50 Linux Commands List with Examples

The Linux command is a utility of the Linux operating system. All basic and advanced tasks can be done by executing commands. The commands are executed on the Linux terminal. The terminal is a command-line interface to interact with the system, which is similar to the command prompt in the Windows OS. Commands in Linux are case-sensitive.

Linux provides a powerful command-line interface compared to other operating systems such as Windows and MacOS. We can do basic work and advanced work through its terminal. We can do some basic tasks such as creating a file, deleting a file, moving a file, and more. In addition, we can also perform advanced tasks such as administrative tasks (including package installation, user management), networking tasks (ssh connection), security tasks, and many more.

Linux terminal is a user-friendly terminal as it provides various support options. To open the Linux terminal, press "CTRL + ALT + T" keys together, and execute a command by pressing the 'ENTER' key.

In this topic, we will discuss the top 50 most frequently used Linux commands with their examples. These commands are very useful for a beginner and professional both. We have divided these commands into following sections so that you can easily identify their usage:

Linux Directory Commands
Linux File Commands
Linux File Content Commands
Linux User Commands
Linux Filter Commands
Linux Utility Commands
Linux Networking Command

Linux Top 50 Commands

The following are the top 50 Linux commands:

Linux Directory Commands

1. pwd Command

The pwd command is used to display the location of the current working directory.

Syntax:

Output:

2. mkdir Command

The mkdir command is used to create a new directory under any directory.

Syntax:

Output:

3. rmdir Command

The rmdir command is used to delete a directory.

Syntax:

Output:

4. ls Command

The ls command is used to display a list of content of a directory.

Syntax:

Output:

5. cd Command

The cd command is used to change the current directory.

Syntax:

Output:

Linux File commands

6. touch Command

The touch command is used to create empty files. We can create multiple empty files by executing it once.

Syntax:

touch <file name>
touch <file1>  <file2> ....

Output:

7. cat Command

The cat command is a multi-purpose utility in the Linux system. It can be used to create a file, display content of the file, copy the content of one file to another file, and more.

Syntax:

To create a file, execute it as follows:

cat > <file name>
// Enter file content

Press "CTRL+ D" keys to save the file. To display the content of the file, execute it as follows:

Output:

8. rm Command

The rm command is used to remove a file.

Syntax:

rm <file name>

Output:

9. cp Command

The cp command is used to copy a file or directory.

Syntax:

To copy in the same directory:

To copy in a different directory:

Output:

10. mv Command

The mv command is used to move a file or a directory form one location to another location.

Syntax:

Output:

11. rename Command

The rename command is used to rename files. It is useful for renaming a large group of files.

Syntax:

For example, to convert all the text files into pdf files, execute the below command:

Output:

Linux File Content Commands

12. head Command

The head command is used to display the content of a file. It displays the first 10 lines of a file.

Syntax:

Output:

13. tail Command

The tail command is similar to the head command. The difference between both commands is that it displays the last ten lines of the file content. It is useful for reading the error message.

Syntax:

Output:

14. tac Command

The tac command is the reverse of cat command, as its name specified. It displays the file content in reverse order (from the last line).

Syntax:

Output:

15. more command

The more command is quite similar to the cat command, as it is used to display the file content in the same way that the cat command does. The only difference between both commands is that, in case of larger files, the more command displays screenful output at a time.

In more command, the following keys are used to scroll the page:

ENTER key: To scroll down page by line.

Space bar: To move to the next page.

b key: To move to the previous page.

/ key: To search the string.

Syntax:

Output:

16. less Command

The less command is similar to the more command. It also includes some extra features such as 'adjustment in width and height of the terminal.' Comparatively, the more command cuts the output in the width of the terminal.

Syntax:

Output:

Linux User Commands

17. su Command

The su command provides administrative access to another user. In other words, it allows access of the Linux shell to another user.

Syntax:

Output:

18. id Command

The id command is used to display the user ID (UID) and group ID (GID).

Syntax:

Output:

19. useradd Command

The useradd command is used to add or remove a user on a Linux server.

Syntax:

Output:

20. passwd Command

The passwd command is used to create and change the password for a user.

Syntax:

Output:

21. groupadd Command

The groupadd command is used to create a user group.

Syntax:

Output:

Linux Filter Commands

22. cat Command

The cat command is also used as a filter. To filter a file, it is used inside pipes.

Syntax:

Output:

23. cut Command

The cut command is used to select a specific column of a file. The '-d' option is used as a delimiter, and it can be a space (' '), a slash (/), a hyphen (-), or anything else. And, the '-f' option is used to specify a column number.

Syntax:

Output:

24. grep Command

The grep is the most powerful and used filter in a Linux system. The 'grep' stands for "global regular expression print." It is useful for searching the content from a file. Generally, it is used with the pipe.

Syntax:

Output:

25. comm Command

The 'comm' command is used to compare two files or streams. By default, it displays three columns, first displays non-matching items of the first file, second indicates the non-matching item of the second file, and the third column displays the matching items of both files.

Syntax:

Output:

26. sed command

The sed command is also known as stream editor. It is used to edit files using a regular expression. It does not permanently edit files; instead, the edited content remains only on display. It does not affect the actual file.

Syntax:

Output:

27. tee command

The tee command is quite similar to the cat command. The only difference between both filters is that it puts standard input on standard output and also write them into a file.

Syntax:

Output:

28. tr Command

The tr command is used to translate the file content like from lower case to upper case.

Syntax:

Output:

29. uniq Command

The uniq command is used to form a sorted list in which every word will occur only once.

Syntax:

Output:

30. wc Command

The wc command is used to count the lines, words, and characters in a file.

Syntax:

Output:

31. od Command

The od command is used to display the content of a file in different s, such as hexadecimal, octal, and ASCII characters.

Syntax:

od -b <fileName>      // Octal format
od -t x1 <fileName>   // Hexa decimal format
od -c <fileName>     // ASCII character format

Output:

32. sort Command

The sort command is used to sort files in alphabetical order.

Syntax:

Output:

33. gzip Command

The gzip command is used to truncate the file size. It is a compressing tool. It replaces the original file by the compressed file having '.gz' extension.

Syntax:

Output:

34. gunzip Command

The gunzip command is used to decompress a file. It is a reverse operation of gzip command.

Syntax:

Output:

Linux Utility Commands

35. find Command

The find command is used to find a particular file within a directory. It also supports various options to find a file such as byname, by type, by date, and more.

The following symbols are used after the find command:

(.) : For current directory name

(/) : For root

Syntax:

Output:

36. locate Command

The locate command is used to search a file by file name. It is quite similar to find command; the difference is that it is a background process. It searches the file in the database, whereas the find command searches in the file system. It is faster than the find command. To find the file with the locates command, keep your database updated.

Syntax:

Output:

37. date Command

The date command is used to display date, time, time zone, and more.

Syntax:

Output:

38. cal Command

The cal command is used to display the current month's calendar with the current date highlighted.

Syntax:

Output:

39. sleep Command

The sleep command is used to hold the terminal by the specified amount of time. By default, it takes time in seconds.

Syntax:

Output:

40. time Command

The time command is used to display the time to execute a command.

Syntax:

Output:

41. zcat Command

The zcat command is used to display the compressed files.

Syntax:

Output:

42. df Command

The df command is used to display the disk space used in the file system. It displays the output as in the number of used blocks, available blocks, and the mounted directory.

Syntax:

Output:

43. mount Command

The mount command is used to connect an external device file system to the system's file system.

Syntax:

Output:

44. exit Command

Linux exit command is used to exit from the current shell. It takes a parameter as a number and exits the shell with a return of status number.

Syntax:

Output:

After pressing the ENTER key, it will exit the terminal.

45. clear Command

Linux clear command is used to clear the terminal screen.

Syntax:

Output:

After pressing the ENTER key, it will clear the terminal screen.

Linux Networking Commands

46. ip Command

Linux ip command is an updated version of the ipconfig command. It is used to assign an IP address, initialize an interface, disable an interface.

Syntax:

Output:

47. ssh Command

Linux ssh command is used to create a remote connection through the ssh protocol.

Syntax:

48. mail Command

The mail command is used to send emails from the command line.

Syntax:

Output:

49. ping Command

The ping command is used to check the connectivity between two nodes, that is whether the server is connected. It is a short form of "Packet Internet Groper."

Syntax:

Output: