Linux most used Commands

200 Commonly Used Debian Linux Commands

Navigation and File Management

• pwd – Print current working directory
• cd [dir] – Change directory
• ls – List directory contents
• ls -l – Long listing format
• ls -a – List all files including hidden
• mkdir [dir] – Create a new directory
• rmdir [dir] – Remove empty directory
• rm [file] – Remove file
• rm -r [dir] – Remove directory and contents
• cp [src] [dest] – Copy file or directory
• mv [src] [dest] – Move or rename file or directory
• touch [file] – Create empty file or update timestamp
• find [path] -name [name] – Search for files
• locate [file] – Find files using database
• updatedb – Update the file database for locate
• stat [file] – Display file status
• file [file] – Determine file type
• basename [path] – Extract filename from path
• dirname [path] – Extract directory from path
• tree – Display directory structure in tree format

Viewing and Editing Files

• cat [file] – Concatenate and display file content
• less [file] – View file content page by page
• more [file] – View file content page by page
• head [file] – Display first lines of a file
• tail [file] – Display last lines of a file
• nano [file] – Edit file with nano editor
• vim [file] – Edit file with Vim editor
• gedit [file] – Edit file with Gedit GUI editor
• diff [file1] [file2] – Compare files line by line
• cmp [file1] [file2] – Compare files byte by byte
• wc [file] – Count lines, words, and bytes
• cut -d [delim] -f [field] [file] – Extract fields from lines
• sort [file] – Sort lines in a file
• uniq [file] – Filter duplicate lines
• tr [set1] [set2] – Translate characters
• sed [options] [file] – Stream editor for filtering and transforming text
• awk [pattern] [file] – Pattern scanning and processing language

File Compression and Archiving

• tar -cvf [archive.tar] [files] – Create tar archive
• tar -xvf [archive.tar] – Extract tar archive
• tar -czvf [archive.tar.gz] [files] – Create compressed tar.gz archive
• tar -xzvf [archive.tar.gz] – Extract tar.gz archive
• gzip [file] – Compress file
• gunzip [file.gz] – Decompress file
• bzip2 [file] – Compress file using bzip2
• bunzip2 [file.bz2] – Decompress bzip2 file
• xz [file] – Compress file using xz
• unxz [file.xz] – Decompress xz file
• zip [archive.zip] [files] – Create zip archive
• unzip [archive.zip] – Extract zip archive
• rar a [archive.rar] [files] – Create rar archive
• unrar x [archive.rar] – Extract rar archive
• 7z a [archive.7z] [files] – Create 7z archive
• 7z x [archive.7z] – Extract 7z archive

Package Management (APT)

• apt update – Update package lists
• apt upgrade – Upgrade all packages
• apt install [package] – Install package
• apt remove [package] – Remove package
• apt purge [package] – Remove package and configuration files
• apt autoremove – Remove unnecessary packages
• apt search [package] – Search for a package
• apt show [package] – Display package details
• apt list --installed – List installed packages
• apt list --upgradable – List upgradable packages
• dpkg -i [package.deb] – Install .deb package
• dpkg -r [package] – Remove package
• dpkg -l – List installed packages
• dpkg -s [package] – Show package status
• dpkg -L [package] – List files installed by package
• dpkg -S [file] – Find package owning file
• apt-cache depends [package] – Show package dependencies
• apt-cache rdepends [package] – Show reverse dependencies
• apt-mark hold [package] – Hold package at current version
• apt-mark unhold [package] – Remove hold on package

Process Management

• ps aux – Show all running processes
• top – Display real-time process information
• htop – Interactive process viewer
• kill [PID] – Terminate process by PID
• killall [name] – Terminate processes by name
• nice [command] – Run command with adjusted priority
• renice [PID] [priority] – Change priority of running process
• jobs – List background jobs
• fg [job] – Bring job to foreground
• bg [job] – Resume job in background
• nohup [command] & – Run command immune to hangups
• watch [command] – Execute command periodically

User Management

• adduser [user] – Add new user
• useradd [user] – Add new user
• passwd [user] – Change user password
• deluser [user] – Delete user
• usermod [options] [user] – Modify user account
• groupadd [group] – Add new group
• groupdel [group] – Delete group
• groupmod [options] [group] – Modify group
• groups [user] – Show user's groups
• id [user] – Show user ID and group ID
• who – Show who is logged in
• whoami – Show current user
• su [user] – Switch user
• sudo [command] – Execute command as another