Linux command cheat sheet

In this cheat-sheet file usually means file or directory ~ is a linux short-hand for your home-directory

Command	Description/explanation	Useful options	Examples
ssh	secure shell  - remote login to another linux machine		ssh ola@saga.sigma2.no
hostname	Given name to machine
cd	change directory – move around in your file hierarchy		cd ~/documents
pwd	print working directory
ls	List – list content of directory	-l,-lh	ls documents
echo	print out something		echo “Hi there”
mkdir	Make directory	-p
cp	copy		cp file1.txt ~/documents/file2.txt
mv	move		mv file1.txt ~/documents/file2.txt
rm	remove	-f, -r, -i	rm -i file1.txt
cat	Cocatenate – used to view contents of a text file or fill text-file with contents		cat file1.txt
more	View text file in command promt, move forward one page at a time		more file1.txt
less	Similar to more – but you can move forwards and backwards		less file1.txt
head	Print out top N lines of text file	-n	head file1.txt
tail	Print out bottom N lines of text file	-n	tail file1.txt
diff	Print out differences between files		diff file1.txt ~/documents/file2.txt
wget	Download files from the internet		wget https://www.nrk.no
tar	Archive or unarchive files	xvf (x: extract v: verbose f: filename) cvf (c: create)	tar xvf demo-moving-around.tar.gz
find	Find files in the file hierarchy		find file1.txt ~/
touch	Create, modify and change timestamps of a file		touch newfile.txt touch existingfile.txt
grep	Searches through files and prints out occurrences of the string grepped		grep car texaboutcars.txt
bash	Sh-compatible command language interpreter
chmod	change mode – change permission mode of file – read/write/execute	-R	chmod u+x file1.exe chmod 0700 file1.exe
sort	Sort the given input
uniq	Filters out repeated occurences
wc	Word count	-l,-c,-m	wc textaboutcars.txt
history	Show bash history
xargs	Build and execute command lines from standard input
man	Linux manual – all linux commands have a man page showing required and optional parameters to the linux command		man ls