1 Unix/Linux Command List You Must Know (Weekly Cumulative)Index
This is a list of Unix/Linux command names used in this course and (eventually) 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.
Almost 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 in this course use only these command names. If you want to use other command names, clear it with your instructor first.
WK Topic covered
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
01 How the course works; submitting to Blackboard; course information.
01 Remote Login to the Course Linux Server and simple commands
01 Recall terminal command line history using UpArrow DownArrow keys
01 Simple command line Output Redirection using >file.txt
02 File Transfer to/from the CLS
02 Using Copy and Paste in PuTTY via mouse drag and right-click
02 Basic Terminal Control Characters: ^C ^L ^W ^U ^R
02 More Terminal Control Characters: ^D ^Z
02 RTFM Manual Pages
02 Absolute and Relative pathnames
02 Setting the BASH shell prompt: PS1='[\u@\h \W]\$ '
03 Finding files and basic commands
03 GLOB characters: * ? [...], aliases
03 Text Editors: basic VIM, nano
04 I/O Redirection: stdin, stdout, stderr, < > | 2>&1, Pipes
05 Start-up files (.bashrc .bash_profile)
05 Midterm Test #1 45 min Friday October 9
06 Midterm Test #1 analysis (marks)
06 Shell local and environment variables, export, printenv
06 Search $PATH
06 Quoting
06 Linux File System
06 Inodes and hard links, ln
07 Disk Usage, du, quota, symbolic links
08 Permissions: whoami, id, groups, chmod
08 Permissions: chmod, umask
08 Compression, archives, difference: gzip, tar, diff
08 system logs, dmesg, syslog
09 Processes, Jobs, Background, Foreground, Kill, Signals
09 Midterm #1 review, Midterm #2 preparation
09 Midterm #2 45 min noon Friday March 18
10 Midterm #2 analysis (marks)
10 *** Final Withdrawal Date Thursday March 24 (Week 10) ***
10 Scheduling with crontab, at
10 Shell scripts
11 Shell command Substitution
12 Shell control statements, the "test" helper command
13 Shell script problems; Regular Expressions
14 Regular Expressions and POSIX character classes
15 Final Exam 8am to 11am (three hours) in C144 Wednesday April 27
WK Command name first introduced (read the course notes)
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
13 && (shell built-in)
13 || (shell built-in)
13 $(( (shell built-in)
11 : (shell built-in)
03 alias (shell built-in)
10 at
10 atq
10 atrm
05 awk '{print $1}' (also $2, $NF, etc.)
06 bash
10 bg (shell built-in)
08 bunzip2
08 bzip2
08 bzcat, bzless, bzfgrep, bzgrep, bzdiff, etc.
02 cal (9 1752)
13 case (shell built-in)
02 cat
02 cd (shell built-in)
08 chmod ( -R ugo[-+=]rwx octal_number )
03 clear (see also ^L)
03 cp ( -a -r -p )
10 crontab
05 cut
01 date
07 df
08 diff
08 dmesg
13 do (shell built-in)
07 du
02 echo (shell built-in and external)
11 elif (shell built-in)
04 elinks ( -dump -no-numbering -no-references )
11 else (shell built-in)
13 esac (shell built-in)
01 exit (shell built-in)
06 export (shell built-in)
11 expr (shell built-in)
11 false (shell built-in)
02 fg (shell built-ini: use after ^Z stops a process)
03 fgrep (same as grep -F) ( -i -v -w )
11 fi (shell built-in)
01 figlet
02 file
03 find ( -name -user -inum -size -print -ls )
13 for (shell built-in)
13 function (shell built-in)
03 grep ( -i -v -w ) (use fgrep instead until you learn regular expressions)
07 groups
08 gunzip
08 gzip
03 head
03 help (shell built-in)
02 history (shell built-in)
06 hostname
07 id
11 if (shell built-in)
09 jobs (shell built-in)
09 kill (shell built-in)
09 killall
02 less (similar to "more"; used by "man")
11 let (shell built-in)
07 ln ( -s )
03 locate ( see slocate )
02 ls ( -l -i -a -d -L )
10 mail ( -s )
02 man ( -k )
03 mkdir ( -p )
03 more (similar to "less")
03 mv
03 nano [*** USE VIM INSTEAD ***]
04 nl (same as "cat -n")
02 passwd ( username )
06 printenv
09 ps ( uaxww -efww )
09 pstree
02 pwd (shell built-in and also external)
07 quota -v
03 rm ( -r -f )
03 rmdir
06 set (shell built-in)
13 shift (shell built-in)
06 shopt (shell built-in)
03 sleep (60)
03 slocate
04 sort ( -f -n -r ) (see the weekly notes)
03 sum
03 tail
08 tar
11 test (shell built-in and also external) also known as [
11 then (shell built-in)
01 toilet ( --gay )
03 touch
04 tr
11 true (shell built-in)
03 tree
08 umask ( octal_number ) (shell built-in)
03 unalias ( -a ) (shell built-in)
04 uniq ( -c ) (see the weekly notes)
08 unzip
01 users
03 vi / vim / vimtutor
02 wc ( -l -w -c )
06 whereis
06 which
13 while (shell built-in)
02 who
07 whoami
03 whois (see the weekly notes)
08 zip
08 zcat, zless, zfgrep, zgrep, zdiff, etc.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
