5/26/25, 3:34 PM List of most useful Linux commands

List of most useful Linux commands

Here you have a compilation of the most useful Linux commands, so you can make the most of
your favorite operating system.

Of course, there are many more, and countless possible combinations (some truly long and
impossible to remember). If you have any contributions, I would be happy to receive them.

Process and Job Control

Filter cheatsheet...
View Active Processes

Displays the processes that are running on the system.

ps aux

Terminate a Process

Ends a specified process by its PID.

kill PID

Run a Process in the Background

Sends a command to the background.

command &

List Background Jobs

Displays the processes that are in the background.

jobs

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Bring a Background Process to the Foreground

Restores a process to the foreground.

fg %n

System Information and Monitoring

View CPU and Memory Usage

Displays real-time CPU and memory usage of the system.

top

Detailed Memory Information

Shows details of memory usage.

free -h

Show Disk Space

Verifies disk space usage by partition.

df -h

System Information

Displays details about the operating system and hardware.

uname -a

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View System Logs

Checks the system logs.

dmesg

File and Directory Operations

List Files

Lists the files in a directory, including hidden ones.

ls -la

Move Files or Directories

Moves files or directories to another location.

mv source destination

Copy Files

Copies files or directories.

cp file destination

Delete Files or Directories

Deletes files (or directories with the -r option).

rm file

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5/26/25, 3:34 PM List of most useful Linux commands

Create Directory

Creates a new directory.

mkdir directory_name

File Content Operations

Show File Content

Displays the content of a text file.

cat file

Show First Lines of a File

Displays the first 10 lines of a file.

head file

Show Last Lines of a File

Displays the last 10 lines of a file.

tail file

Concatenate and Show Files

Concatenates the content of files.

cat file1 file2

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View Real-Time Updates of a File

Displays the content of a file that is being updated, useful for logs.

tail -f file

File and Content Search

Find a File by Name

Searches for files by name in a directory and its subdirectories.

find /path -name "file_name"

Search Within File Content

Searches for a string of text in files within a directory.

grep "text" *.txt

Find Recently Modified Files

Finds files modified within a specific time range.

find /path -mtime -n

User and Group Management

Add a New User

Creates a new user on the system.

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sudo adduser username

Change a User’s Password

Changes a user’s password.

passwd username

Add a User to a Group

Adds a user to a specific group.

sudo usermod -aG group_name username

Delete a User

Removes a user from the system.

sudo deluser username

Permissions and Special Attributes

Change Permissions of a File

Changes the permissions of a file or directory (read, write, execute).

chmod 755 file

Change the Owner of a File

Changes the owner and group of a file.

chown user:group file

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View File Permissions

Displays permissions and details of files.

ls -l

Packaged and Compressed Files

Compress Files in tar.gz

Creates a compressed file in tar.gz format.

tar -czvf file.tar.gz file

Decompress tar.gz Files

Extracts files from a tar.gz file.

tar -xzvf file.tar.gz

Compress Files in zip

Creates a compressed file in zip format.

zip file.zip file

Decompress zip Files

Extracts files from a zip file.

unzip file.zip

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5/26/25, 3:34 PM List of most useful Linux commands

Package Managers and Repositories

Update Repositories

Updates the list of available packages.

sudo apt update

Install a Package

Installs a package from the repositories.

sudo apt install package_name

Remove a Package

Uninstalls a package from the system.

sudo apt remove package_name

Upgrade the Entire System

Upgrades all installed packages to the latest version.

sudo apt upgrade

File System Operations

Mount a File System

Mounts a device or partition to a directory.

sudo mount /dev/device /mount_point

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Unmount a File System

Unmounts a device or partition.

sudo umount /dev/device

View Mounted File Systems

Displays the currently mounted file systems.

mount

Format a Partition

Formats a partition to a specific file system.

sudo mkfs -t ext4 /dev/device

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5/26/25, 3:35 PM Linux Commands - Process and Job Control

Linux Commands -
Process and Job Control
I present to you a compilation of the most useful Linux commands about Process and Job Control

Run commands and applications

Filter cheatsheet...
Run application in current folder

Runs a program located in the current directory.

./application

Run command

Executes a command in the terminal.

command

Start process in background

Runs a command in the background, allowing you to continue using the terminal.

command &

Cancel command

Stops the execution of a running command.

Ctrl + C

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Send command to background

Suspends a foreground command and sends it to the background.

Ctrl + Z

Retrieve process sent to background

Resumes a background process in the terminal.

bg

Bring job to foreground

Moves a specific job from the background to the foreground.

fg jobID

Start command as root

Executes a command with superuser privileges.

sudo command

Start executable with graphical interface as root

Runs a graphical application with superuser privileges.

sudo executable

Multiple session manager in terminal

Allows managing multiple sessions in the terminal.

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screen -S session_name

Stop a screen session

Allows you to disconnect a screen session without ending it.

Ctrl + A, D

List processes and tasks

Show background processes with jobID and PID

Displays background processes and their identifiers.

jobs -l

Show processes

Lists all running processes on the system.

ps

Show active processes

Displays all active processes with detailed information.

ps -eafw

Show system process tree

Visually represents the process hierarchy.

pstree

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Show processes ordered by memory usage

Lists processes sorted by memory usage.

ps aux | sort -k 5

Show detailed information of a specific process

Displays details about a particular process using its PID.

ps -p PID -o pid,comm,%cpu,%mem,etime

Monitor processes in real time

Displays active processes in real time.

top

Check the status of a process

Checks the status of a specific process (Running, Stopped, etc.).

ps -o stat= -p PID

Change the priority of a process

Modifies the priority of a running process.

renice -n new_priority -p PID

Send signal to a process

Sends a specific signal to a process to control it.

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kill -s SIGNAL PID

Terminate processes

Terminate process to reload configuration

Sends a signal for a process to reload its configuration.

kill -1 Process_ID

Forcefully terminate process by PID

Ends a process forcefully using its ID.

kill -9 PID

Terminate process by name

Closes all processes that match a specific name.

killall -9 name

Remove all processes of a specific user

Closes all processes of a given user.

kill -u username

Command aliases

Set a temporary alias for command

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Creates an alias that lasts only for the current session.

alias cmd='command'

Remove alias

Deletes a previously defined alias.

unalias cmd

Set a permanent alias

Adds an alias to your .bashrc or .bash_profile file to make it available in every session.

echo "alias cmd='command'" >> ~/.bashrc

source ~/.bashrc

Search for a process by name

Locates a specific process by its name.

pgrep process_name

Show resource usage of a specific process

Displays the resource usage (CPU, memory) of a particular process.

pmap PID

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5/26/25, 3:36 PM Linux Commands - System Information and Monitoring

Linux Commands - System

Information and Monitoring
I present to you a compilation of the most useful Linux commands for System Information and
Monitoring

General Information
Filter cheatsheet...
Clear terminal screen

Clears the terminal screen, just like the shortcut Control + L .

clear

Reset terminal session

Resets the current terminal session.

reset

End terminal session

Closes the local or remote (SSH) terminal session and terminates initiated processes.

exit

Resource Management

Show running tasks

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Displays a list of running tasks and their resource usage.

top

Show tasks with enhanced resources

Displays more detailed and visual information about running tasks.

htop

RAM status

Displays the status of RAM in megabytes.

free -h

Disk Space

List mounted partitions

Displays a list of the partitions mounted on the system.

df -h

View partition information on the system

Displays information about the partitions and their usage.

lsblk

Size of files and directories

Displays the size of files and directories sorted by size.

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ls -lSr | more

Space used by a directory

Estimates the space used by the directory dir1 .

du -sh directory

Size sorted of files and directories

Displays the size of files and directories sorted by size.

du -sk * | sort -rn

System Information

Data of connected users

Displays information about users connected to the system.

who -a

View CPU usage details

Displays CPU usage details for each core.

mpstat -P ALL

Reboot history

Displays the system’s reboot history.

last reboot

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System architecture and version

Displays the architecture and version of Linux and the kernel.

uname -a

Loaded kernel

Displays the currently loaded kernel.

lsmod

System hardware components

Displays information about the system hardware.

dmidecode -q

List hard drive partitions

Displays the partitions configured on the system.

cat /etc/fstab

Hard drive features

Displays specific features of the hard drive.

hdparm -i /dev/hda

Show PCI devices

Displays a list of connected PCI devices.

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lspci

Show USB devices

Lists the USB devices connected to the system.

lsusb

Kernel loading process events

Displays events during the kernel loading.

tail /var/log/dmesg

System events

Displays logged system events.

tail /var/log/messages

Open files by processes

Displays the list of open files by the current process.

lsof -p $$

Open files in a directory

Displays open files in a specific directory.

lsof /directory

System calls

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Displays the system calls made by a process.

strace -c ls >/dev/null

Library calls

Displays the library calls of a specific process.

strace -f -e open ls >/dev/null

Real-time interrupts

Displays system interrupts in real time.

watch -n1 'cat /proc/interrupts'

System Shutdown and Restart

Log out user

Ends the current user’s session.

logout

Shut down the system

Shuts down the system immediately.

shutdown now

Restart the system

Restarts the system immediately.

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shutdown -r now

Scheduled shutdown

Schedules a shutdown for a specific hour and minute.

shutdown hours:minutes &

Cancel scheduled shutdown

Cancels a scheduled shutdown.

shutdown -c

Dates

Show system date

Displays the current system date.

date

Year calendar

Displays the calendar for a specific year.

cal year

Month and year calendar

Displays the calendar for a specific month and year.

cal month year

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5/26/25, 3:36 PM Linux Commands - File and Directory Operations

Linux Commands - File

and Directory Operations
I present to you a compilation of the most useful Linux commands regarding File and Directory
Operations

In commands that require entering file or directory names, you can press tab twice to
autocomplete the path or get a list of available files.

Navigating Between Directories

Filter cheatsheet...
Go to root directory

cd

Go to previous directory

cd ..

Enter directory (absolute path)

cd /directory1/directory

Enter directory (relative path)

cd directory1/directory2

Go to user directory

cd ~

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Go to last visited directory

cd -

Show current path

pwd

Listing Files and Directories

Show files and directories

ls

Show files and directories with details

ls -l

Show files and directories, including hidden ones

ls -a

Show files and directories sorted by modification date

ls -lt

Show files and directories in list format, including sizes

ls -lh

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File and Directory Manipulation

Rename or move a file or directory

mv source destination

Copy a file

cp file destination

Copy a directory

cp -r source destination

Delete the file named file

rm file

Delete directory if it is empty

rm -d directory

Delete directory and its contents

rm -r directory

Create new directory

mkdir directory

Create multiple directories simultaneously

mkdir directory1 directory2

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Create directory path

mkdir -p /directory1/directory2

Create empty file

touch file

Change file date (format year, month, day, and hour)

touch -t 19901230000 file

Symbolic Links

Create a symbolic link to the file or directory

ln -s file link1

Create a hard link to the file or directory

ln file link1

View details about a symbolic link

ls -l link1

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5/26/25, 3:36 PM Linux Commands - File Content Operations

Linux Commands - File

Content Operations
I present to you a compilation of the most useful Linux commands for File Content Operations

Pipes and I/O Redirections

Filter cheatsheet...
Redirect command output to a new file

Use the > operator to send the output of a command to a new file.

command > output_file.txt

Append command output to an existing file

Use >> to append the output to a file without overwriting it.

command >> output_file.txt

Redirect command input

Use < to take input from a file instead of standard input.

command < input_file.txt

Redirect standard output and error output to a file

Use &> to capture both types of output in a single file.

command &> output_file.txt

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Pipe: direct output of one command as input to another

Use | to connect two commands, where the output of the first becomes the input of the
second.

command1 | command2

Show file content

Show content of a file

Use cat to view the entire content of a file.

cat file

Show content of a file starting from the end

Use tac to display the content in reverse order.

tac file

Scroll line by line through the file

Use more to read the file in segments.

more file

Scroll forward or backward in the file

Use less for more flexible navigation through the file’s content.

less file

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Show the first two lines of a file

Use head with the number of lines you want to display.

head -2 file

Show the last two lines of a file

Use tail to see the last lines of a file.

tail -2 file

Show the last lines of a file in real-time (follow)

Use tail -f to monitor changes in real-time.

tail -f file

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5/26/25, 3:37 PM Linux Commands - File and Content Search

Linux Commands - File

and Content Search
I present to you a compilation of the most useful Linux commands for File Search and its content

Search Files
Filter cheatsheet...
Search for files and directories by name throughout the system

Search for files and directories by name in the filesystem.

find * -name name

Search for files and directories by name within a directory

Perform the search for files and directories within a specific directory.

find directory -name name

Search for files and directories belonging to a user within a directory

Find files and directories that belong to a specific user.

find directory -user user

Search for files and directories by type within a directory

Search for files and directories of a specific type (d: directory, f: regular file, l: symbolic link).

find directory -type f

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Search for files and execute a command

Execute a command on the found files.

find directory -name name -exec command {} \;

Search for files with .ps extension

Use locate to find files with a specific extension.

locate \*.ps

Show the full path of an executable

Find the location of an executable in the system.

which executable

Show the location of a binary, help, or source file

Use whereis to get information about the executable file.

whereis executable

Show files that contain a specific name

Search for files that contain a specific part in their name.

find directory -iname "*part_name*"

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5/26/25, 3:37 PM Linux Commands - User and Group Management

Linux Commands - User

and Group Management
I present to you a compilation of the most useful Linux commands for User and Group
Management

Users
Filter cheatsheet...
Create a new user

Creates a basic user on the system.

useradd usuario

Create user with full option

Allows specifying additional information such as name, group, home directory, and shell.

useradd -c "User Name" -g group -d /home/user -s /bin/bash usuario

Delete user

Removes a user from the system.

userdel usuario

Delete user and remove their home directory

Removes a user and their associated personal directory.

userdel -r usuario

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Change user attributes

Modifies the information of an existing user.

usermod -c "User name" -g group -d /home/user -s /bin/bash usuario

Change the password of the user themselves

Allows the user to change their own password.

passwd

Change the password of another user

Allows the root user to change the password of another user.

passwd usuario

Set an expiration date for the user password

Establishes a specific date when the user password will no longer be valid.

chage -E 2014-12-31 usuario

View information about the user

Displays details about the user, such as groups they belong to.

id usuario

List users

Displays all users on the system.

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cat /etc/passwd

User Groups

Create user group

Creates a new group on the system.

groupadd group_name

Delete user group

Removes a group from the system.

groupdel group_name

Rename user group

Changes the name of an existing group.

groupmod -n new_name old_name

Modify the current group of a user

Changes the active group of the current user who belongs to multiple groups.

newgrp group

List groups of the current user

Displays the groups to which the current user belongs.

groups

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List all groups

Displays all groups defined on the system.

cut -d: -f1 /etc/group

Add user to an existing group

Adds a user to a specific group.

usermod -aG group_name usuario

Remove user from a group

Removes a user from a specific group.

gpasswd -d usuario group_name

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5/26/25, 3:38 PM Linux Commands - Permissions and Special Attributes

Linux Commands - Permissions

and Special Attributes
I present to you a collection of the most useful Linux commands regarding Permissions and
special attributes

File and folder permissions

Filter cheatsheet...
Show permissions

To view the permissions of files and directories in a readable format.

ls -lh

Assign 0777 permissions to a file

Allows read, write, and execute for everyone.

chmod 0777 file

Modify permissions of a directory

Assigns read and write permissions to all files within a directory.

chmod -R 0644 directory

Set permissions on a directory

Add or remove read (r), write (w), and execute (x) permissions for the owner (u), group (g), and
others (o).

chmod ugo+rwx directory

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Change owner of a file

Changes the owner of a specific file.

chown user file

Change owner for all files in a directory

Applies the ownership change to all files in a directory.

chown -R user directory

Change group of a file

Modifies the group of a file.

chgrp group file

Change user and group of a file

Sets both the owner and the group for a file.

chown user:group file

SUID permissions

View files with SUID

Shows all system files that have the SUID bit set.

find / -perm -u+s

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Set SUID bit on a binary file

Allows the user executing this file to have the same privileges as the owner.

chmod u+s /bin/file

Remove SUID bit from a binary file

Removes the SUID bit from a file.

chmod u-s /bin/file

Set SGID bit on a directory

Assigns the SGID bit to a directory, similar to SUID, but for directories.

chmod g+s /home/directory

Remove SGID bit from a directory

Removes the SGID bit from a directory.

chmod g-s /home/directory

Set STICKY bit on a directory

Allows the deletion of files only by their rightful owners.

chmod o+t /home/directory

Remove STICKY bit from a directory

Removes the STICKY bit from a directory.

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chmod o-t /home/directory

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5/26/25, 3:38 PM Linux Commands - Packaged and Compressed Files

Linux Commands - Packaged

and Compressed Files
I present to you a compilation of the most useful Linux commands regarding Packaged and
Compressed Files

TAR Files
Filter cheatsheet...
Show content of TAR file

To view the contents of a .tar file without extracting it.

tar -tf archive.tar

Create TAR file

Generates a TAR file from a directory.

tar -cvf archivo.tar directorio1

Create TAR file with multiple files and directories

Allows you to package multiple files and directories into a single TAR file.

tar -cvf archivo.tar archivo1 archivo2 directorio1

Create compressed TAR file in bzip2

Generates a compressed TAR file using the bzip2 algorithm.

tar -cvfj archivo.tar.bz2 directorio1

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Create compressed TAR file in gzip

Creates a TAR file compressed in gzip format.

tar -cvfz archivo.tar.gz directorio1

Extract TAR file

Decompresses a TAR file.

tar -xvf archivo.tar

Extract TAR file to a specific directory

Extracts the contents of a TAR file to the desired directory.

tar -xvf archivo.tar -C /directorio

Extract TAR file preserving user permissions

Extracts a TAR file while preserving user permissions.

tar -xpvf archivo.tar

Decompress bzip2 compressed TAR file

Extracts a TAR file that has been compressed with bzip2.

tar -xvfj archivo.tar.bz2

Decompress gzip compressed TAR file

Extracts a TAR file compressed in gzip format.

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tar -xvfz archivo.tar.gz

ZIP Files

Create a compressed ZIP file

Generates a ZIP file from a directory.

zip archivo.zip directorio1

Compress in ZIP with multiple files and directories

Allows you to package multiple files and directories into a single ZIP file.

zip -r archivo.zip archivo1 archivo2 directorio1

Decompress a ZIP file

Extracts the contents of a ZIP file.

unzip archivo.zip

BZ2 Files

Compress BZ2 file

Generates a compressed file in BZ2 format.

bzip2 archivo

Decompress BZ2 file

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Extracts the contents of a BZ2 file.

bunzip2 archivo.bz2

GZ Files

Compress GZ file

Generates a compressed file in GZ format.

gzip archivo

Decompress GZ file

Extracts the contents of a GZ file.

gunzip archivo.gz

Decompress GZ file with maximum compression

Decompresses a GZ file applying the maximum compression.

gzip -9 archivo

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