1. pwd

Displays the current working directory.

pwd

2. ls

Lists files and directories.

ls -la

3. cd

Changes the current directory.

cd /home/user

4. mkdir

Creates a new directory.

mkdir newfolder

5. rmdir

Removes an empty directory.

rmdir foldername

6. rm

Deletes files or directories.

rm -rf folder

7. cp

Copies files and directories.

cp file.txt backup.txt

8. mv

Moves or renames files.

mv old.txt new.txt

9. touch

Creates an empty file.

touch file.txt

10. cat

Displays file contents.

cat file.txt

11. nano

Simple terminal text editor.

nano notes.txt

12. vim

Advanced text editor.

vim script.sh

13. clear

Clears the terminal screen.

clear

14. history

Shows command history.

history

15. echo

Prints text to terminal.

echo "Hello Linux"

16. whoami

Displays current username.

whoami

17. uname

Shows system information.

uname -a

18. hostname

Displays system hostname.

hostname

19. date

Shows current date and time.

date

20. cal

Displays calendar.

cal

21. df

Shows disk space usage.

df -h

22. du

Displays directory size.

du -sh folder

23. free

Shows memory usage.

free -m

24. top

Displays running processes.

top

25. htop

Interactive process viewer.

htop

26. ps

Shows active processes.

ps aux

27. kill

Terminates a process.

kill PID

28. killall

Kills processes by name.

killall firefox

29. chmod

Changes file permissions.

chmod 755 script.sh

30. chown

Changes file ownership.

chown user:user file.txt

31. grep

Searches text patterns.

grep "error" logfile.txt

32. find

Finds files and directories.

find /home -name file.txt

33. locate

Quickly locates files.

locate notes.txt

34. which

Finds command path.

which python

35. whereis

Locates binary and source files.

whereis bash

36. man

Displays command manual.

man ls

37. help

Shows built-in help.

help cd

38. alias

Creates command shortcuts.

alias ll='ls -la'

39. wget

Downloads files from internet.

wget https://example.com/file.zip

40. curl

Transfers data from servers.

curl https://example.com

41. ping

Checks network connectivity.

ping google.com

42. ifconfig

Displays network interfaces.

ifconfig

43. ip

Advanced network configuration tool.

ip addr

44. netstat

Displays network connections.

netstat -tulnp

45. ss

Shows socket statistics.

ss -tuln

46. traceroute

Tracks packet route.

traceroute google.com

47. ssh

Secure remote login.

ssh user@server

48. scp

Securely copies files.

scp file.txt user@server:/home

49. rsync

Efficient file synchronization.

rsync -av source/ destination/

50. ftp

Transfers files using FTP.

ftp server.com

51. tar

Archives files.

tar -cvf archive.tar folder

52. zip

Compresses files.

zip archive.zip file.txt

53. unzip

Extracts ZIP files.

unzip archive.zip

54. gzip

Compresses files using gzip.

gzip file.txt

55. gunzip

Decompresses gzip files.

gunzip file.txt.gz

56. head

Shows first lines of a file.

head file.txt

57. tail

Shows last lines of a file.

tail -f logfile.log

58. sort

Sorts file contents.

sort names.txt

59. uniq

Removes duplicate lines.

uniq data.txt

60. wc

Counts lines, words, and characters.

wc file.txt

61. cut

Cuts sections from lines.

cut -d ':' -f1 /etc/passwd

62. awk

Pattern scanning and processing.

awk '{print $1}' file.txt

63. sed

Stream editor for text transformation.

sed 's/linux/unix/g' file.txt

64. xargs

Builds command lines from input.

cat files.txt | xargs rm

65. tee

Writes output to file and terminal.

ls | tee output.txt

66. diff

Compares files line by line.

diff file1.txt file2.txt

67. cmp

Compares two files byte by byte.

cmp file1 file2

68. mount

Mounts file systems.

mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt

69. umount

Unmounts file systems.

umount /mnt

70. fdisk

Disk partition manager.

fdisk -l

71. lsblk

Lists block devices.

lsblk

72. mkfs

Creates file systems.

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb1

73. reboot

Restarts the system.

reboot

74. shutdown

Shuts down the system.

shutdown now

75. systemctl

Controls systemd services.

systemctl status nginx

76. service

Manages services.

service apache2 restart

77. journalctl

Views system logs.

journalctl -xe

78. crontab

Schedules recurring tasks.

crontab -e

79. at

Schedules one-time tasks.

at 10:00 PM

80. passwd

Changes user password.

passwd

81. useradd

Creates a new user.

useradd akash

82. userdel

Deletes a user.

userdel akash

83. groupadd

Creates a new group.

groupadd developers

84. su

Switches user account.

su root

85. sudo

Executes commands as superuser.

sudo apt update

86. env

Displays environment variables.

env

87. export

Sets environment variables.

export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/java

88. uptime

Shows system uptime.

uptime

89. dmesg

Displays kernel messages.

dmesg

90. screen

Terminal multiplexer.

screen

91. tmux

Advanced terminal session manager.

tmux

92. nc

Networking utility for debugging.

nc -zv localhost 80

93. telnet

Tests remote connections.

telnet example.com 80

94. dig

DNS lookup utility.

dig google.com

95. nslookup

Queries DNS records.

nslookup google.com

96. lsof

Lists open files.

lsof -i :80

97. watch

Runs commands repeatedly.

watch df -h

98. expr

Evaluates expressions.

expr 5 + 5

99. bc

Command-line calculator.

echo "10/2" | bc

100. exit

Exits the terminal session.

exit

Conclusion

These were the top 100 Linux commands every beginner and advanced user should know in 2024. Learning these commands will improve your efficiency, automation skills, troubleshooting ability, and overall command-line expertise.

Linux mastery comes with practice. Start using these commands daily and explore advanced shell scripting, networking, security, and DevOps tools to become a professional Linux user.

Author: Akash

Top 100 Linux Commands you Must know in 2024 | Akash

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