Basic Linux Commands

Thilina Dilshan
1 min readJul 6, 2023

Linux commands form the basis of interacting with the Linux operating system. Here are some main Linux commands:

  1. ls: List files and directories in the current location.
  • Example: ls -l (detailed list), ls -a (including hidden files)

2. cd: Change directory.

  • Example: cd /path/to/directory (change to a specific directory), cd .. (move to the parent directory)

3. pwd: Print the working directory, i.e., display the current directory.

4. mkdir: Create a new directory.

  • Example: mkdir new_directory (create a directory named "new_directory")

5. rm: Remove files and directories.

  • Example: rm file.txt (remove a file), rm -r directory (remove a directory and its contents)

6. cp: Copy files and directories.

  • Example: cp file.txt new_location/file.txt (copy a file to a new location), cp -r directory new_directory (copy a directory and its contents)

7. mv: Move or rename files and directories.

  • Example: mv file.txt new_location/file.txt (move a file to a new location), mv old_name.txt new_name.txt (rename a file)

8. cat: Display the contents of a file.

  • Example: cat file.txt (display the contents of "file.txt")

9. grep: Search for a specific pattern in files.

  • Example: grep "pattern" file.txt (search for "pattern" in "file.txt")

10. chmod: Change file permissions.

  • Example: chmod +x script.sh (add execute permission to "script.sh")

11. ssh: Securely connect to a remote server.

  • Example: ssh username@remote_host (connect to "remote_host" with the given username)

12. sudo: Execute a command with administrative privileges.

These are just a few examples of the many commands available in Linux. You can explore further by referring to the documentation.

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