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List of 100 basic to advanced Linux commands that are essential for users(Must Read)

Author: Trix Cyrus
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Here’s a comprehensive list of 100 basic to advanced Linux commands that are essential for users, system administrators, and developers:

Basic Commands:

ls – List directory contents
cd – Change directory
pwd – Print working directory
mkdir – Create directories
rmdir – Remove empty directories
rm – Remove files or directories
cp – Copy files and directories
mv – Move or rename files
touch – Create a new empty file
cat – Concatenate and display file content
more – View file content page by page
less – View file content with backward navigation
head – Display the beginning of a file
tail – Display the end of a file
echo – Display a line of text
df – Report filesystem disk space usage
du – Estimate file space usage
chmod – Change file permissions
chown – Change file ownership
whoami – Display the current user
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Intermediate Commands:

ps – Report a snapshot of current processes
top – Display tasks and system performance in real-time
kill – Terminate processes
killall – Kill processes by name
ping – Send ICMP echo request to test network connectivity
wget – Download files from the internet
curl – Transfer data to/from a server
grep – Search text using patterns
find – Search for files and directories
locate – Find files by name
tar – Archive files using tarballs
gzip – Compress files
gunzip – Decompress .gz files
zip – Compress files into a zip archive
unzip – Extract files from a zip archive
scp – Securely copy files between hosts
rsync – Synchronize files and directories
df -h – Show disk space usage in human-readable format
du -sh – Display directory size
nano – Open a text editor
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File System and Disk Management:

fdisk – Partition a disk
mkfs – Create a new filesystem
fsck – Check and repair a filesystem
mount – Mount a filesystem
umount – Unmount a filesystem
parted – Manage disk partitions
blkid – Identify block devices
lsblk – List information about block devices
df -T – Display disk space usage along with filesystem type
lsof – List open files and the processes using them
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System Monitoring & Management:

htop – Interactive process viewer
uptime – Show how long the system has been running
free – Display free and used memory
vmstat – Report virtual memory statistics
iostat – Report CPU and I/O statistics
dmesg – Print kernel message buffer
lshw – List hardware configuration
lsusb – List USB devices
lspci – List PCI devices
uname -a – Print system information
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Networking Commands:

ifconfig – Configure network interfaces
ip a – Display IP address info
netstat – Print network connections
ss – Display socket statistics
nmap – Network exploration tool and security scanner
traceroute – Trace the route packets take to a network host
nslookup – Query internet name servers
dig – Perform DNS lookup
iptables – Configure packet filtering rules
hostname – Show or set the system’s hostname
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User and Group Management:

useradd – Add a new user
usermod – Modify a user account
userdel – Delete a user account
groupadd – Add a new group
passwd – Change user password
su – Switch user accounts
sudo – Execute a command as another user
id – Print user and group IDs
who – Show who is logged on
last – Show the last login of users
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Package Management:

apt-get – Package handling utility for Debian-based systems
apt-cache – Search and display package information (Debian-based)
yum – Package manager for RPM-based distributions (e.g., CentOS, RedHat)
dnf – Next-generation version of yum
pacman – Package manager for Arch-based systems
rpm – Install, uninstall, and query RPM packages
dpkg – Debian package manager
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System Backup & Restore:

rsync -a – Backup files and directories using rsync
tar -czvf – Create a compressed tarball archive
crontab – Schedule tasks to run at specific intervals
at – Schedule a one-time task for later
systemctl – Control the systemd system and service manager
service – Start, stop, or restart a service
journalctl – View system logs (systemd)
history – Show the command history
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Advanced Commands:

awk – Pattern scanning and processing language
sed – Stream editor for filtering and transforming text
cron – Task scheduler
tcpdump – Capture network packets
ssh – Secure shell for remote login
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This list should help you with Linux basics and progressively move you into more advanced system administration and networking tasks.

~TrixSec

Top comments (4)

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possenalain profile image
ALAIN NDIGANDE

quite useful!

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drfcozapata profile image
Francisco Zapata

Thanks bro!

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trixsec profile image
Trix Cyrus

got you bro😘

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hector_simosa_48742ac0964 profile image
Hector Simosa

Excellent! Thanks