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Unix Command Reference Guide

This document provides a summary of common Unix commands organized into categories including general commands, file system navigation, file/directory manipulation, data manipulation, networking/communications, and miscellaneous commands. It lists commands such as ls to list directory contents, cd to change directories, grep to search files for patterns, sort to sort lines in a file, and ssh to connect to remote hosts. The document concludes by providing additional ITS resources for more information on Unix commands.

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Anil Kumar
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113 views3 pages

Unix Command Reference Guide

This document provides a summary of common Unix commands organized into categories including general commands, file system navigation, file/directory manipulation, data manipulation, networking/communications, and miscellaneous commands. It lists commands such as ls to list directory contents, cd to change directories, grep to search files for patterns, sort to sort lines in a file, and ssh to connect to remote hosts. The document concludes by providing additional ITS resources for more information on Unix commands.

Uploaded by

Anil Kumar
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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General

apropos command
Locate commands by keyword lookup.
exit
Terminate your current session, or shell.
man command
Display the Unix manual page describing a given Unix command.

File System Navigation


cd
Return to your home directory.
cd directory
Change directory to make directory your current directory.
file files
Determine file type.
ls
List the contents of the current directory.
ls names
List the contents of the directories; names can name files and/or directories:
ls -l
. . . in a long format, showing permissions, owner, size, and other file info.
ls -a
. . . all files, including "hidden" files (file names that begin with a dot ".").
ls -R
. . . Recursively, for all subdirectories.
ls -t
. . . in time order (when modified, newest to oldest) rather than in name order.
pwd
Display the name of the current directory, or "print working directory."

File/Directory Manipulation
compress files
Reduces the size of a file.
uncompress files
Restores compressed files to their original form.
cp file1 file2
Copy file(s).
cp files directory
Copy file(s) into a directory.
cp -r dir1 dir2
Copy a directory and, recursively, its subdirectories.
mkdir directory
Create, or "make" a directory.
mv file1 file2
Move a file or, if file1 and file2 are in the same directory, rename a file.
mv files directory
Move files into a directory.
mv dir1 dir2
If directory dir2 exists, move dir1 into dir2; otherwise, rename dir1 as dir2.
rm files
Remove (erase) file(s).
rm -r names
Remove files, directories, and recursively, any subdirectories.
rmdir directory
Remove directory (directory must be empty).

Data Manipulation
cat files
Concatenate file(s); you can use cat to display the contents of a file (this is not advisable
if the file is a binary file).
grep "pattern" files
Display all lines in the files that match a pattern.
more files
Display contents of files one screen at a time.
sort files
Order the lines in a file or files alphabetically (this command does not alter the file or
files -- it merely displays the sorted output to the screen):
sort -r files
. . . in reverse order.
sort -n files
. . . numerically (puts 2 before 10 instead of after).

Networking/Communications
ssh hostname
Connect to a remote host using Secure Shell.

Miscellaneous

!!
Repeat last shell command.
!string
Repeat last shell command that began with string (for example, type "!m" to repeat the
last command that began with "m").
cal
Display a calendar of the current month.
cal month year
Display a calendar of the given month and year. Note that the year must be fully
qualified, for example, "2003" and not "03."
clear
Clears terminal screen.
date
Display the current local date and time.
who
Display a list of users currently logged in.
Table of Contents

Additional Resources
Visit ITS's Information System to obtain ITS computer documentation and other resources. A
list of relevant documents follows:

 Create, Copy, Rename, and Remove Unix Files and Directories


 List Contents and Navigate Unix Directories
 Using the Unix Text Editor Pico
 Using the Unix Text Editor vi

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