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
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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
01 File Transfer to/from the CLS
01 Terminal Control Characters: ^C ^L
02 Using Copy and Paste in PuTTY via mouse drag and right-click
02 More Terminal Control Characters: ^C ^L ^W ^U ^R
02 More Terminal Control Characters: ^D ^Z
02 RTFM Manual Pages
02 Absolute and Relative pathnames
03 Setting the BASH shell prompt: PS1='[\u@\h \W]\$ '
03 Finding files and basic commands
03 GLOB characters: * ? [...], aliases
04 I/O Redirection: stdin, stdout, stderr, < > | 2>&1, Pipes
05 Text Editors: basic VIM, nano (use VIM instead)
05 Shell local and environment variables, export, printenv
05 Start-up files (.bashrc .bash_profile)
05 Midterm Test #1 45 min - 10am Friday February 10 in the lecture class
06 Midterm Test #1 analysis
06 Search $PATH
06 Quoting
06 Linux File System
06 Inodes and hard links, ln
07 Disk Usage, du, quota
07 Symbolic links
07 Permissions: whoami, id, groups
08 Permissions: chmod, umask
08 Compression, archives, difference: gzip, tar, diff
08 system logs, dmesg, syslog
08 Processes, Jobs, Background, Foreground, Kill, Signals
09 Scheduling with crontab, at
09 Midterm Test #2 45 min 10am Friday March 17
10 Midterm Test #2 analysis
10 Shell scripts
10 *** Final Withdrawal Date Friday March 24 2017 (Week 10) ***
11 Shell command Substitution
12 Shell control statements, the "test" helper command
13 Shell control statements
14 Shell control statements; shell script problems
15 Final Exam (three hours) 08:00am Friday April 28 in CA105ABC
WK Command name first introduced (read the course notes)
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08 & (shell built-in)
13 && (shell built-in)
13 || (shell built-in)
13 $(( (shell built-in)
12 : (shell built-in)
03 alias (shell built-in)
02 apropos (same as man -k)
09 at
09 atq
09 atrm
05 awk '{print $1}' (also $2, $NF, etc.)
02 bash
08 bg (shell built-in)
08 bunzip2
08 bzip2
08 bzcat, bzless, bzfgrep, bzgrep, bzdiff, etc.
01 cal (9 1752)
12 case (shell built-in)
01 cat
02 cd (shell built-in)
07 chmod ( -R ugo[-+=]rwx octal_number )
03 clear (see also ^L)
01 cmatrix
03 cp ( -a -r -p )
09 crontab
04 cut
01 date
07 df
08 diff
08 dmesg
12 do (shell built-in)
07 du
01 echo (shell built-in and external)
12 elif (shell built-in)
04 elinks ( -dump -no-numbering -no-references )
10 else (shell built-in)
12 esac (shell built-in)
01 exit (shell built-in)
05 export (shell built-in)
12 expr (shell built-in)
10 false (shell built-in)
02 fg (shell built-ini: use after ^Z stops a process)
03 fgrep (same as grep -F) ( -i -v -w )
10 fi (shell built-in)
01 figlet
02 file
03 find ( -name -user -inum -size -print -ls )
12 for (shell built-in)
02 fortune
14 function (shell built-in)
03 grep (use fgrep instead until you learn regular expressions next term)
06 groups
08 gunzip
08 gzip
03 head
03 help (shell built-in)
02 history (shell built-in)
06 hostname
06 id
10 if (shell built-in)
08 jobs (shell built-in)
08 kill (shell built-in)
08 killall
02 less (similar to "more"; used by "man")
12 let (shell built-in)
06 ln ( -s )
03 locate ( see slocate )
01 ls ( -l -i -a -d -L )
09 mail ( -s )
02 man ( -k )
03 mkdir ( -p )
03 more (similar to "less")
03 mv
05 nano [*** USE VIM INSTEAD ***]
04 nl (same as "cat -n")
02 passwd
05 printenv
08 ps ( uaxww -efww )
08 pstree
02 pwd (shell built-in and also external)
06 quota -v
13 read (shell built-in)
01 rm ( -r -f )
03 rmdir
05 set (shell built-in)
12 shift (shell built-in)
05 shopt (shell built-in)
01 sl
03 sleep (60)
03 slocate
04 sort ( -f -n -r ) (see the weekly notes)
03 sum
04 tail
08 tar
10 test (shell built-in and also external) also known as [
10 then (shell built-in)
01 toilet ( --gay )
03 touch
04 tr
10 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
05 vi / vim / vimtutor
02 wc ( -l -w -c )
06 whereis
06 which
12 while (shell built-in)
01 who
06 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
