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Linux Commaned
Line Survival Guide
( for beginners )
This is the Linux command line survival guide ( for beginners ).

• In this guide I’m going to cover the most important and most
common commands to get you up and running fast.
• If you learn the commands in this guide, you should have enough
info to get by and be competent.
• This guide is meant to be concise and practical.
• I’m including as much useful info as possible without making things
too complicated or advanced.

• This guide is meant for beginners. It is meant to make beginners

competent.

• I had two types of people in mind when I made this guide.

◦ A home or desktop user that is new to Linux and just needs to
get a handle on the commandline.
◦ A developer or other IT role that needs to be able to login to
Linux servers and be somewhat competent. ( and not
embarass yourself )
• I’m going to show you how to:
◦ manage files and disk space
◦ edit and process text
◦ search for files and text
◦ manage users and permissions
◦ basic network stuff including checking open ports
◦ install / manage packages
◦ start/stop and manage services
◦ zip and unzip files
◦ a whole lot more

• Check the link in the description for copy and past examples of
anything you see in this video.

• There are a lot of other really useful commands and information that
I’m not including in this video because I’m trying to keep this simple

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for beginners.

• If you want more advanced stuff check the play list.

• For each command I’m showing the most common usage and
options.

• If you want to go deeper and learn more about any of these

commands, check the playlist for videos on each command.

• I’m assuming you’re using the BASH shell which is usually the
default on most distros. Some distros have other defaults and some
comanies use other shells as their standard ( ex: ksh ). Most of what
I show should work in most common shells.

First 3 Commands
NOTE - Anything that comes after a pound sign ‘#’ is a comment and is
not actually part of the command. It has no affect when run on the
commandline. Many of the command examples I use are documented this
way.

ls command:

ls # list files in current dir

ls -l # long listing format
ls -lh # long listing format and human readable size
ls -la # long listing and show all ( includes hidden )
ls -ltrh # also sort by time (t) and reverse (r)
ls -R # recursive, list sub dirs recursively
ls -S # sort by size, largest first

ls dir1 # list files in this dir

ls /var/log # list files in this dir

pwd command:

pwd # show current working directory

cd command:

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cd dir1 # change directory ( relative path )

cd /var/log # change directory ( absolute path )
cd . # current dir
cd .. # parent dir
cd ../.. # up two dirs
cd ../tmp # relative path example

cd # change to home dir

cd ~ # change to home dir
cd - # change to last dir

~ home dir
. current dir
.. parent dir

NOTE - Any file or dir starting with a ‘.’ is a hidden dir and isn’t visible by
default.

Navigation and Getting Help

You can lookup documentation for each command like this:

man ls # standard docs for command

info ls # alternate, more detailed docs for command
help cd # docs for built in commands

tldr ls # quick summary for command

tldr cd # also works for built in command

NOTE - The TLDR command may need to be installed. The man

command should always be there.

sudo apt -y install tldr # install on Debian/Ubuntu/etc.

sudo dnf -y install tldr # install on new RHEL/Fedora/CentOS
sudo yum -y install tldr # install on old RHEL/Fedora/CentOS
sudo pacman -S tldr # install on arch

tldr -u # update doc db before use

Command history:

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history # show a history of commands that have been entered

history 0 # show entire history ( might need this on some non-bash shells )

A few shortcuts:

select previous command from history, keep pressing to

[up]
go back
[tab] auto complete path
[ctrl] - r Search commands you’ve typed
[ctrl] + a or
Moves the cursor to the start of a line.
[Home]
[ctrl] + e or [End] Moves the cursor to the end of a line.

Clear the screen:

clear

More Basic Commands

View contents of a text file ( more on this command later ):

cat test1.txt

copy Command
Copy files:

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cp test1.txt test2.txt # copy a file

cp test1.txt dir1 # copy file in to a dir
cp test1 test2 dir1 # copy 2 files into a dir
cp -p test1.txt dir1 # perserve mode, ownership, timestamps

cp -r dir1 dir2 # copy a dir ( needs recursive )

# if dest exists will be placed inside

mv Command
Move files:

mv file1 file2 # rename file

mv file1 dir1 # move file into dir ( if dest is a dir )

mv dir1 dir2 # move dir into another dir

# ( or rename if dest doesn't exist )

mv *.png images/ # use a wildcard

mv /var/log/test /data/backup/test2 # move and rename

mv /var/log/test /data/backup # move to dir, use absolute path
mv /var/log/test ../../backup # move to dir, use relative dir

Links and The ln Command

Hardlinks vs Softlinks:

A soft link is also referred to as a symbolic link. A soft link is just a pointer
to a filename. The actual file name points to the data on disk. Removing a
soft link will not delete the original file. Removing the original file will not
delete the soft link but will result in a broken link that points to nothing.
Creating a hard link basically just creates another name for the same data
on disk. A file name is just a name that points to some data on a disk. It is
probably easier to think of it as an alternate name or alternate directory
entry and not just a link. A hard link is basically the same thing as the
original name for a file. Deleting the original file will not actually delete the
file if it still has hard links pointing to it. To delete a file all hard links to the
file need to be deleted.

• Hard Links and Soft Links

Creating links:

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ln test1.txt link1.txt # create hard link

ln -s test1.txt link1.txt # create symbolic link
ln -s dir1 abc # link to a dir
ln -s ../../../etc/hosts link3 # use relative path
ln -s /etc/hosts link4 # use absolute path
ln -s doesnt_exist.txt new_link.txt # create broken link

touch Command
Change access and modification times of a file to current time. Also,
creates the file if it doesn’t exist.

touch test1.txt #

touch -r test1.txt test2.txt # set time on test2.txt to be the same as test

touch -d 'Sun, 29 Feb 2004 16:21:42 -0800' test1.txt # specify date/time

touch -d "2020-05-23 19:14:31.692254412" test1.txt # specify date/time

stat and file Commands

Get information about a file:

stat /etc/hosts
file /etc/hosts

stat /usr/bin/nslookup
file /usr/bin/nslookup

mkdir Command
Create dirs:

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mkdir dir3 # create dir

mkdir dir1/dir2 # create subdir if dir1 exists
mkdir -p dir1/dir2 # create dir and sub dir
mkdir -p /var/www/html # using an absolute path

rm Command
Remove files:

rm file1.txt # remove file

rm -rf dir1 # recursive / force remove dir and contents
rm -rf dir1/* # recursive / force remove all in dir1
rm -rf * # recursive / force remove all
rm *.txt # remove all text files

rmdir Command
Remove empty directories:

rmdir dir1
rmdir dir1/dir2/dir3
rmdir dir1/a/b/sub1

find Commaned
Finding files is easy. Don’t worry too much about memorizing these right
away (although it wouldn’t hurt). Just save these and refer back to them
as the need arises.

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find . # find all files in current dir

find . -name "test1.txt" # find all files with this name
find . -iname "test1.txt" # case insensitive
find . -name "*.txt" # find all files matching pattern
find /etc -name *.txt # same but specify /etc dir

find . -type d # only directories

find . -type f # only files
find . -empty # empty files
find . -perm 664 # search by permission
find . -mtime -5 # anything changed in the last 5 days
find . -name "*.txt" -delete # delete matching files

Execute command for each file found:

find . -name *.txt -exec rm -i {} \; # confirm and delete every file found
find . -name *.sh -exec grep 'test' {} \; # search for string in matching files

locate Command
The locate command is an alternative to the find command. The locate
command is faster than find. It doesn’t actually search the filesystem.
Instead it searches a DB of files that is updated on a regularly scheduled
basis. It isn’t installed by default on many distros ( ex. Ubuntu ).

locate test1.txt # search for this file

locate *.txt # search based on pattern

uptime Command
Show uptime and load factor:

uptime

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uname Command
Show system info ( arch, kernel, OS, etc. ):

uname -a # all info

uname -r # kernel release

Pipes, Redirects, and More

Redirection
Standard file handles / streams:

0 STDIN input
1 STDOUT output
2 STDERR error output

Redirection operators:

> overwrite
>> append
2>&1 redirect STDERR to STDOUT

ls > test1.txt # redirect command output ( STDOUT ) to a file and **OVE

ls >> test1 # redirect command output ( STDOUT ) to a file and **APP

ls asdf 2> test1.txt # redirect command output ( STDERR ) to a file and **OVE
ls asdf 2>> test1.txt # redirect command output ( STDERR ) to a file and **APP

ls asdf 2> test1.txt # redirect command output ( STDOUT and STDERR )

ls asdf >> output.log 2>&1 # append STDOUT to file, also redirect STDERR

Background
You can run a command in the background by appending an ampersand
to it:

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./server1 &

./process_data.sh &

Pipes
You can pipe output from one command to another like this:

cat data1.csv | sort

ps -ef | grep -i nginx

Commands You Normally Pipe To

These commands can operate directly on files but are very commonly
used with piped output so we grouping them all together here.

sort Command
Sort lines with the sort command:

sort file1.txt # sort lines in file in alphabetical order

sort -u file1.txt # sort and display unique lines
ps -ef | sort #

uniq Command
Use the uniq command to only show uniq lines. This works after sorting so
we first pipe to sort and then to uniq.

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cat data.csv | sort | uniq

./data_gen.sh | sort | uniq

grep Command - searching for text

Searching / matching lines in a file:

grep abc test.txt # search file for lines matching this string
grep -i abc test.txt # case insensitive
grep -v abc test.txt # exclude any matching line

grep -E "abc|xyz" test.txt # use a regex

grep -r abc # search for this text in every file recursively from current

ps -ef | grep -i nginx # match lines from piped input

wc Command
Word count and line count:

wc -l test.txt # number of lines in a file

wc -w test.txt # number of words in a file
ps -ef | grep -i nginx | wc -l # number of nginx processes

SED command
The stream editor - sed:

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sed 's/abc/xyz/' test.txt # swap first occurance of ‘abc’ with ‘xyz’ in a file
sed 's/abc/xyz/g' test.txt # swap every occurance ( g for global )
sed 's/abc/xyz/gI' test.txt # same but case insensitive:
sed -i 's/abc/xyz/g' test.txt # changes the file in place
sed -E 's/a|b/x/g' test.tx # use extended regex

ps -ef | sed 's/root/abcd/g' # with piped input

awk Command
Columns of text can be split and selected with awk. It will split on spaces
and tabs by default.

awk '{print $3, $5, $7}' test1.txt # select and print columns
awk '{print "Fields: "$3" -- "$5" : "$7}' test1.txt # control formatting

awk -F/ '{print $3, $5, $7}' test1.txt # change the field separator
awk -F: '{print $3, $5, $7}' test2.txt # change the field separator
awk -F, '{print $3, $5, $7}' test3.txt # change the field separator

ps -ef | awk '{print output $3, $5, $7}' # with piped input

cut Command
The linux command cut is used to split apart lines in a file.

• more simple than awk

• less functional than awk
• only supports a single literal char as a delimiter

cut -f 1,2,3 test.txt # fields 1,2,3 delimit by **TABS!!**

cut -d ' ' -f 1,2,3 test.txt # fields 1,2,3 delimit by spaces
cut -f 5- test.txt # field 5 to end
cut -c 1,2,3 test.txt # chars 1,2,3

cut -d ',' -f 1 test.csv # split on comma, print field 1 of CSV file

ps -ef | cut -d ' ' -f 1 # split on space, print field 1 of piped input/output

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Viewing Text
There are numerouse tools for viewing text.

echo command
Use the echo command to display strings and variables.

echo test # print a string of text

echo "test" # print a string of text
echo $VAR1 # print a variable
echo $PATH # print a variable

echo "This is a test: $VAR1" # print a string with a variable

echo "This is a test: ${VAR1}" # print a string with a variable

echo "test" > output.txt # overwrite a file

echo "test" >> output.txt # append to afile
echo > big_log_file # truncate a file

cat Command
Use the cat command to view or concatenate files:

Concatenating files:

cat file1.txt # print contents of file

cat file1.txt file2.txt # print contents of multiple files

cat file1.txt > file2.txt # overwrite file2.txt with file1.txt

cat file1.txt >> file2.txt # append instead of overwrite

cat one two > combined # combine 2 files into 1

head Command
Use the head command to view the begining of a file or piped output.

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head test1.txt # first 10 lines

head -n 3 test1.txt # first 3 lines

ps -ef | head # first 10 lines of output

tail Command
Use the tail command to view the end of a file or piped output:

tail test1.txt # last 10 lines of file

tail -n 5 test1.txt # last 5 lines of file
tail -f nginx.log # follow - show updates to file in real time
tail -n 100 -f nginx.log # last 100 lines and then follow

ps -ef | tail # last 10 lines of output

more Command
Display and page through text page at a time. Press space bar for next
page.

more /var/log/dpkg.log # page through a file

ps -ef | more # page through piped output

less Command
This tool is similar to ‘more’ but it has a lot more features. It doesn’t need
to read in an entire input file at one time so it starts faster with very large
files when compared to other tools like vi.

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less /var/log/dpkg.log # page through a file

ps -ef | less # page through piped output

Less commands ( use these commands inside the less tool ):

q quit
space scroll forward n lines ( window size )
enter scroll forward 1 line
arrow keys up / down / left / right
g go to first line
5g go to line 5
G End of file

Searching

/pattern search for pattern (regex)

/?pattern search backwards

During a search:

n next match
N previous match

Diff
Diff:

diff file1.txt file2.txt

Nano
Nano is a simple terminal based text editor.

• It is super easy to use.

• You can navigate with the arrow keys in an intuitive way and the
commands are listed at the bottom of the screen.
• It might not be installed on every system.
• To exit just use [ctrl] - x.

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nano test1.txt

VI / VIM
VIM is a newer, improved version of the old VI editor that is common on
Linux and Unix systems.

• Not intuitive, hard / frustrating for beginners who don’t know what
they are doing.
• Standard - You can count on this editor to be present on almost any
Unix or Linux system.
• Really powerful once you know all the shortcuts.
• Very old systems have VI installed, newer systems have VIM. The vi
command is usually a shortcut to vim but not always.

vi test1.txt
vim test1.txt

VIM Modes:

• normal mode - can navigate with arrows ( or h,j,k,l ) and run

commands
• insert mode - can actually type text

VIM Commands:

:w write / save
:wq save and exit
:q exit when no changes were made
:q! exit without saving
i insert mode, so you can actually type
[esc] exit insert mode
a add a line ( basically also insert mode )
dd delete current line
yy yank - copy current line
p put - paste current line
0 beginning of line
$ end of line
[shift] - g jump to last line
:0 jump to beginning of file

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:$ jump to end of file

:5 jump to line 5

VIM Search:

/abc search for ‘abc’

n next search match
N prev search match

VIM Search and Replace:

:s/abc/xyz/g replace all strings on line

:%s/abc/xyz/g replace all strings in file
:%s/abc/xyz/gi case insensitive
:%s/abc/xyz/gc confirm

Permissions and Users

Users
root vs normal user:

• The root user is basically the default admin user on Linux and Unix
systems. This user can do almost anything.
• Normal users will generally have much fewer permissions.

• It is generally a good idea to do most work as a normal user and

switch to root or grant priviliges as needed.

• Root’s home dir is here by default: /root

• Normal users have home dirs under /home for example /home/user1

whoami # show current user

who # who is logged in now
last # show list of last logged in users
id user1 # get info about this user

Changing passwords:

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passwd # change password of current user

passwd user2 # change password for user2 ( you need to be user2 or root to do thi

If you need to run commands as another user or as root there are two
main options. You can become that user with the su command or run
commands as that user with sudo.

su - Substitute User

When using su:

• Prompted for password of target user unless you are root

• ’-‘ is optional but is commonly used to make sure you login with that
user’s environment
• Default target user is root

su - user2 # switch user to user2

su - greg # switch user to greg
su - # switch user to root

sudo

The sudo command allows you to run commands as another user. This is
usually used to run commands with elevated priviliges or as a service
user.

• For this to work the current user will need to be setup in the sudoers
file.
• Allows for fine grained control over which commands can be run.
• Allows for accounting of who has used these permissions.

sudo apt install nginx # use root permissions to install package

sudo cat /etc/shadow # need root permissions to view this file
sudo su - # use sudo to run su and login as root

Adding Users

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Do this as root or using sudo.

There are two main tools that yoiu will use:

useradd:

• low level utility for adding users

• native binary
• might not be available on all systems
• more portable
• better for scripting
• use adduser command instead when possilbe
• no home dir by default
• no password set by default
• sh by default

adduser:

• higher level tool for adding users

• PERL script that wraps useradd
• sets BASH by default
• prompts for password

Add a user using adduser command:

adduser user2 # add a user ( prompts for password )

Add a user with the useradd command:

useradd -m user2 # create user, "-m" for home dir creation

passwd user2 # set the password

Permissions
In this example output snippet, column 1 is the permissions, column 2 is
the owner, column 3 is the group.

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-rw------- 1 user1 user1 86016 Apr 5 13:45 wallet.dat

drwxrwxr-x 2 user1 user1 4096 Aug 20 2023 web
-rw-rw-r-- 1 user1 user1 466 Jun 12 2023 web1.js
drwxrwxr-x 3 user1 user1 4096 Aug 20 2023 websocket
-rw-rw-r-- 1 user1 user1 2201 Aug 23 2023 websocket_notes.txt
drwxrwxr-x 2 user1 user1 4096 Nov 21 2022 Z__HOME_DIR_STUFF

drwxrwxrwt 19 root root 4096 Jul 10 11:28 /tmp

-rwsr-xr-x 1 root root 59976 Nov 24 2022 /usr/bin/passwd

Char meaning in permissions column:

first char d for directory, - for not directory

next 3 chars owner permissions
next 3 chars group permissions
next 3 chars other permissions ( everyone )

rwx rwx rwx

user group other

Permission values:

r read 4
w write 3
x execute 1

You can represent permissions with letters ( rwx ) or numbers. Letters are
easier but many people use numbers and you should be familiar with
them.

Octal Value File Permissions Set Permissions Description

0 — No permissions
1 –x Execute permission only
2 -w- Write permission only
3 -wx Write and execute permissions
4 r– Read permission only
5 r-x Read and execute permissions
6 rw- Read and write permissions
7 rwx Read, write, and execute permissions

Sticky and setuid bits:

s setuid or setgid bit is on

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S suid bit is on, user execution bit is off

t Sticky bit is on, execution bit for others is on
T Sticky bit is on, execution bit for others is off

NOTE - Extended permissions also exist, we aren’t covering those here.

!!!!!!!!!!

NOTE - To list files in a dir and view those files, you need both r and x
permissions on that dir.

Sticky bit: Permission bit normally set on directories. For any files in the
dir, only the file’s owner, the directory’s owner, or root can rename or
delete the file. Normally set on the /tmp dir

setuid - file can be executed with permissions of the owner setgid - file
can be executed with permissions of the group

Directory permissions ( these might not be intuitive ):

x nothing, no list, no modify not normally used

w nothing, no list, no modify not normally used
r list contents ( just names not attributes ) not normally used
rx list contents and attributes normal
wx modify contents but no listing not normally used
rwx everything normal

Chmod - Change Permissions

Change permissions with the chmod command. You can specify

permissions using these:

a all
u user (owner)
g group
o other
= set
- remove
+ add

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chmod a+rwx test1.txt # add rwx permissions for all

chmod u+rwx test1.txt # add rwx permissions for all
chmod og-w test1.txt # remove w permissions for group and other
chmod ug=r test1.txt # set read permission for user and group
chmod ug=rwx,o-rwx test1.txt # set rwx for user and group, remove all for other

chmod 700 test1.txt # set rwx for user, nothing for group and other
chmod 444 test1.txt # set r for all

chmod u=rx dir1 # set rx for dir

chmod -R u=rx dir1 # set rx for dir recursively

chmod +t test1 # set sticky bit

chmod u+s test1.sh # set setuid bit
chmod g+s test1.sh # set setgid bit

chmod 1755 test1 # set sticky bit using octal

chmod 4755 test1.sh # set setuid bit using octal
chmod 2755 test1.sh # set setgid bit using octal

Chown - Ownership

Change ownership with the chown command:

chown user1 test1 # change owner to user1

chown user1:user1 test1 # change owner and group

chown -R root:nginx /var/www/ # change owner and group recursively

Processes and Resource Usage

df Command
Show file system disk space usage:

df # show disk usage for all FS

df -h # human readable
df -h . # for FS of current dir
df -h /var # for FS of specified dir

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du Command
Show disk space usage in a dir and search for large files:

du -sh * # show sizes for all files and dirs in current dir
du -sh * | sort -h # sort numerically by human readable format

Memory - free Command

Show memory and swap usage:

free
free -h # human readable

ps Command
The ps command is used to show what processes are running on a
system.

ps # all procs with same ID and TTYs

ps -ef # all procs, full listing
ps aux # similar but BSD options and more useful cols

ps -ef --sort %cpu # sort by CPU

ps -ef --sort %rss # sort by memory

ps -eo pid,user,cpu,rss,args --sort %cpu # only these fields, sort by CPU

kill Command
The kill command is generally used to kill processes. This command is
actually used to send different signals to processes but most of the time
those signals are used to terminate the process.

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kill 150746 # kill process with this pid, gentle, allows cleanup
kill -9 150746 # force kill

kill -hup 150746 # can cause certain specific services to reload configs
kill -term 150750 # kill process with this pid, gentle, allows cleanup
kill -kill 150753 # force kill

Three most common signals:

(“signal hang up”) means controlling terminal is closed, will

1 SIGHUP
cause some daemons will restart and re-read configs
Kill, terminate immediately, can’t be caught or ignored, proc
9 SIGKILL can’t cleanup, exception procs: zombie, blocked, init,
uninterruptibly sleeping
Request process termination, can be ignored or caught
15 SIGTERM
allowing for cleanup, etc.

• kill command

Top Command
• The top command has a huge number of options and sub
commands. We’re covering the most useful and practical details
here.

Launch the top tool to show running processes:

top

Top commands:

q quit
f manage fields

Top manage fields mode commands:

d enable this field

s sort by this field
q or [esc] finish field selection

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Htop Command
The htop command is a process viewer similar to top. It can be used with
a mouse.

Launch htop:

htop

htop commands:

arrows navigate
space tag or untag a process
F9, K “Kill” process: sends a signal which is selected in a menu
F10, q quit
F6, <,
Selects a field for sorting
>
I Invert the sort order
Search by command lines, highlight while typing, F3 for next,
F3, /
Shift-F3 for previous
F1, h,
Go to the help screen
?

Disks
Check:

lsblk # show block devices on system

df -h # show what is mounted

Mount / unmount:

sudo mount /dev/sdd1 /mnt # mount a device

sudo umount /dev/sdd1 /mnt # unmount a device

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SD Cards / USB Drives / exFat FS

exFAT is a common filesystem for SD cards and USB drives. It is a very
good choice for cross platform support ( but otherwise not the best choice
of FS ).

You may or may not need to install an extra package to support exfat. If
you have unknown file system errors this may help.

Packages:

sudo apt -y install exfat-fuse exfat-utils # Ubuntu, Debian

sudo dnf -y install exfat-utils fuse-exfat # RHEL, CentOS, Fecora
sudo pacman -S exfat-utils # Arch
sudo zypper install fuse-exfat exfat-utils # Suse
sudo emerge --ask sys-fs/exfatprogs # Gentoo

Manually mount if it isn’t automatically mounted:

sudo mount -t exfat /dev/sdc1 /mnt/my-disk/

Shutdown and Reboot

Multiple different commands can be used to shutdown a system. These
are the basics.

reboot # just reboot

halt -p # shutdown and power off
poweroff # shutdown and power off
shutdown -h now # shutdown and power off
exit # just exit out of current terminal

Compressed Files

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We’re going to show you the basics of compressing and uncompressing a

bunch of different types of files. You don’t need all of these but they are
really handy when you do need them.

• Don’t memorize all of these compression and archiving commands.

Use this as a reference. You will remember the commands that you
use often.

TAR files
Tar files are a common tool used to archive files and directories into a
single archive file.

tar xvf some_package.tar

tar xvfz some_package.tar.gz # unpack a gzipped tar file or tar ball
tar xvfz some_package.tgz # unpack a gzipped tar file or tar ball

tar cvf some_archive.tar some_dir1 # create a tar file

tar zcvf some_archive.tar.gz some_dir1 # create a compressed tar file

GZip Files
GZip is the standard, most common compression tool ( not the best ).

gunzip some_data.zip # unpack a gzip file

gzip some_data.zip some_server.log # gzip a log file

Zip files
Zip files are also very common:

zip some_text.txt # zip a file

zip -r some_data_dir # zip a dir recursively
unzip some_data.zip # unzip
unzip some_data.zip -d dest_dir1 # unzip in dest dir

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BZip
Bzip files are also common:

bzip2 -z data.txt # compress

bzip2 -k data.txt # compress and don't delete original
bzip2 -d data.txt.bz2 # decompress

lzma and xz
lzma and xz are common and better than gzip and bzip:

xz data.tar # compress with lzma

lzma data.tar # compress with lzma

unxz data.tar.xz # uncompress ( still tarred )

unlzma data.tar.lzma # uncompress ( still tarred )

7zip
7zip is also popular:

7z a data.7z data.txt # compress

7z e data.7z # extract

RAR
You might also find yourself working with rar files:

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rar a test1.rar test1 # compress

unrar e test1.rar # extract to current dir

Compression / Archiving Packages

These packages might help if you are on Ubuntu and you are missing any
of these tools:

sudo apt install xz-utils

sudo apt install bzip2
sudo apt install zip unzip
sudo apt install p7zip-full p7zip-rar
sudo apt-get install rar unrar

Servers and Services

Managing systemd services:

systemctl list-units --all | grep service # list all services

systemctl status nginx # check status

systemctl start nginx # start
systemctl stop nginx # stop
systemctl enable nginx # enable
systemctl disable nginx # disable

Environment and Variables

Using variables:

x="test this"
echo x

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Exporting variables in your profile:

~/.bashrc

export x="test this"

Show your environment variables:

env

Your PATH
When you run a program the system searches for programs in the
directories that are in your path. You might want to add new dirs to your
path if those dirs contain scripts or binaries that you want to run.

echo $PATH # show current path

export PATH=$PATH:/opt/some_sw/bin # add a dir to your path temporarily

Add a line like this to your bashrc if you want the changes to persist:

~/.bashrc
export PATH=$PATH:/opt/some_sw/bin

If a script or executable binary is on your path, the system will know where
to look for it and you will be able to run it just by typing the name of the
script or binary. If it is not on your path you will need to specify the
directory ( either relative or full path ). To run something in the current dir
you can use ‘./’ to specify the current dir.

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./myscript.sh # run script in current dir

/home/user1/scripts/myscript.sh # run script with full path
myscript.sh # run script that is on the path ( system can fi

Scripts
This is not a guide to scripting but we are going to show you how to create
extra, super, basic scripts. We are also going to show you how to run thos
scripts.

bash ./myscript1.sh # execute a bash script even without permissions

chmod u+x ./myscript1.sh # grant execute permission to owner

./test1.sh # execute script in current dir

/home/user1/test1.sh # use full path

python test1.py # execute a python script ( could be v2 or v3 ... )

Package Management ( Debain,

Ubuntu, RHEL, Fedora, CentOS,
Arch, Suse, Gentoo, etc. ):
update cache, install, remove, search, upgrade

dpkg Debian / Ubuntu install from file, remove, check

install from repo, manages
apt Debian / Ubuntu
dependencies
RHEL / CentOS /
rpm install from file, remove, check
Fedora
RHEL / CentOS / install from repo, manages
yum
Fedora dependencies
RHEL / CentOS / install from repo, manages
dnf
Fedora dependencies
install from repo, manages
pacman Arch
dependencies
install from repo, manages
emerge Gentoo
dependencies

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install from repo, manages

zypper Suse
dependencies

• For Debian / Ubuntu just use apt by default for most cases.
• For RHEL / CentOS / Fedora just use DNF when available.

NOTE - You will need to be root or use sudo to install or remove

packages.

dpkg
The dpkg tool is a package management tool for Debian / Ubuntu
systems. It is really used for managing package files and querying what is
installed on the system. It generally isn’t used for dependency
management, etc. so for most tasks you will just use apt instead.

dpkg -i nginx_1.18.0-0ubuntu1.4_all.deb # install package

dpkg -r nginx # remove package

dpkg -P nginx # remove package, configs, and data ( purge )
dpkg -l # list all installed packages
dpkg -l|grep -i nginx # check if package is installed

dpkg -L nginx # list files installed

dpkg -S /etc/nginx/sites-available/default # which package installed

apt
Apt is the package manager for Debian / Ubuntu systems. It works pretty
well.

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apt update # update package index

apt install nginx # install a package
apt remove nginx # remove a package ( keep configs )
apt remove --purge nginx # remove package and configs
apt purge nginx # remove package and configs

apt search nginx # search

apt search --names-only nginx # search ( only in name )

apt upgrade # upgrade all packages ( won't remove anything )

apt full-upgrade # upgrade all packages

apt autoremove # remove unneeded packages

RPM
This is generally used for working with individual package files or checking
what is on the system. Generally you should use YUM or DNF instead (
actually just DNF ).

rpm -i nginx-123.rpm # install pacakge

rpm -e nginx-123 # remove package
rpm -qa # list all installed packages
rpm -qa |grep -i nginx # check if package is installed

YUM
Yum is obsolete but is very common. It has been replaced by DNF and
oftent times is just an alias for DNF. NOTE, when it is an alias for DNF,
update and upgrade will do the exact same thing.

yum install nginx # install package

yum update nginx # update package
yum update # update all packages
yum upgrade # update all packages and remove obsolete
yum erase nginx # remove package

yum search nginx # search for package

yum list all # list all pacakges ( installed and available )

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DNF
DNF is the current, preferred, non-obsolete package manager for Redhat
based systems. It replaces YUM.

dnf install nginx # install package

dnf remove nginx # remove package
dnf update nginx # update package

dnf update # update all packages

dnf upgrade # update all packages
dnf up # update all packages
dnf upgrade --refresh # update all packages ( forces an immediate update of the r
dnf distro-sync # sync to whatever the latest distro package version is (up

dnf search nginx # search for package

dnf list available # list all available packages
dnf list installed # list all installed packages

dnf repolist # list enabled repositories

dnf repolist all # list all repositories
dnf config-manager --enable abc # enable abc repo

dnf autoremove # remove unneeded packages

Pacman
Pacman is a nice package manager for Arch:

pacman -Syy # update package list ( force )

pacman -Syu # update package list and upgrade all
pacman -Syu nginx # update package list and upgrade all and install/upgrade sin
pacman -S nginx # install/update package
pacman -Sy nginx # install/update package, update package list first
pacman -Rs nginx # remove package and all deps except needed by other packages
pacman -Rss nginx # remove package and all deps except needed by other packages
pacman -Rsn nginx # remove package and all deps except needed by other packages
pacman -Ss nginx # search packages
pacman -Ql nginx # list all files from package
pacman -Qe # list explictly-installed packages

pacman -Rns $(pacman -Qdtq) # remove unneeded packages

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Emerge
Gentoo is a bit different. Here are some commands.

emerge --sync # update the package db

emerge --ask www-servers/nginx # install a package

Zypper
Suse uses the Zypper package manager:

zypper in nginx # install or update package

zypper rm nginx # remove package
zypper up nginx # update package
zypper up # update all packages
zypper se 'nginx*' # search anything packages with 'nginx'

Network Commands
We’re going to cover some basic network commands. We’re assuming
you are using DHCP and that wifi is working. We will still show how to
configure a static IP temporarily. We’re not covering wifi or configuring
static, persistent connecitons in this guide. We’re going to cover that
separately in another guide.

• If you’re on a server you probably aren’t using wifi but you might
need a static IP.
• If you’re on a desktop you can usually setup wifi with a GUI tool. (
that is going to depend on your distro )

Most systems will either have the older package ( net-tools ) or the newer
package ( iproute2 ) or sometimes even both.

Newer commands
These commands are part of the newer package ( iproute2 ).

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ip a # show interfaces with addresses

ip l # show interfaces
ip r # show routes
ip n # show ARP table

ip addr add 192.168.0.25/24 dev eth0 # asign IP to interface

ip addr del 192.168.0.24/24 dev eth0
ip link set eth0 up # interface up
ip link set eth0 down # interface down

ip route add default via 192.168.0.1 dev eth0 # add default route
ip route add 192.168.3.0/24 via 192.168.0.1 # add route through gateway
ip route add 192.168.3.0/24 dev eth0 # add route through interface

ip route delete 192.168.3.0/24 via 192.168.0.1 # remove route

ss -ltupn # listening, TCP, UDP, show process, number

Legacy Network Commands

These commands are part of the older package ( net-tools ).

ifconfig -a # show interfaces and IPs

route -n # show routes, number
arp -a # show arp table

ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.25 netmask 255.255.255.0 # add IP and netmask to interfa

ifconfig eth0 delete 192.168.0.25 # remove IP

ifconfig eth0 up # interface up

ifconfig eth0 down # interface down

route add default gw 192.168.1.1 # add defaultt ro

route add -net 192.168.5.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 gw 192.168.3.1 # add route throu
route add -net 192.168.3.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 dev eth0 # add route throu

route del -net 192.168.3.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 # remove route

netstat -ltupn # listening, TCP, UDP, show process, number

More Commands
Telnet

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Telnet is a tool for connecting to a shell on remote hosts. It is insecure and

obsolete. It is almost never used. You are very unlikely to actually use it to
connect to a host in modern times. Use SSH to connect to remote hosts
instead. It is sometimes used by people to check if a specified port is open
on a given host.

telnet 192.168.1.1 # connect to a host using telnet

telnet 192.168.1.1 80 # test if a specific port is open on a remote host

Netcat

Netcat is an incredibly flexible tool. It does a ton of stuff. These are some
of the more common, useful things that it can do.

nc 192.168.3.231 1234 # open connection to send data

nc -zv google.com 443 # just check connection, don't send data, verbose
nc -zv google.com 443 # same, for google.com

nc -zv 10.0.2.4 1234-1240 # scan a range of ports

nc -zv 10.0.2.4 1234-1240 2>&1 | grep 'succeeded' # filter for open ports

SSH

SSH is the secure, modern way to connect to remote servers.

ssh server1.lab.net # connect to this server

ssh 192.168.3.231 # connect to this IP address
ssh user1@192.168.3.231 # specify a user

ssh -i .ssh/Key1.pem user1@192.168.3.231 # specify an ssh key

SCP

The scp command is used to transfer files to and from remote hosts using
an SSH connection.

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scp data1.txt 192.168.3.231:/home/user1 # copy file to remote server

scp 192.168.3.231:/home/user1 /home/user1 # copy file from server to specified d

scp host1:/data/file1.txt host2:/prod/info.txt # between two servers, changing

scp data1.txt user1@192.168.3.231:/home/user1 # specify username

scp -r data_dir1 192.168.3.231:/home/user1 # copy a dir, '-r' for recursive

scp -i .ssh/Key1.pem data1.txt user1@192.168.3.231:/home/user1 # using an SSH key

Ping and Traceroute

Check point to point connectivity:

ping # ping a host to verify that it is reachable with ICMP

traceroute # show the hops to a host ( check at which stop it fails )

DNS

Check your own hostname:

hostname # show hostname of current host

Query DNS servers:

host google.com # resolve host name

nslookup google.com # resolve host name
dig google.com # resolve host name

host 142.251.32.110 # resolve IP address

nslookup 142.251.32.110 # resolve IP address
dig 142.251.32.110 # resolve IP address

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NOTE - You might want to use sudo or login as root to use lsof or fuser to
make sure you can see everything.

Open Ports and Files

List processes using network ports. Specify UDP or TCP and the port
number:

lsof -i TCP:8080 # TCP port 8080

lsof -i TCP:53 # TCP port 53
lsof -i UDP:53 # UDP port 53
lsof -i :53 # TCP and UDP port 53

Which files are open by which processes:

lsof # show all open file handles

lsof -p 805 # all files opened by a specific process ( using PID
lsof -c nginx # all files opened by this command or process
lsof -u user1 # all files open by this user
lsof /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libselinux.so.1 # Which processes have

Fuser is also really useful:

fuser -n tcp 80 # TCP port 80

fuser -n udp 53 # UDP port 53

fuser /home/user1 # show all procs acessing this file

fuser -m /home/user1 # show all procs acessing any file on same FS as this file

Important Files
These are some important files that you should be aware of:

/etc/hosts host / IP mappings, can override DNS

/etc/resolv.conf DNS configs
/etc/passwd users defined here
/etc/shadow passwords here

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/etc/group groups defined here

/etc/sudoers sudo permissions here
/etc/fstab filesystems and mount points

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