As of writing this, Linux has a worldwide market share of 2.68% on desktops, but over 90% of all cloud infrastructure and hosting services run in this operating system. For this reason alone, it is crucial to be familiar with popular Linux commands. Show
According to the 2020 StackOverflow survey, Linux is the most-used operating system by professional developers, with an impressive 55.9% of the market share. It isn’t just a coincidence. Linux is free and open-source, has better security than its competitors, and boasts a powerful command line that makes developers and power users more effective. You also have access to a powerful package manager and a bunch of development tools like DevKinsta. Whether you’re an experienced Sysadmin or a Linux newcomer, you can take advantage of this guide. Let’s begin! What Is a Linux Command?A Linux command is a program or utility that runs on the command line. A command line is an interface that accepts lines of text and processes them into instructions for your computer. Any graphical user interface (GUI) is just an abstraction of command-line programs. For example, when you close a window by clicking on the “X,” there’s a command running behind that action. A flag is a way we can pass options to the command you run. Most Linux commands have a help page that we can call with the flag View plans An argument or parameter is the input we give to a command so it can run properly. In most cases, the argument is a file path, but it can be anything you type in the terminal. You can invoke flags using hyphens ( Did you know that 90% of all cloud infrastructure and hosting services use Linux? 🤯 For this reason alone, it is crucial to be familiar with popular Linux commands. ⬇️Click to Tweet The Most-Used Linux CommandsBefore jumping into the most-used Linux commands, make sure to fire up a terminal. In most Linux distributions, you would use Ctrl + Alt + T to do so. If this isn’t working, search in your application panel for “terminal.”  Now let’s dive into the 40 most-used Linux commands. Many of these have multiple options you can string to them, so make sure to check out the commands’ manual. 1. cd /home/kinsta/Documents/Videos0 CommandIt has many options, so it might be good to get some help by using the For example, to colorize the output of the Now the But typing 2. cd /home/kinsta/Documents/Videos6 CommandThe For example, to set As you can see, the If you want to list all the aliases you have in your shell session, you can run the 3. cd4 CommandAs the name suggests, the 4. cd8 CommandThe To use it, simply type 5. cd ..2 CommandThe For instance, if you’re inside your Documents directory and you’re trying to access one of its subfolders called Videos, you can enter it by typing: You can also supply the absolute path of the folder: There are some tricks with the 1. Go to the home folder2. Move a level up3. Return to the previous directory6. cd ..6 CommandIt’s so easy to copy files and folders directly in the Linux terminal that sometimes it can replace conventional file managers. To use the You can also copy entire directories by using the recursive flag: Remember that in Linux, folders end with a forward slash ( 7. cd ..9 CommandNow that you know how to copy files, it’ll be helpful to know how to remove them. You can use the To delete a regular file, you’d type: If you want to delete an empty directory, you can use the recursive ( On the other hand, to remove a directory with content inside of it, you need to use the force (-f) and recursive flags: InfoBe careful with this — you can erase a whole day of work by misusing these two flags! 8. ls --color=auto02 CommandYou use the To use this command, you’d type its name with the source and destination files: To utilize absolute paths, you’d use: …where You also can use 9. ls --color=auto06 CommandTo create folders in the shell, you use the For example, to make a directory to keep all of your images, just type: To create subdirectories with a simple command, use the parent ( 10. ls --color=auto09 CommandAnother essential Linux command is To see the manual page of the You could even refer to the 11. ls --color=auto13 CommandThe For example, I have an old file that was last modified on April 12th: To change its modification date to the current time, we need to use the Now the date matches today’s date (which at the time of writing was August 8th). Nonetheless, most of the time, you won’t use 12. ls --color=auto17 CommandThe The basic permissions a file can have are:
One of the most common use cases for You use this to make scripts executable, allowing you to run them directly by using the 13. ls --color=auto04 CommandMaybe the For instance, with this command, you can run a Python script or a program only available in .run format, like XAMPP. When running an executable, make sure it has executable (x) permissions, which you can modify with the Here’s a simple Python script and how we would run it with the Here’s how we’d convert the script into an executable and run it: 14. ls --color=auto27 CommandThe 15. ls --color=auto29 CommandThis command stands for “superuser do,” and it lets you act as a superuser or root user while you’re running a specific command. It’s how Linux protects itself and prevents users from accidentally modifying the machine’s filesystem or installing inappropriate packages. Sudo is commonly used to install software or to edit files outside the user’s home directory: It’ll ask you for the administrator’s password before running the command you typed after it. 16. ls --color=auto30 CommandAs you may guess, the To power off your computer immediately (the default is one minute), type: You can also schedule to turn off your system in a 24-hour format: To cancel a previous 17. ls --color=auto34 CommandSign Up For the NewsletterWant to know how we increased our traffic over 1000%?Join 20,000+ others who get our weekly newsletter with insider WordPress tips! Subscribe Now18. ls --color=auto36 CommandThe unzip command allows you to extract the content of a .zip file from the terminal. Once again, this package may not be installed by default, so make sure you install it with your package manager. Here, we’re unpacking a .zip file full of images: 19. ls --color=auto37, ls --color=auto38, ls --color=auto39 commandsNo matter which Linux distribution you’re using, it’s likely that you use package managers to install, update, and remove the software you use every day. You can access these package managers through the command line, and you’d use one or another depending on the distro your machine is running. The following examples will install GIMP, a free and open source software usually available in most package managers: 1. Debian-based (Ubuntu, Linux Mint)2. Red Hat-based (Fedora, CentOS)3. Arch-based (Manjaro, Arco Linux)20. ls --color=auto40 CommandThe Its primary usage is to print environmental variables inside those messages: 21. ls --color=auto42 Command22. ls --color=auto44 CommandWith In case you want something more interactive, you can use 23. ls --color=auto47 CommandIt’s annoying when a program is unresponsive, and you can’t close it by any means. Fortunately, the Simply put, You can kill processes by entering either the PID (processes ID) or the program’s binary name: Be careful with this command — with 24. ls --color=auto51 Command25. ls --color=auto54 CommandSome people consider it difficult to use — exiting Vim is one of the most-viewed StackOverflow questions — but once you get used to it, it becomes your best ally in the command line. To fire up Vim, just type: All Kinsta hosting plans include 24/7 support from our veteran WordPress developers and engineers. Chat with the same team that backs our Fortune 500 clients. Check out our plans! 26. ls --color=auto56 CommandIf you’re struggling to remember a command, 27. ls --color=auto58 CommandIt’s similar to any other change of password you’ve seen elsewhere, but in this case, it’s directly in your terminal: Be careful while using it — you don’t want to mess up your user password! 28. ls --color=auto60 CommandThe For example, we can use this to check the binary path for Python and the Brave web browser: 29. ls --color=auto62 CommandIf you ever wanted a file to be almost impossible to recover, Here’s a file with little content in it: Now, let’s have If you want to delete the file right away, you can use the 30. ls --color=auto66 CommandThe neat thing about 31. ls --color=auto72 CommandSimilar to For example, to print the last lines of a large text file, you’d use: To view only the last four lines: 32. ls --color=auto76 CommandThis one is complementary to the 33. ls --color=auto80 CommandGrep is one of the most powerful utilities for working with text files. It searches for lines that match a regular expression and print them: You can count the number of times the pattern repeats by using the 34. ls --color=auto82 CommandThe You would get the same result by using 35. ls --color=auto85 Command36. ls --color=auto87 CommandWc stands for “word count,” and as the name suggests, it returns the number of words in a text file: Let’s breakdown the output of this command:
If you only need the number of words, use the 37. ls --color=auto89 CommandMost of the time, you’ll be using the 38. ls --color=auto92 CommandNeofetch is a CLI (command-line interface) tool that displays information about your system — like kernel version, shell, and hardware — next to an ASCII logo of your Linux distro: In most machines, this command isn’t available by default, so make sure to install it with your package manager first. 39. ls --color=auto93 CommandThe To search for a file named long.txt in the current directory, enter this: To search for files that end with a .py (Python) extension, you can use the following command: 40. ls --color=auto95 CommandHere’s how you would download a Python file from a GitHub repo: Linux Commands Cheat SheetWhenever you want a quick reference, just review the below table: CommandUsage
As of 2020, Linux was the most-used operating system by professional developers 😲 Learn the 40 most-used commands and start taking advantage of this powerful system with this post🚀Click to Tweet SummaryIt can take some time to learn Linux, but once you master some of its tools, it becomes your best ally, and you won’t regret choosing it as your daily driver. One of the remarkable things about Linux is that even if you’re an experienced user, you’ll never stop learning to be more productive using it. There are a lot more helpful Linux commands. If we’ve left something out, please share your favorite Linux commands in the comments below! Get all your applications, databases and WordPress sites online and under one roof. Our feature-packed, high-performance cloud platform includes:
Test it yourself with $20 off your first month of Application Hosting or Database Hosting. Explore our plans or talk to sales to find your best fit. Which of the following Linux commands utilities can be used to edit a wireless connection's configuration settings?Which of the following Linux commands/utilities can be used to edit a wireless connection's configuration settings? C. There is a utility called ifconfig that is used to see and edit network configuration files. It has a counterpart, iwconfig, that works with wireless connection configuration files.
What are the utility commands in Linux?Top 50 Linux Commands You Must Know as a Regular User.. The ls command in Linux.. The pwd command in Linux.. The cd command in Linux.. The mkdir command in Linux.. The cp and mv commands.. The rm command in Linux.. The touch command in Linux.. What is file utilities in Linux?These are the Linux commands which help you to create, delete, rename, move, copy, edit and perform other related activities on Linux files.
Which of the following Linux commands can be used to create file?The easiest way to create a new file in Linux is by using the touch command. The ls command lists the contents of the current directory. Since no other directory was specified, the touch command created the file in the current directory.
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