Updated: 2015-06-02 03:18 EDT

1 Unix/Linux Command List You Should Know (Weekly Cumulative)Indexup to index

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.

Remember

Remember

Author: 
| Ian! D. Allen  -  idallen@idallen.ca  -  Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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