Unix commands are a set of commands that are used to interact with the Unix operating

system. Unix is a powerful, multi-user, multi-tasking operating system that was developed
in the 1960s by Bell Labs. Unix commands are entered at the command prompt in a
terminal window, and they allow users to perform a wide variety of tasks, such as
managing files and directories, running processes, managing user accounts, and
configuring network settings. Unix is now one of the most commonly used Operating
systems used for various purposes such as Personal use, Servers, Smartphones, and
many more. It was developed in the 1970's at AT& T Labs by two famous personalities
Dennis M. Ritchie and Ken Thompson.
 You'll be surprised to know that the most popular programming language C came into
existence to write the Unix Operating System.
 Linux is Unix-Like operating system.
 The most important part of the Linux is Linux Kernel which was first released in the
early 90s by Linus Torvalds. There are several Linux distros available (most are open-
source and free to download and use) such as Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Kali, Mint,
Gentoo, Arch and much more.
 Now coming to the Basic and most usable commands of Linux/Unix part. (Please note
that all the linux/unix commands are run in the terminal of a linux system.Terminal is
like command prompt as that of in Windows OS)
 Linux/Unix commands are case-sensitive i.e Hello is different from hello.
Basic Unix commands:
Table of Content
 File System Navigation Unix Command
 File Manipulation Unix Command
 Process Management Unix Command
 Text Processing Unix Command
 Network Communication Unix Command
 Text Editors in Unix
File System Navigation Unix Command
Command Description Example

cd Changes the current working directory. cd Documents

ls Lists files and directories in the current directory. ls

pwd Prints the current working directory. pwd

mkdir Creates a new directory. mkdir new_folder

rmdir Removes an empty directory. rmdir empty_folder

mv Moves files or directories. mv file1.txt Documents/

File Manipulation Unix Command

Command Description Example

Creates an empty file or updates the access and

touch new_file.txt
touch modification times.

cp Copies files or directories. cp file1.txt file2.txt

mv Moves files or directories. mv file1.txt Documents

rm Remove files or directories. rm old_file.txt

chmod Changes the permissions of a file or directory. chmod 644 file.txt

chown Changes the owner and group of a file or directory. chown user:group file.txt

ln Creates links between files. ln -s target_file symlink

cat Concatenates files and displays their contents. cat file1.txt file2.txt

head Displays the first few lines of a file. head file.txt

tail Displays the last few lines of a file. tail file.txt

more Displays the contents of a file page by page. more file.txt

Displays the contents of a file with advanced less file.txt

less navigation features.

diff Compares files line by line. diff file1.txt file2.txt

patch file.txt <

patch Applies a diff file to update a target file. changes.diff

Process Management Unix Command

Command Description Example

Displays information about active processes, including their ps aux

ps status and IDs.

Displays a dynamic real-time view of system processes and top

top their resource usage.
Command Description Example

kill Terminates processes using their process IDs (PIDs). kill <pid>

pkill -9
pkill Sends signals to processes based on name or other attributes. firefox

killall -9
killall Terminates processes by name. firefox

renice -n 10
renice Changes the priority of running processes. <pid>

nice -n 10
nice Runs a command with modified scheduling priority. command

pstree Displays running processes as a tree. pstree

pgrep Searches for processes by name or other attributes. pgrep firefox

jobs Lists active jobs and their status in the current shell session. jobs

bg Puts a job in the background. bg <job_id>

fg Brings a background job to the foreground. fg <job_id>

Runs a command immune to hangups, with output to a nohup command &

nohup specified file.

Removes jobs from the shell's job table, allowing them to run disown <job_id>
disown independently.

Text Processing Unix Command

Command Description Example

grep Searches for patterns in text files. grep "error" logfile.txt

sed 's/old_string/new_string/g'
sed Processes and transforms text streams. file.txt

Processes and analyzes text files using a awk '{print $1, $3}' data.csv
awk pattern scanning and processing language.

Network Communication Unix Command

Command Description Example

Tests connectivity with another host using ICMP ping google.com

ping echo requests.

Traces the route that packets take to reach a traceroute google.com

traceroute destination.

Queries DNS servers for domain name resolution nslookup google.com

nslookup and IP address information.

Performs DNS queries, providing detailed dig google.com

dig information about DNS records.

Performs DNS lookups, displaying domain name host google.com

host to IP address resolution.

Retrieves information about domain registration whois google.com

whois and ownership.

ssh Provides secure remote access to a system. ssh username@hostname

Securely copies files between hosts over a scp file.txt

scp network. username@hostname:/path/

Transfers files between hosts using the File ftp hostname

ftp Transfer Protocol (FTP).

Establishes interactive text-based communication telnet hostname

telnet with a remote host.

Displays network connections, routing tables,

interface statistics, masquerade connections, and netstat -tuln
netstat multicast memberships.

Displays or configures network interfaces and ifconfig

ifconfig their settings.

iwconfig Configures wireless network interfaces. iwconfig wlan0

route Displays or modifies the IP routing table. route -n

arp Displays or modifies the Address Resolution arp -a

Command Description Example

Protocol (ARP) cache.

ss Displays socket statistics. ss -tuln

hostname Displays or sets the system's hostname. hostname

Combines the functionality of ping and

traceroute, providing detailed network diagnostic mtr google.com
mtr information.

System Administration Unix Command

Command Description Example

df Displays disk space usage. df -h

du -sh
Displays disk usage of files and directories.
du /path/to/directory

Manages cron jobs, which are scheduled tasks that run at

crontab -e
crontab -e predefined times or intervals.

Text Editors in Unix

Text
Editor Description Example

Vi (Vim) is a highly configurable, powerful, and Open a file with Vim: vim
feature-rich text editor based on the original Vi filename
editor. Vim offers modes for both command-line Exit Vim editor: Press Esc, then
Vi / Vim operations and text editing. type :wq and press Enter

Open a file with Emacs: emacs

filename
Emacs is a versatile text editor with extensive Save and exit Emacs:
customization capabilities and support for various Press Ctrl + X, then Ctrl +
programming languages. S and Ctrl + X, then Ctrl +
Emacs C to exit

Open a file with Nano: nano

Nano is a simple and user-friendly text editor filename
designed for ease of use and accessibility. Save and exit Nano:
Nano Press Ctrl + O, then Ctrl + X
 Text
Editor Description Example

Ed is a standard Unix text editor that operates in Open a file with Ed: ed
filename
line-oriented mode, making it suitable for batch Exit Ed editor: Type q and
Ed processing and automation tasks. press Enter

Open a file with Jed: jed

Jed is a lightweight yet powerful text editor that filename
provides an intuitive interface and support for Save and exit Jed: Press Alt +
various programming languages. X, then type exit and
Jed press Enter