A RetroSearch Logo

Home - News ( United States | United Kingdom | Italy | Germany ) - Football scores

Search Query:

Showing content from https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/linux-unix/basic-shell-commands-in-linux/ below:

Basic Shell Commands in Linux: Complete List

Basic Shell Commands in Linux: Complete List

Last Updated : 11 Jul, 2025

Anyone using Linux should become an expert in the essential shell commands, as they form the backbone of working with the Linux terminal. These commands enable you to navigate the system, manage files, handle processes, and configure settings effectively.

The Linux shell serves as an interface for users to interact with the operating system. Mastering its commands can greatly enhance your efficiency, whether you’re a system administrator or a developer. In this guide, we’ll introduce some of the most fundamental Linux commands, covering file management, system monitoring, and command syntax, along with practical examples. By the end, you’ll have the knowledge needed to perform everyday tasks confidently in the Linux command-line environment.

Basic Shell Commands in Linux What are Shell Commands in Linux?

A shell in Linux is a program that serves as an interface between the user and the operating system. It accepts commands from the user, interprets them, and passes them to the operating system for execution. The commands can be used for a wide range of tasks, from file manipulation to system management.

Some of the essential basic shell commands in Linux for different operations are:

Basic Shell Commands for File and Directory Management Command Description Example ls Lists files and directories ls cd Changes the current directory cd /home/user/Documents pwd Displays the current directory path pwd mkdir Creates a new directory mkdir new_directory rm Removes files or directories rm file.txt cp Copies files or directories cp file1.txt file2.txt mv Moves or renames files and directories mv old_name new_name touch Creates an empty file or updates file timestamps touch newfile.txt Examples: 1. List files in a directory: 
ls
2. Change directory: 
cd/home/user
3. Create a new directory: 
mkdir new_directory
4. Copy a file from one location to another: 
cp source.txt destination.txt
5. Remove a file: 
rm file.txt
Text Processing Commands in Linux Command Description Example cat Displays the contents of a file cat file.txt grep Searches for a pattern in a file grep "error" log.txt sort Sorts the contents of a file sort file.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 wc Counts the lines, words, and characters in a file wc file.txt Examples: 1. Display the contents of a file: 
cat file.txt
2. Search for a pattern in a file: 
grep "error" file.txt
3. Sort the contents of a file: 
sort file.txt
4. Display the first 10 lines of a file: 
head file.txt
5. Display the last 10 lines of a file: 
tail file.txt
File Permissions and Ownership Commands Command Description Example chmod Changes file permissions chmod 755 file.txt chown Changes file owner and group chown user:group file.txt chgrp Changes file group ownership chgrp group file.txt Examples: 1. Change permissions of a file: 
chmod 755 file.txt
2. Change the owner of a file: 
chown user:group file.txt
System Monitoring and Process Management Commands Command Description Example top Displays real-time system information (CPU, memory) top ps Displays the list of running processes ps aux kill Terminates a process by its ID kill 1234 df Displays disk space usage df -h Examples: 1. View running processes: 
ps aux
2. Display real-time system statistics: 
top
3. Kill a process by its ID: 
kill 1234
4. Check disk space usage: 
df -h
Networking Shell Commands Command Description Example ping Checks the network connection to a server ping example.com wget Retrieves files from the web wget http://example.com///file.zip curl Transfers data from or to a server curl http://example.com// ssh Opens SSH client (remote login program) ssh user@example.com scp Securely copies files between hosts scp file.txt user@example.com:/path/ ftp Transfers files using the File Transfer Protocol ftp ftp.example.com

Examples

1. Check the network connection to a server:

2. Retrieve files from the web:

3. Transfer data from or to a server:

4. Open SSH client (remote login program):

5. Securely copy files between hosts:

6. Transfer files using the File Transfer Protocol:

Advanced Shell Commands Command Description Example find Searches for files and directories find /home/user -name "*.txt" tar Archives files into a tarball (.tar) or extracts them tar -cvf archive.tar file1.txt file2.txt ssh Connects to a remote machine via SSH ssh user@remote_host Examples: 1. Find files in a directory: 
find /home/user -name "*.txt"
2. Create a tarball archive: 
tar -cvf archive.tar file1.txt file2.txt
3. Connect to a remote machine using SSH: 
ssh user@remote_host
Using Shell Command Piping

You can combine multiple commands by piping their output. In short, it allows the output of one command to be used as the input for another command.

Examples: 1. View the top 10 processes: 
ps aux | head -n 10
2. Search and sort a log file: 
grep "error" log.txt | sort
Conclusion

Mastering the basic shell commands in Linuxis among the essential things to know so that you can perform a seamless system navigation, learn how to manage files efficiently, and perform other operations. By learning these commands, you can easily enhance your Linux skills and get a better insight over the system.


RetroSearch is an open source project built by @garambo | Open a GitHub Issue

Search and Browse the WWW like it's 1997 | Search results from DuckDuckGo

HTML: 3.2 | Encoding: UTF-8 | Version: 0.7.4