Terminal Cheat Sheet

Terminal is a command-line interface that allows users to interact with their computer’s operating system through text commands. It is a powerful tool that can be used to perform a wide range of tasks, from simple file management to complex system administration.

This cheat sheet provides an extensive list of terminal commands and their descriptions. The commands are divided into different categories for easy reference.

Navigation

Command	Description
cd	Change directory
ls	List files and directories
pwd	Print working directory
mkdir	Make directory
rmdir	Remove directory
touch	Create a new file
cp	Copy files or directories
mv	Move or rename files or directories
rm	Remove files or directories
cat	Concatenate files and print on the standard output
more	Display output one screen at a time
less	Display output one screen at a time, with more features than more
head	Display the first lines of a file
tail	Display the last lines of a file

File Management

Command	Description
chmod	Change file permissions
chown	Change file ownership
chgrp	Change file group
ln	Create a link between files
find	Search for files and directories
grep	Search for a pattern in a file
sed	Stream editor for filtering and transforming text
awk	Pattern scanning and processing language
tar	Create or extract tar archives
zip	Create or extract zip archives
unzip	Extract zip archives
gzip	Compress or decompress files using gzip
gunzip	Decompress files compressed with gzip

System Information

Command	Description
uname	Print system information
whoami	Print the current user
who	Print who is logged in
w	Print who is logged in and what they are doing
top	Display system processes
ps	Display running processes
kill	Send a signal to a process
df	Display disk usage
du	Display disk usage of files and directories
free	Display memory usage
uptime	Display system uptime

Networking

Command	Description
ping	Test network connectivity
traceroute	Trace the route to a network host
netstat	Display network connections
ifconfig	Configure network interfaces
route	Display or modify the routing table
ssh	Connect to a remote server using SSH
scp	Copy files between hosts using SSH
ftp	Connect to a remote server using FTP
sftp	Securely transfer files between hosts using SSH

Miscellaneous

Command	Description
date	Display or set the system date and time
cal	Display a calendar
echo	Display a message
history	Display command history
clear	Clear the terminal screen
man	Display the manual page for a command
apropos	Search the manual page names and descriptions
alias	Create an alias for a command
export	Set an environment variable
source	Execute commands from a file
sudo	Execute a command as another user
su	Switch to another user

References

• Linux Command Line
• GNU Core Utilities
• Bash Reference Manual