$ cd subdirectory

$ mv filepath /path/to/destination/

LINUX
CHEAT SHEET

$ cat file1 file2 > c.txt

$ ls /path/to/directory
File and Directory Management

cd command

The cd command is used to change the current working directory in the terminal.
Let's say your root directory contains the following files and folders.

. This . represents the home or root directory of the linux machine.

├── Desktop
│ ├── important_report.txt
│ └── meeting_minutes.docx
├── Documents
│ ├── project_plan.pdf
│ └── research_paper.doc
├── Downloads
│ ├── software_installer.exe
│ └── vacation_photo_album.zip
├── Music Tree diagram of home directory.
│ ├── favorite_song.mp3
│ └── relaxing_playlist.m3u
├── Videos
│ ├── family_vacation.mp4
│ └── tutorial_series.mkv
└── Animals
├── animals.txt
├── Cats
│ ├── cat1.png
│ └── cat2.png
└── Dogs
├── dog1.png
└── dog2.png

Change to a specific directory: .

├── Desktop
Command │ ├── important_report.txt
│ └── meeting_minutes.docx
$ cd /path/to/directory
..
Current directory ..
changes to └── Animals
Description
├── animals.txt
This command changes the current directory to the one ├── Cats
specified by the absolute path │ ├── cat1.png
│ └── cat2.png
└── Dogs
Example
├── dog1.png
$ cd /home/Animals/Cats └── dog2.png

01 Cheatsheet
 Change to the home directory: .
├── Desktop
Command │ ├── important_report.txt
Current Directory
│ └── meeting_minutes.docx
$ cd ..
.. $cd
└── Animals
Description
├── animals.txt
Running cd without any arguments takes you to your home ├── Cats
directory from wherever you are. │ ├── cat1.png
Previous
Working Directory │ └── cat2.png
└── Dogs
Example ├── dog1.png
$ cd └── dog2.png

Move up one directory

(parent directory): Example
.
├── Desktop
Command │ ├── important_report.txt
$ cd .. │ └── meeting_minutes.docx
..
Current Directory
..
Description
└── Animals
This command moves you up one level in the directory hierarchy ├── animals.txt
to the parent directory.
├── Cats
$cd
│ ├── cat1.png
│ └── cat2.png
└── Dogs
Previous ├── dog1.png
Working Directory └── dog2.png

Change to a subdirectory within

Example
the current directory: $ cd Downloads/
.
├── Desktop
Command Previous
Working Directory │ ├── important_report.txt
$ cd subdirectory │ └── meeting_minutes.docx
├── Documents

Description │ ├── project_plan.pdf

Current Directory │ └── research_paper.doc
Here, subdirectory represents the name of the directory you
want to change into. ├── Downloads
│ ├── software_installer.exe
│ └── vacation_photo_album.zip
..
..

02 Cheatsheet
 Use relative paths:

Command Description
$ cd ../relative/path You can use relative paths to navigate to a directory relative
to your current location. .. represents the parent directory,
and you can specify additional directories to traverse from
there.

Example
Assume, your current directory is Cats directory.

../Dogs/ .
├── Desktop
│ ├── important_report.txt
Go inside the
│ └── meeting_minutes.docx
Dogs directory
..
Move up to ..
Animals Directory └── Animals
├── animals.txt $ cd ../
/Dogs/ ├── Cats
│ ├── cat1.png
│ └── cat2.png
└── Dogs
├── dog1.png
└── dog2.png

03 Cheatsheet
ls (list all directories) command
The ls command in Linux is used to list the
contents of a directory.

List files and directories in the

current directory: Example

Let's say the current working directory is Animals.

Command
$ ls
$ ls animals.txt Cats Dogs
Description
Running ls without any arguments lists the files and
directories in the current working directory.

List files and directories in a

specific directory: Example

Assuming the current working directory is home:

Command
$ ls /path/to/directory $ ls Documents/

Description
This command lists the files and directories in the project_plan.pdf research_paper.doc
specified directory (/path/to/directory).

List files and directories in a long format:

Command Description
$ ls -l The -l option provides detailed information like file/folder
permissions, owner, size, and modification timestamps.

Example
Assuming the current working directory is Animals:
Timestamps of file/folder creation
$ ls -l total 12
-rw-rw-r-- 1 scaler scaler 23 May 29 14:57 animals.txt
drwxrwxr-x 2 scaler scaler 4096 May 29 14:54 Cats
drwxrwxr-x 2 scaler scaler 4096 May 29 14:55 Dogs

Permissions of the user on these files/folders. Linux username

04 Cheatsheet
 List files and directories
Example
including hidden files:
Assuming the current working directory is Animals:
$ ls -a
Command
$ ls -a

. .. animals.txt Cats Dogs

Description
Parent directory representation
The -a option shows all files and directories, including
those with names starting with a dot (hidden files). Current directory representation

List files and directories including hidden files:

Command Description
$ ls -R Lists all the files and directories inside the current directory
as well as all the files and directories of all sub-directories.

Example
Assuming the current working directory is Animals:

$ ls -R .: Current directory: Animals

animals.txt Cats Dogs
Files/folders in current directory
./Cats:
cat1.png cat2.png

./Dogs:
dog1.png dog2.png

Sub-directories and files/folders inside them.

05 Cheatsheet
 pwd command
Example
Command Assuming the current working directory is Animals:
$ pwd

$ pwd /home/scaler/Animals
Description
Shows the current directory path.

mkdir command

Command Description
$ mkdir This command creates a directory.

Example
Let's say we are in the root directory.

$ mkdir Pictures .
├── Desktop
│ ├── important_report.txt
│ └── meeting_minutes.docx
├── Documents
│ ├── project_plan.pdf
│ └── research_paper.doc
..
..
├── Animals
│ ├── animals.txt
│ ├── Cats
│ │ ├── cat1.png
│ │ └── cat2.png
│ └── Dogs
│ ├── dog1.png
│ └── dog2.png
└── Pictures New directory created!!

06 Cheatsheet
 rmdir command

The rmdir command in Linux is used to remove directories (folders) that are empty. It can be used to delete directories
that do not contain any files or subdirectories.

Command Description
$ rmdir directory_name The rmdir command in Linux is used to remove
directories (folders) that are empty.

Example
Let's delete the Pictures directory while we are in the root directory.

$ rmdir Pictures home

├── Desktop
│ ├── important_report.txt
│ └── meeting_minutes.docx
..
..
├── Videos
│ ├── family_vacation.mp4
│ └── tutorial_series.mkv
└── Animals
├── animals.txt
├── Cats
│ ├── cat1.png
│ └── cat2.png
└── Dogs
├── dog1.png
└── dog2.png

Pictures directory deleted!!

07 Cheatsheet
mv command
The mv command in Linux is used to move or rename files and directories.
It allows you to change the location of a file or directory within the file system or give it a new name.

Move a file to a different directory:

Command Description
$ mv filepath /path/to/destination/ This command moves the file with the given location to
the directory specified by /path/to/destination/.

Example
Let's move the project_plan.pdf file to Downloads folder. Assume we are in the root directory.

$ mv Documents/project_plan.pdf Downloads/

. .
├── Desktop ├── Desktop
│ ├── important_report.txt │ ├── important_report.txt
│ └── meeting_minutes.docx │ └── meeting_minutes.docx
Move project_plan.pdf
├── Documents to Downloads folder. ├── Documents
│ ├── project_plan.pdf │ └── research_paper.doc
│ └── research_paper.doc ├── Downloads
├── Downloads │ ├── project_plan.pdf
│ ├── software_installer.exe │ ├── software_installer.exe
│ └── vacation_photo_album.zip │ └── vacation_photo_album.zip
.. ..
.. ..

Rename a file:

Command Description
$ mv old_file.txt new_file.txt By specifying a different name as the destination, you can
rename the file old_file.txt to new_file.txt within the same
directory.

Example
Let's rename the project_plan.pdf which is in Documents folder. Assume currently we are in Documents folder.

$ mv project_plan.pdf project_design.pdf .
├── Desktop
│ ├── important_report.txt
│ └── meeting_minutes.docx
├── Documents
│ ├── project_design.pdf
│ └── research_paper.doc
├── Downloads
│ ├── software_installer.exe
│ └── vacation_photo_album.zip
..
..

08 Cheatsheet
cat command
The cat command in Linux is used to concatenate and display the contents of files.
It can also be used to create new files or append to existing ones.

Display the contents of a file:

Command Description
$ cat filename This command displays the contents of filename in
the terminal.

Example
Let's see the content of important_report.txt file.

$ cat Documents/important_report.txt Wake up at 5 AM.

Have a light breakfast.
Exercise for 30 minutes.
Commence your day-to-day activities.

Content of important_report.txt file.

09 Cheatsheet
 Concatenate multiple files:

Command Description
$ cat file1 file2 You can concatenate multiple files by specifying their names
consecutively. The output will be the combined contents of
the files.

Example
Let's concatenate animals.txt and important_report.txt files.

Wake up at 5 AM. cats

Have a light breakfast. cows
Exercise for 30 minutes. dogs
Commence your day-to-day activities. tigers

Content of important_report.txt file. Content of animals.txt file.

cat Desktop/important_report.txt Animals/animals.txt

Wake up at 5 AM.
Have a light breakfast.
Exercise for 30 minutes.
Commence your day-to-day activities.
cats
cows
dogs
tigers

10 Cheatsheet
 Output to a new file:

Command Description
$ cat file1 file2 > combined.txt The > symbol redirects the concatenated output of file1.txt
and file2.txt to a new file named combined.txt.

Example
Let's concatenate animals.txt and important_report.txt and
output it to combined.txt which is created in the current directory.

cat Desktop/important_report.txt Animals/animals.txt > combined.txt

.
├── combined.txt Contains content of both
├── Desktop important_report.txt and animals.txt files.
│ ├── important_report.txt
│ └── meeting_minutes.docx
├── Documents
│ ├── project_design.pdf
│ └── research_paper.doc
├── Downloads
│ ├── software_installer.exe
│ └── vacation_photo_album.zip
..
..

Append to an existing file:

Command Description
$ cat >> existingfile.txt Anything you type will be appended to existingfile.txt.
Press Ctrl + D to save and exit.

Example
Let's add "Go to sleep by 10 PM" in the important_report.txt file.

cat >> Desktop/important_report.txt Wake up at 5 AM.

Go to sleep by 10 PM. Have a light breakfast.
Exercise for 30 minutes.
Commence your day-to-day activities.
Go to sleep by 10 PM.

Content of important_report.txt file.

11 Cheatsheet
grep command
The grep command in Linux is used to search for specific patterns or lines of text within files.
It allows you to filter and extract information based on specified criteria.

Search for a pattern in a single file:

Command Description
$ grep pattern file This command searches for the given pattern within the
given file and displays all lines that contain the pattern.

Example
Let's search for the line which contains "breakfast" in the file important_report.txt

Output
grep "breakfast" Desktop/important_report.txt Have a light breakfast.

Search for lines starting with "Wake":

Output
grep "^Wake" ~/Desktop/important_report.txt Wake up at 5 AM.

Display line numbers:

Command Description
$ grep -n pattern file The -n option adds line numbers to the output, indicating
the line number of each matched line.

Example
Search for lines with line numbers that contain "a":
Output
grep -n "a" Desktop/important_report.txt

1:Wake up at 5 AM.
2:Have a light breakfast.
4:Commence your day-to-day activities.

12 Cheatsheet
 Case-insensitive search:

Command Example
$ grep -i pattern file Search for lines with case-insensitive match for "am":

grep -i "am" Desktop/important_report.txt

Description Output

The -i option performs a case-insensitive search, ignoring

the distinction between uppercase and lowercase letters. Wake up at 5 AM.

Invert match (exclude a pattern):

Command Example
$ grep -v pattern file Search for lines that do not contain the word "Exercise":

grep -v "Exercise" Desktop/important_report.txt

Description Output
The -v option displays lines that do not match the specified
pattern, effectively excluding those lines from the output. Wake up at 5 AM.
Have a light breakfast.
Commence your day-to-day activities.
Go to sleep by 10 PM.

Match the pattern against all files in a directory

Command Description
$ grep -r pattern /path/to/directory/ The -r option searches the pattern against all the files in
the specified directory.

Example
Search for lines that do not contain the word "Exercise" in all the files inside root directory:
Assume there are only two files in the root directory: important_report.txt and animals.txt.

grep -r -v "Exercise" .

Output
./Desktop/important_report.txt:Wake up at 5 AM.
./Desktop/important_report.txt:Have a light breakfast.
./Desktop/important_report.txt:Commence your day-to-day activities.
./Desktop/important_report.txt:Go to sleep by 10 PM.
./Animals/animals.txt:cats
./Animals/animals.txt:cows
./Animals/animals.txt:dogs
./Animals/animals.txt:tigers

13 Cheatsheet
File and Directory Compression Commands

gzip command

Command Description
$ gzip file1 This command is used to compress a file with
gzip compression.

Example
Lets compress the project_plan.pdf file in Documents directory.

ls command
$ gzip project_plan.pdf project_plan.pdf.gz research_paper.doc

Basically, it has compressed project_plan.pdf and the hence, the new name is project_plan.pdf.gz

gunzip command

Command Example
$ gunzip fileDemo.gz Lets decompress the project_plan.pdf.gz file which we
created in the last step.
$ gunzip project_plan.pdf.gz
Description
ls command
This command is used to unzip a file that has
gzip compression. project_plan.pdf research_paper.doc

tar cf command

Command Description
$ tar cf myDir.tar myDir This command is used to create an uncompressed
tar archive.

Example
Lets compress the Documents directory using the command above.

$ tar cf docs.tar Documents

ls command
Animals Desktop Documents Music Videos
combined.txt docs.tar Downloads Pictures

14 Cheatsheet
 tar cfz command

Command Description
$ tar cfz demoDir.tar demoDir This command is used to create a tar archive with
gzip compression.

Example
Lets compress the Documents directory with gzip compression using the command above.

$ tar cfz docs.tar Documents

ls command
Animals Desktop Documents Music Videos
combined.txt docs.tar Downloads Pictures

tar xf file command

Command Description
$ tar xf demoFile This command is used to extract the contents of any type
of tar archive.

Example
Let's decompress the Documents directory in the Downloads directory.
Assume current directory: Downloads

$ tar xf ../home/docs.tar

ls

Documents software_installer.exe vacation_photo_album.zip

15 Cheatsheet
Environment Variable Commands

env command

Command Example
$ env $ env

Description SHELL=/bin/bash
COLORTERM=truecolor
This command displays all the environment variables.
XDG_CONFIG_DIRS=/etc/xdg/xdg-ubuntu:/etc/xdg
XDG_MENU_PREFIX=gnome-
...
...
USER=scaler
GNOME_TERMINAL_SERVICE=:1.101
DISPLAY=:0
OLDPWD=/home/scaler/
_=/usr/bin/env

echo command

Command Example
$ echo ENV_VARIABLE NAME /bin/bash
$ echo $SHELL

Description
This command displays the environment variable.

unset command

Command Description
$ unset This command removes a variable.

16 Cheatsheet
Network Configuration

ifconfig command

Command Description
$ ifconfig [interface] [options] This command is used to display information for all active
network interfaces.

Options
up or down: Enables or disables the specified interface.

address [address]: Sets the IP address for the interface.

netmask [netmask]: Sets the network mask for the interface.

broadcast [broadcast]: Sets the broadcast address for the interface.

hw ether [MAC address]: Sets the MAC (Media Access Control) address for the interface.

mtu [size]: Sets the Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) for the interface.

Example
$ ifconfig docker0: flags=4099<UP,BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet 172.17.0.1 netmask 255.255.0.0 broadcast 172.17.255.255
ether 02:42:a4:7a:5f:60 txqueuelen 0 (Ethernet)
RX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING> mtu 65536

inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 255.0.0.0
inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128 scopeid 0x10<host>
...

virbr0: flags=4099<UP,BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500

inet 192.168.122.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.122.255
ether 52:54:00:71:49:3f txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
RX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

Enable/Disable a network interface: sudo ifconfig eth0 up/down

Set an IP address and netmask for a network interface: sudo ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.10
netmask 255.255.255.0

Set the Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) for a network interface (e.g., eth0): sudo ifconfig eth0 mtu 1500

17 Cheatsheet
 ping command

Command Description
$ ping [options] destination The ping command in Linux is used to test network
connectivity by sending ICMP echo request packets to a
specific destination.

Options
-c count: Specifies the number of ICMP echo request packets to send before stopping.
-i interval: Sets the interval (in seconds) between sending each packet.
-w deadline: Specifies the time (in seconds) to wait for a reply before stopping.
-s packetsize: Sets the size of the ICMP echo request packets to send.
-q: Quiet output, only displays summary statistics.
-v: Verbose output, displays more detailed information.

Example
Send 5 ICMP echo request packets with a packet size of 64 bytes to the IP address 8.8.8.8

ping -c 5 -s 64 8.8.8.8 PING 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8) 64(92) bytes of data.

72 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=1 ttl=113 time=70.7 ms
72 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=2 ttl=113 time=69.0 ms
72 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=3 ttl=113 time=67.7 ms
72 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=4 ttl=113 time=65.3 ms
72 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=5 ttl=113 time=54.6 ms

--- 8.8.8.8 ping statistics ---

5 packets transmitted, 5 received, 0% packet loss, time 4006ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 54.590/65.457/70.681/5.712 ms

Ping a domain name with a deadline of 3 seconds and display verbose output

ping -w 3 -v www.google.com

PING www.google.com(bom12s04-in-x04.1e100.net (2404:6800:4009:804::2004)) 56 data bytes

64 bytes from bom12s04-in-x04.1e100.net (2404:6800:4009:804::2004): icmp_seq=1 ttl=58 time=64.3 ms
64 bytes from bom12s04-in-x04.1e100.net (2404:6800:4009:804::2004): icmp_seq=2 ttl=58 time=72.8 ms
64 bytes from bom12s04-in-x04.1e100.net (2404:6800:4009:804::2004): icmp_seq=3 ttl=58 time=61.5 ms

--- www.google.com ping statistics ---

3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 2004ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 61.545/66.186/72.760/4.778 ms

18 Cheatsheet
 ssh command

Command
$ ssh [options] [user@]host [command]

Description
The ssh command is used in Linux to establish a secure shell (SSH) connection to a remote server or device.
It allows you to securely log in to a remote system and execute commands or transfer files over an encrypted connection.

[options] Command line options to configure SSH connection

[user@] Username of the remote machine. Defaults to host machine username.

host IP address of the remote machine.

[command] Command to run just after connection is established.

Example

ssh -p 2222 [email protected] ls

ssh command

-p flag: Port number remoteuser@host

Port number of ls command will be executed

ssh connection after ssh connection is established

19 Cheatsheet
Users and Permissions

adduser command

Command Description
$ sudo adduser username This command is used to add a user.

Example
This command is used to add a user.

$ sudo adduser scalertopics

Adding user `scalertopics' ...

Adding new group `scalertopics' (1002) ...
Adding new user `scalertopics' (1002) with group `scalertopics' ...
Creating home directory `/home/scalertopics' ...
Copying files from `/etc/skel' ...
New password:
Retype new password:
passwd: password updated successfully
Changing the user information for scalertopics
Enter the new value, or press ENTER for the default
Full Name []: Scaler Academy
Room Number []: BLR
Work Phone []: NA
Home Phone []: NA
Other []: [email protected]
Is the information correct? [Y/n] Y

passwd command

Command Description
$ sudo passwd -l ‘username’ This command is used to change the password of a user.

Example
$ sudo passwd -l scalertopics passwd: password expiry information changed.

20 Cheatsheet
 userdel command

Command Description
$ sudo userdel -r ‘username’ This command is used to remove a newly created user.

Example
sudo userdel -r 'scalertopics'

usermod command

Command Description
$ sudo usermod -a -G GROUPNAME USERNAME This command is used to add a user to a particular group.

Example
The command to add scalertopics to root is shown.

$ sudo usermod -a -G root scalertopics scalertopics is the username

root is the groupname

deluser command

Command Description
$ sudo deluser USER GROUPNAME This command is used to remove a user from a group.

Example
The command to remove scalertopics from the root group is shown.

$ sudo deluser scalertopics root Removing user `scalertopics' from group `root' ...
Done.
scalertopics is the username root is the groupname

21 Cheatsheet
 finger command

Command Description
$ finger This command shows the information of all the users
logged in.

Example
$ finger Login Name Tty Idle Login Time Office Office Phone
scalertopics Scaler Academy *:0 May 29 13:12 BLR, NA

finger username command

Command Description
$ finger username This command gives information about a particular user.

Example
$ finger scalertopics Login: scalertopics Name: Scaler Academy
Directory: /home/scalertopics Shell: /bin/bash
Office: BLR, NA Home Phone: NA
Never logged in.
No mail.
No Plan.

22 Cheatsheet
File Permissions

user (u) read permissions

3 types of people 3 types of people

in a linux machine in a linux machine

group (g) others (o) write execute

permission permission

ls -l filename command

Command to view file permissions, owner, creation, modification timestamps.

Command Description
$ ls -l filename This command is used to show the file permissions along
with the owner and other details of the specified file.

Example
$ ls -l important_report.txt

-rw-rw-r-- 1 captain captain 125 May 29 20:43 important_report.txt

File Permissions for different users

Ownerʼs Groupʼs Others

File Permission Permission Permission

r w - r w - r - -

Read Write Not Read Write Not Read Not Not

executable executable Writable executable

23 Cheatsheet
 chmod command

The chmod command stands for “change-mode” which means that using this command, we can change the mode in
which some user is able to access the file.

Command
$ chmod [ugoa…][-+=]perms…[,....] FILE….

Description

Notations

User Notation Assignment Notation Permission Notation

u -> user + -> Add specified permission r -> read

g -> group - -> Remove specified permission w -> write
o -> other = -> Change the current permission x -> execute
a -> All of the above, to specified permissions
equivalent to ugo

Example
Let's add read permission to the other class for the file: important_report.txt
Current directory: Desktop

$ chmod o+r important_report.txt

chmod
command
Add File
Give permission permission Give read
to other class permission

Let's add read permission to the other class for the file: important_report.txt
Current directory: Desktop

$ chmod a-w important_report.txt

chmod
command
Remove File
Remove permission permission Remove
from all classes write permission
i.e. user, group and other

24 Cheatsheet
 Numerical Method

In numeric method, there are numeric codes for each permission.

r (read) = 4
w (write) = 2
x (execute) = 1
No permissions = 0

Example
If a user has read and write permission, then

Permission Number: 6 (read + write = 4 + 2 = 6)

$ chmod 660 important_report.txt

read+write no permission
permission to user to group
read+write
permission to group

equivalent to
$ chmod ugo+rw important_report.txt $ chmod 666 important_report.txt

Grand read+write permission

to user, group and other read+write read+write
permission to user permission to other
read+write
permission to group

25 Cheatsheet
System Information Commands

history command

Command Description
$ history This command displays the list of all the typed commands
in the current terminal session.

Example
$ history 1970 cd ../Animals/Dogs/
1971 cd ../Dogs/
1972 clear
1973 cd ..
1974 clear
1975 ls
1976 ls /home/captain/home/Documents
...
...
...
2018 clear
2019 cd Desktop/
2020 history

clear command

Command Description
$ clear Clears the terminal i.e. no previous command will be
visible on the screen now.

Example

$ history $ |
...
...
1970 cd ../Animals/Dogs/
1971 cd ../Dogs/
1972 clear
1973 cd ..
clear command
1974 clear
1975 ls
1976 ls /home/captain/home/Documents
...
...
...
2018 clear
2019 cd Desktop/
2020 history

26 Cheatsheet
 hostname command hostid command

Command Command
$ hostname $ hostid

Description Description
Shows the name of the system host. Shows the name of the system host.

Example Example
$ hostname scaler $ hostid 520d3428

sudo command

Command Description
$ sudo Allows a regular user to run the programs with the security
privileges of a superuser or root.

Example
You can not run the command $ apt-get update without administrator-level access.

$ apt-get update

Reading package lists... Done

E: Could not open lock file /var/lib/apt/lists/lock - open (13: Permission denied)

However, using the sudo command, you can perform the required operation.

$ sudo apt-get update ...

[sudo] password for scaler: ...
...
Metadata [940 B]
Fetched 12.7 MB in 37s (346 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done

27 Cheatsheet
 apt-get command

Command Example
$ apt-get $ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get upgrade
$ sudo apt-get install package_name
Description
$ sudo apt-get purge package_name
This command is used to:
$ sudo apt-get remove package_name
* Update package lists
* Upgrade installed packages
* Install a package
* Remove a package
* Purge a package (remove package and its configuration
files)
* Search for a package
* Show information about a package
* List installed packages
* Upgrade the distribution to a new release
* Fix broken dependencies
* Clean the local repository cache

date command

Command Example
$ date Monday 29 May 2023 10:47:58 PM IST

Description
This command is used to show the current date and time.

cal command

Command Example
$ cal May 2023
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
Description 1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Shows the calendar of the current month.
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 31

28 Cheatsheet
 whoami command

Command Example
$ whoami $ whoami scaler

Description
This command displays the name with which you are
logged in.

whereis command

Command Description
$ whereis [options] command The "whereis" command in Linux is used to locate the
binary, source code, and manual page files for a given
command or program.

Options
"-b": Searches only for executable files.
"-m": Searches only for manual page files.
"-s": Searches only for source code files.
"-u": Reports files that are unknown to the system's database
(located outside thestandard directories).

Example

$ whereis ls ls: /usr/bin/ls /usr/share/man/man1/ls.1.gz

Searching for the binary and manual page of the "gcc" command

$ whereis -b -m gcc

gcc: /usr/bin/gcc /usr/lib/gcc /usr/share/gcc /usr/share/man/man1/gcc.1.gz

29 Cheatsheet
Process Commands

bg command

Command Example
$ bg %ID Move a specific job with job ID 2 to the background:

Description
This command is used to send a process to the $ bg %2
background.

fg command

Command Example
$ fg %ID Move a specific job with job ID 2 to the background:

Description
This command is used to run a stopped process in the $ fg %1
background.

top command

Command Description
$ top This command is used to get the details of all active
processes.

Example
$ top PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
2392 scaler 20 0 4652336 292348 106788 S 9.3 3.7 8:11.99 gnome-shell
2252 scaler 20 0 526384 84936 48076 S 8.9 1.1 6:06.34 Xorg
6206 scaler 20 0 816444 52048 39088 S 8.3 0.7 0:33.52 gnome-terminal-
237 root -51 0 0 0 0 S 3.0 0.0 1:38.87 irq/128-ELAN066
1097 mysql 20 0 2380348 397260 37608 S 1.0 5.0 1:34.41 mysqld
97073 scaler 20 0 11992 3968 3188 R 0.7 0.1 0:00.25 top
40 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0.3 0.0 0:03.56 ksoftirqd/4
877 root 20 0 273896 10636 9620 S 0.3 0.1 0:07.36 thermald
882 root 20 0 1473848 41016 14796 S 0.3 0.5 0:46.55 warp-svc
1088 postgres 20 0 218288 29064 27028 S 0.3 0.4 0:00.25 postgres
1454 root 20 0 1374764 12380 10756 S 0.3 0.2 0:16.54 teamviewerd
2443 scaler 20 0 162836 7544 6756 S 0.3 0.1 0:04.84 at-spi2-registr
2622 scaler 20 0 617944 4200 3864 S 0.3 0.1 0:10.68 warp-taskbar

30 Cheatsheet
 ps command

Command Example
$ ps
$ ps PID TTY TIME CMD
6214 pts/0 00:00:00 bash
Description 97206 pts/0 00:00:00 ps
The "ps" command in Linux is used to provide information
about the currently running processes on the system.

ps PID command

Command Example
$ ps PID $ ps 1

Description
This command gives the status of a particular process. PID TTY STAT TIME COMMAND
1 ? Ss 0:02 /sbin/init splash

pidof command

Command Example
$ pidof PROCESSNAME $ pidof bash 6214

Description
This command is used to give the process ID of a
particular process.

31 Cheatsheet
Hardware Configuration Commands

cpu-info command

Command Description
$ cpu-info This command is used to display the information about
your CPU. It can be used after installation of the necessary
package using sudo apt install cpuinfo.

Example

$ cpu-info Packages:
0: Intel Core i5-8265U
Cores:
0: 2 processors (0-1), Intel Kaby Lake
1: 2 processors (2-3), Intel Kaby Lake
2: 2 processors (4-5), Intel Kaby Lake
3: 2 processors (6-7), Intel Kaby Lake
Logical processors:
0: APIC ID 0x00000000
1: APIC ID 0x00000001
2: APIC ID 0x00000002
3: APIC ID 0x00000003
4: APIC ID 0x00000004
5: APIC ID 0x00000005
6: APIC ID 0x00000006
7: APIC ID 0x00000007

free -h command

Command Description
$ free -h This command is used to display the free and used
memory. The -h flag is used for converting the information
(to be displayed) to human-readable form.

Example

$ cpu-info

total used free shared buff/cache available

Mem: 7.5Gi 2.0Gi 2.7Gi 420Mi 2.9Gi 4.9Gi
Swap: 2.0Gi 0B 2.0Gi

32 Cheatsheet
 lsusb -tv command

Command Description
$ lsusb -tv List all the USB connected devices.

Example

$ lsusb -tv /: Bus 02.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/6p, 10000M

ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
/: Bus 01.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/12p, 480M
ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
|__ Port 2: Dev 2, If 0, Class=Vendor Specific Class, Driver=, 480M
ID 27c6:55b4 Shenzhen Goodix Technology Co.,Ltd. Fingerprint Reader
|__ Port 4: Dev 3, If 1, Class=Video, Driver=uvcvideo, 480M
ID 04f2:b61e Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd
|__ Port 4: Dev 3, If 0, Class=Video, Driver=uvcvideo, 480M
ID 04f2:b61e Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd
|__ Port 10: Dev 4, If 0, Class=Wireless, Driver=btusb, 12M
ID 8087:0aaa Intel Corp.
|__ Port 10: Dev 4, If 1, Class=Wireless, Driver=btusb, 12M
ID 8087:0aaa Intel Corp.

cat /proc/meminfo command

Command Description
$ cat /proc/meminfo Gives the information about memory like total and
occupied and so on.

Example

$ cat /proc/meminfo MemTotal: 7886836 kB

MemFree: 2807932 kB
MemAvailable: 5085552 kB
Buffers: 192036 kB
Cached: 2681972 kB
...
...
...
Hugetlb: 0 kB
DirectMap4k: 365180 kB
DirectMap2M: 7770112 kB
DirectMap1G: 1048576 kB

33 Cheatsheet
 du command

Command Description
$ du -h file/folder This command stands for disk usage and is used to
estimate the space usage for a file or directory.

Example

$ du -h Downloads 2.1M Downloads/Wallpapers

200K Downloads/Tunes
1.5M Downloads/CVs
...
...
549M Downloads

34 Cheatsheet