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Linux 13 Commands

Linux Bash Cheatsheet

Essential shell commands for directory operations, process handling, user privileges, networks, and environment variables.

Files & Directory Ops

ls -la

List directory contents in long format, showing hidden files.

ls -la /var/www
mkdir -p [path]

Create a directory recursively including parents if missing.

mkdir -p /var/www/html/assets
chmod 755 [file]

Set file permissions to user read-write-execute, group/others read-execute.

chmod 755 script.sh
rm -rf [path]

Force remove directories and contents recursively.

rm -rf /tmp/cache-old
find [dir] -name [pattern]

Locate files within active directories matching naming patterns.

find /etc -name "*.conf"

Process & Resources

ps aux | grep [proc]

Find active processes matching term.

ps aux | grep apache2
kill -9 [pid]

Force terminate process immediately.

kill -9 1844
df -h

Show disk space usage in human-readable formats.

df -h
free -h

Display system RAM usage metrics.

free -h

Networking & Uptime

curl -I [url]

Fetch headers from a web address to verify server status.

curl -I https://google.com
ping -c 4 [host]

Send ICMP packets to host to measure latency.

ping -c 4 8.8.8.8
netstat -tuln

List all active tcp, udp listening ports on host.

netstat -tuln
ssh [user]@[host]

Establish secure shell sessions with remote servers.

ssh root@192.168.1.50