A Brief Linux Reference Guide
Working with directories
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mkdir <name>
- make subdirectory with specified name
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rmdir <name>
- remove specified subdirectory
-
cd <name>
- move down to specified subdirectory
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cd ..
- move up one directory level
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ls
- get a directory listing
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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
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cp <source> <dest>
- copy file <source> to the destination
-
mv <old> <new>
- rename the file from <old> to <new>
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mv <old> <dest>
- move the file <old> to the destination
-
rm <file>
- remove the specified file
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rm *
- remove all files in current directory
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head <file>
- display the first 10 lines of <file>
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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