: Sends desktop notifications
nslookup: Queries internet name servers interactively

open: Opens a file in its default application
op: Provides operator access

passwd: Modifies user passwords
paste: Merges lines in files
pathchk: Checks the portability of a file name
ping: Tests network connections
pkill: Stops processes from running
popd: Restores the previous value of the directory you’re currently in
pr: Prepares your files for printing
printcap: Printer capability database
printenv: Print environment variables
printf: Formats and prints data
ps: Process Status
pushd: Changes the directory and saves it first
pwd: Print Working Directory

quota: Displays the disk usage and its limits
quotacheck: Lets you scan a file system to find its disk usage
quotactl: Sets disk quotas

ram: Ram disk device
rcp: Copies files between two devices.
read: Reads a line from standard input
readarray: Reads from stdin into an array variable
readonly: Marks the variables and functions as readonly
reboot: Reboots your system
rename: Renames files
renice: Alters the priority of the processes running
remsync: Synchronises remote files through email
rev: Reverses the lines in a file
rm: Removes particular files
rsync: Synchronises file trees

screen: Run remote shells using ssh
scp: Creates a secure copy
sdiff: Merges two files in a secure manner
sed: Stream editor
select: Accepts keyboard inputs
seq: Prints numeric sequences
set: Manipulates shell functions and variables
sftp: Runs the secure file transfer program
shift: Shifts positional parameters
shopt: Shell Options
shutdown: Shuts down Linux or restarts it
sleep: Adds a delay
slocate: Finds particular files
sort: Sorts text files
source: Runs commands from a file
split: Breaks a file into fixed sizes
ssh: Runs the remote login program
strace: Traces signals and system calls
su: Substitutes the user identity
sudo: Executes commands as a different user
suspend: Suspends the execution of the current shell
sync: Synchronises data from a disk with the memory

tail: Outputs only the last part of a file
tar: Stores a list or extracts files in an archive
tee: Redirects output into multiple files
test: Evaluates conditional expressions
time: Measures the running time of a program
timeout: Puts a time limit on a command
times: Finds the user and system times
touch: Changes timestamps on a file
traceroute: Trace Route to a host
tr: Deletes characters, translates or squeezes them
tsort: Topological sorting

ulimit: Limits the user resources
umask: Determines the file permission for a new file
umount: Unmounts a device from the system
unalias: Removes an alias
uname: Prints the system information
unexpand: Converts the spaces in a file to tabs
uniq: Uniquify your files
units: Converts the units from one scale to another
unset: Removes the variable names or the function names
unshar: Unpacks the shell archive scripts
until: Executes a command until there is an error
uptime: Shows the uptime
usermod: Modifies a user account
users: Gives you a list of users who are currently logged in
uuencode: Encodes binary files

v: Lists the contents of a directory
vi: Text editor
vmstat: Reports on the virtual memory statistics

wait: Directs the system to wait for a process to finish
watch: Displays or executes a program periodically
wc: Prints the word, byte and line counts
while: Executes commands
who: Prints the usernames that are currently logged into the system
whoami: Prints the current name and user id
wget: Retrieves the web pages or files through HTTP, HTTPS or FTP
write: Sends messages to other users

xargs: Executes a utility and passes a constructed argument list
xdg-open: Opens a URL or a file in the user's preferred application

yes: Prints a string until it is interrupted