Updated: 2015-06-02 03:18 EDT
This is a list of basic Unix/Linux command names used in this course and the week number in which they were first introduced and described. A missing week number means the command hasn’t been formally introduced yet. This page is updated weekly as new commands are introduced.
All these command names have manual pages. Command names that are built-in to the shell (e.g. cd
, exit
, pwd
, history
, etc.) are described somewhere in the man page for the bash
shell and you can also use the BASH shell built-in help
command to get information about built-in commands, e.g. help help
and help pwd
, etc.
This list only gives the names of the commands, not what the commands do or how to use them. As each command is introduced, you must keep your own notebook with these command names in it and a short description of what each command does; you will be required to learn and remember at least some of what each of these commands can do. Solutions to assignments use only these commands.
WK Command, feature, or technique introduced
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
01 Remote Login to the Course Linux Server and simple commands
01 Recall terminal command line history using UpArrow DownArrow keys
01 Using Copy and Paste in PuTTY via mouse drag and right-click
01 Basic Terminal Control Characters: ^C ^L ^W ^U ^R
02 Simple command line Output Redirection using >file.txt
02 File Transfer to/from the CLS
02 More Terminal Control Characters: ^D ^Z
02 Absolute and Relative pathnames
03 Setting the BASH shell prompt: PS1='[\u@\h \W]\$ '
03 Finding files and basic commands
03 Text Editors: basic VIM
04 GLOB characters: * ? [...], aliases
04 I/O Redirection: < > | 2>&1, Pipes
06 Midterm #1
07 Midterm #1 review
07 Shell local and environment variables, start-up files
07 Search $PATH
07 Quoting, File System
08 Inodes and hard links, ln
08 Disk Usage, du, quota, symbolic links
09 Midterm #2
10 Midterm #2 analysis
10 Permissions: whoami, id, groups, chmod
10 Permissions: umask
10 Unix/Linux Software Package Management: yum, rpm, and tar
10 CentOS VM Installation
11 system logs, syslog, scheduling with crontab, at
11 Processes, Jobs, Background, Foreground, Kill, Signals
11 users and groups, su, sudo, chown, chsh, useradd, gpasswd, etc.
12 Partitions and File Systems - fdisk, mkfs, mount, swap
13 Boot Process, GRUB, Run Levels, services, telinit, chkconfig
14 Quoting for Remote Command Execution (ssh)
14 Data Mining - using Linux commands to do stuff
04 alias (shell built-in)
03 apropos (synonym for: man -k)
11 at
11 atq
11 atrm
05 awk '{print $1}' (also $2, $NF, etc.)
02 bash
11 bg (shell built-in)
01 cal (9 1752)
02 cat
03 cd (shell built-in)
10 chmod ( -R ugo[-+=]rwx octal_number )
12 chown ( -R ) [owner][:[group]]
13 chkconfig
12 chsh
03 clear (see also ^L)
03 cp ( -a -r -p )
11 crontab
04 cut
01 date
12 df
10 diff
11 dmesg
08 du
02 echo (shell built-in and external)
01 exit (shell built-in)
07 export (shell built-in)
12 fdisk ( -l )
02 fg (shell built-in)
02 fgrep (same as grep -F) ( -i -v -w )
01 figlet
02 file ( -s -L )
03 find ( -name -user -inum -size -print -ls )
12 gpasswd
03 grep ( -i -v -w ) (but use fgrep in this course)
12 grub ( command line and stand-alone boot )
12 groupadd
12 groupdel
12 groupmod
10 groups
04 head
02 help (shell built-in)
01 history (shell built-in)
07 hostname
10 id
02 jobs (shell built-in)
11 kill (shell built-in)
11 killall
04 last
02 less (similar to "more"; used by "man")
08 ln ( -s )
03 locate ( see slocate )
02 ls ( -l -i -a -d -L )
11 mail ( -s )
03 man ( -k )
10 md5sum
03 mkdir ( -p )
12 mkfs
12 mkswap
03 more (similar to "less")
10 mount
03 mv
XX nano [*** USE VIM INSTEAD ***]
12 newgrp
04 nl (same as "cat -n")
02 passwd ( username )
07 printenv
11 ps ( uaxww -efww )
11 pstree
02 pwd (shell built-in and also external)
08 quota -v
12 reboot (see also: shutdown -h now)
03 rm ( -r -f )
03 rmdir
10 rpm
13 runlevel
10 service
07 set (shell built-in)
04 shopt (shell built-in)
10 shutdown -h now (see also: reboot)
03 sleep (60)
03 slocate
04 sort ( -f -n -r )
12 su ( - )
10 sudo
04 sum
12 swapoff
12 swapon
04 tail
10 tar
13 telinit
01 toilet ( --gay )
03 touch
04 tr
03 tree
10 umask ( octal_number ) (shell built-in)
12 umount
04 unalias ( -a ) (shell built-in)
12 uname
05 uniq ( -c )
01 users
12 useradd
12 userdel
12 usermod
03 vi / vim / vimtutor
04 wc ( -l -w -c )
07 whereis
07 which
01 who
10 whoami
02 whois (see the bottom of the week 2 notes)
10 yum
Keep a notebook with these command names in it and a short description of what each command does; you will be required to learn and remember at least some of what each of these commands can do.