Linux Command Language Dictionary


Display the current working directory pwd
Change to my home directory cd
Change directory up a level cd ..
Change directory down a level into dir cd dir
Create a new subdirectory dir mkdir dir
Remove an empty subdirectory dir rmdir dir
List all the files in the current directory ls
List only the files here with names starting with 'a' ls a*
List only the files here with names ending with '.c' ls *.c
List all the files in directory dir ls dir
Make a copy of file source and name it dest cp source dest
Change the name of file source to dest mv source dest
Change the name of directory source to dest mv source dest
Move the file file to directory dir mv file dir
Remove the file file rm file
Remove all the files ending in '.txt' in interactive mode rm -i *.txt
Remove all the files in the current directory in interactive mode rm -i *
Display all the command line arguments echo
Show what type of file file is file file
Show how many lines, words and characters there are in file wc file
Display all the text in file file cat file
Concatenate all the text in files file1, file2, file3 cat file1 file2 file3
Interactively browse through the text in file file less file
Display the top several lines in file file head file
Display the bottom several lines in file file tail file
Display the lines of file file that contain word grep word file
Show the current date and time date
Browse the manual for command name man name
Run shell commands from file file source file
List the files packed in a tar archive file tar -tf file
Unpack all files in a tar archive file into the current directory tar -xf file
Start an interactive gnuplot process gnuplot
Compile C source file file.c into executable file file gcc file.c -o file
Terminate shell and close terminal exit