BASIC LIBNUX COMMANDS AND TOOLS

BASIC LIBNUX COMMANDS AND TOOLS

1. File & Directory Management

Command	Description	Example
pwd	Show current directory	pwd
ls	List files	ls -l
cd	Change directory	cd /home/user
mkdir	Create directory	mkdir test
rmdir	Remove empty directory	rmdir test
rm	Remove file/directory	rm file.txt
cp	Copy files	cp file.txt backup.txt
mv	Move/rename files	mv old.txt new.txt
touch	Create empty file	touch file.txt
find	Search files	find . -name file.txt

2. File Viewing & Editing

Command	Description	Example
cat	Display file content	cat file.txt
less	View file page by page	less file.txt
head	First 10 lines	head file.txt
tail	Last 10 lines	tail file.txt
nano	Simple text editor	nano file.txt
vim	Advanced editor	vim file.txt

3. Search & Text Processing

Command	Description	Example
grep	Search text in files	grep "word" file.txt
sort	Sort lines	sort file.txt
uniq	Remove duplicates	uniq file.txt
wc	Count words/lines	wc -l file.txt
cut	Extract columns	cut -d',' -f1 file.csv
awk	Text processing	awk '{print $1}' file.txt
sed	Stream editor	sed 's/old/new/' file.txt

4. User & Permission Management

Command	Description	Example
whoami	Current user	whoami
id	User ID info	id
chmod	Change permissions	chmod 755 file.sh
chown	Change ownership	chown user file.txt
sudo	Run as admin	sudo apt update

5. System Monitoring

Command	Description	Example
top	Real-time processes	top
htop	Enhanced process viewer	htop
ps	Process status	ps aux
df	Disk space	df -h
du	Directory size	du -sh folder
free	Memory usage	free -h
uptime	System running time	uptime

6. Networking

Command	Description	Example
ping	Test connectivity	ping google.com
ifconfig	Network config (older)	ifconfig
ip	Network management	ip addr
netstat	Network status	netstat -tuln
ss	Socket statistics	ss -tuln
curl	Transfer data	curl example.com
wget	Download files	wget file_url

Helpful Shortcuts

Ctrl + C → Stop process

Ctrl + Z → Suspend process

Tab → Auto-complete

history → Show command history

clear → Clear terminal

mkdir

Create directory

mkdir test

mkdir jo

sudo

Run as admin

sudo apt update

open "nano" text Editor

sudo nmap -sn 192.168.1.0/24

Meaning:

• Starting Nmap 7.95
  → The program has started running.
  → You are using Nmap version 7.95.

• https://nmap.org
  → Official Nmap website.

• 2026-02-12 05:38 EST
  → Date and time when the scan started.
  → EST = Eastern Standard Time.