A Brief Linux Reference Guide

Working with directories

• mkdir <name>
  • make subdirectory with specified name
• rmdir <name>
  • remove specified subdirectory
• cd <name>
  • move down to specified subdirectory
• cd ..
  • move up one directory level
• ls
  • get a directory listing
• ls -l
  • directory listing, long format (letter l)
• ls -al
  • directory listing, including hidden files

Working with files

• more <filename>
  • display the contents of the file, a page at a time (press <space> to go to next page, or <b> to back up to the previous page)
• chmod <permissions> <file>
  • set the permissions on <file>
• chown <UID>.<GID> <file>
  • change the user.group owner of <file>
• cp <source> .
  • copy specified file to current directory
• cp <source> <dest>
  • copy file <source> to the destination
• mv <old> <new>
  • rename the file from <old> to <new>
• mv <old> <dest>
  • move the file <old> to the destination
• rm <file>
  • remove the specified file
• rm *
  • remove all files in current directory
• head <file>
  • display the first 10 lines of <file>
• head -20 <file>
  • display the first 20 lines of <file>
• tail <file>
  • display the last 10 lines of <file>
• tail -20 <file>
  • display the last 20 lines of <file>

Administration

• man <command>
  • display the manual for <command>
• passwd
  • change your account's password
• chfn 
  • change your account's full name
• top
  • display all running processes
• kill <pid>
  • kill one of your processes
• ps -u <user>
  • display all running processes for <user>

Special files

• public_html
  • directory in which all web pages should reside
• .profile
  • account setup file (similar to autoexec.bat)
• .forward
  • used to forward email to another email address