Linux Commands Cheat Sheet - Every Command You Need (2026)

Linux Commands Cheat Sheet (2026)

Every Linux command you need. Bookmark this page.

File Operations

ls -la              # List all files with details
cd /path            # Change directory
pwd                  # Print working directory
cp src dest         # Copy file
mv src dest         # Move/rename file
rm file             # Remove file
rm -rf dir          # Remove directory recursively
mkdir -p path       # Create nested directories
touch file          # Create empty file
find / -name '*.js' # Find files by name

File Viewing

cat file             # Print entire file
less file            # Paginated view
head -n 20 file      # First 20 lines
tail -n 20 file      # Last 20 lines
tail -f file         # Follow file (live log)
grep 'pattern' file  # Search in file
grep -r 'pattern' .  # Recursive search
wc -l file           # Count lines

Permissions

chmod 755 file       # rwxr-xr-x
chmod 644 file       # rw-r--r--
chmod +x script.sh   # Make executable
chown user:group f   # Change owner

Process Management

ps aux               # List all processes
top                  # Interactive process monitor
kill PID             # Kill process
kill -9 PID          # Force kill
bg                   # Background suspended job
fg                   # Foreground job
nohup cmd &          # Run in background after logout

Networking

curl url             # HTTP request
wget url             # Download file
ssh user@host        # SSH connect
scp file user@host:path  # Copy over SSH
netstat -tlnp        # List listening ports
nslookup domain      # DNS lookup

Disk Usage

df -h                # Disk space
du -sh dir           # Directory size
du -sh * | sort -h   # Sort by size

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