UNIX Command Cheat Sheets
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This document provides cheat sheets for common UNIX commands, listing the command name, a short description, example usage, and explanation for each command. Some key commands covered include ls to list files, cd to change directories, mkdir to create directories, rm and rmdir to remove files and directories, cp to copy files, mv to move files, pwd to print the working directory, and more. The cheat sheets provide a quick reference for common UNIX commands and their options.
![UNIX Command Cheat Sheets
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Command Description (short) Example Explanation
ls (-option-optional) Lists all the nonhidden files and directories ls Lists all nonhidden files and directories in
the current directory
ls bin Lists all nonhidden files and directories in
the bin directory
ls -l or ll Lists all nonhidden files and directories in
long format
ls -l
ll
Lists all nonhidden files and directories in
the current directory in long format
ls -l work
ll work
Lists all nonhidden files and directories in
the work directory in long format
ls -a Lists all files and directories including
hidden ones
ls -a Lists all files and directories, including
hidden, in the current directory
ls -a temp Lists all files and directories in the temp
directory.
ls -r Lists all files and directories in reverse
alphabetical order
ls -r Lists all nonhidden files and directories in
the current directory in reverse
alphabetical order
ls -r abc Lists all nonhidden files and directories in
the abc directory in reverse alphabetical
order
ls -t Lists all nonhidden files in the order they
were last modified
ls -t Lists all the nonhidden files in the current
directory in the order they were last
modified from most recent to last
ls -t work Lists all the nonhidden files in the work
directory in the order they were last
modified from most recent to last
NOTE: Options can be combined using ls
ls -al Lists all files (including hidden (-a)) in
long format (-l)
Important Characters
|
>
>>
&
~
<
“pipe” directs the output of the first
command to the input of another.
Sends the output of a command to a
designated file
Appends the output of a command to a
designated file
Runs command in the background; you can
still work in the window
Designates the home directory ($HOME)
Designates input from somewhere other
than terminal
ls -l | more
ls -l > myfiles
ls -l >> allfiles
xclock &
echo ~
progA < input1
Lists your files in long format one screen
at a time
Prints your listing to a file named myfiles
Appends your filenames to the end of the
allfiles file
Runs xclock (a clock) allowing you to keep
working
Writes your home directory to the screen
progA program gets its input from a file
named input1
Wildcards
*
?
[ ]
UNIX has a set of wildcards that it accepts.
Any string of characters
Any one character
Match any character in the brackets (a
hyphen is used for ranges of characters)
ls *.c
ls file?
ls v[6-9]file
Lists any file or directory (nonhidden)
ending with c
Lists any file/directory with file and 1
character at the end
Lists v6file, v7file, v8file, and v9file](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/unixcommands-170725090653/85/UNIX-Command-Cheat-Sheets-2-320.jpg)
UNIX Command Cheat Sheets
- 1. UNIX Command Cheat Sheets 1 www.ensyncsolutions.com UNIX Command Cheat Sheets Command Description (short) Example Explanation date Writes the current date to the screen date Mon Nov 20 18:25:37 EST 2000 sort infile Sorts the contents of the input file in alphabetical order sort names Sorts the contents of names in alphabetical order who Tells you who is logged onto your server who None who am I Tells you your user information who am i whoami None clear Clears the window and the line buffer clear None echo whatever I type Writes whatever I type to the screen. echo hey you! Writes hey you! to the screen banner big words Does the same thing as echo only in BIG words banner hey! Writes hey! in large letters on the screen cat file1 file2 file3 Shows the three files in consecutive order as one document (can be used to combine files) cat cheese milk This prints the cheese file to the screen first and immediately follows it with the milk file. df system Reports the number of free disk blocks df ~ df $HOME Both commands will print the total kb space, kb used, kb available, and %used on the home system (your system). head file Prints the first 10 lines of the file to the screen head addresses Prints the first 10 lines of addresses to the screen Number of lines can be modified head -25 addresses Prints the first 25 lines of addresses to the screen tail file Prints the last 10 lines of the file to the screen tail test.txt Prints the last 10 lines of test.txt to the screen Number of lines can be modified here, too tail -32 test.txt Prints the last 32 lines of test.txt to the screen more input This prints to screen whatever is input—useful because it only shows one screen at a time. more groceries This will list the groceries file to the screen. scroll bar continues to the next screen return moves one line forward Q quits G goes to the end 1G goes to the beginning Ctrl u moves up½screen Ctrl d moves down ½ screen
- 2. UNIX Command Cheat Sheets 2 www.ensyncsolutions.com Command Description (short) Example Explanation ls (-option-optional) Lists all the nonhidden files and directories ls Lists all nonhidden files and directories in the current directory ls bin Lists all nonhidden files and directories in the bin directory ls -l or ll Lists all nonhidden files and directories in long format ls -l ll Lists all nonhidden files and directories in the current directory in long format ls -l work ll work Lists all nonhidden files and directories in the work directory in long format ls -a Lists all files and directories including hidden ones ls -a Lists all files and directories, including hidden, in the current directory ls -a temp Lists all files and directories in the temp directory. ls -r Lists all files and directories in reverse alphabetical order ls -r Lists all nonhidden files and directories in the current directory in reverse alphabetical order ls -r abc Lists all nonhidden files and directories in the abc directory in reverse alphabetical order ls -t Lists all nonhidden files in the order they were last modified ls -t Lists all the nonhidden files in the current directory in the order they were last modified from most recent to last ls -t work Lists all the nonhidden files in the work directory in the order they were last modified from most recent to last NOTE: Options can be combined using ls ls -al Lists all files (including hidden (-a)) in long format (-l) Important Characters | > >> & ~ < “pipe” directs the output of the first command to the input of another. Sends the output of a command to a designated file Appends the output of a command to a designated file Runs command in the background; you can still work in the window Designates the home directory ($HOME) Designates input from somewhere other than terminal ls -l | more ls -l > myfiles ls -l >> allfiles xclock & echo ~ progA < input1 Lists your files in long format one screen at a time Prints your listing to a file named myfiles Appends your filenames to the end of the allfiles file Runs xclock (a clock) allowing you to keep working Writes your home directory to the screen progA program gets its input from a file named input1 Wildcards * ? [ ] UNIX has a set of wildcards that it accepts. Any string of characters Any one character Match any character in the brackets (a hyphen is used for ranges of characters) ls *.c ls file? ls v[6-9]file Lists any file or directory (nonhidden) ending with c Lists any file/directory with file and 1 character at the end Lists v6file, v7file, v8file, and v9file
- 3. UNIX Command Cheat Sheets 3 www.ensyncsolutions.com Command Description (short) Example Explanation cd directory Changes your current directory to the directory specified cd bin Changes directory to the bin directory cd .. cd ../.. Moves you to the directory that contains the directory you are currently in Ex. Current directory=/home/users/bob/bin execute cd .. New directory= /home/users/bob or executing cd ../.. New directory= /home/users. cd - Moves you to the directory you just came from cd ~ cd Both move you to your home directory (the directory you start from initially) mkdir dirname Creates a directory mkdir junk Makes a directory named junk in your current directory You can also designate where the directory is to reside. mkdir ~/left Makes a directory in your home directory named left rm file1 file2 file3 Removes (deletes) file(s) rm xyz Deletes a file named xyz rm xyz abc Deletes the files named xyz and abc rm * Deletes everything nonhidden rm -i file1 file2 Prompts before deletion of files *******USE -i AT FIRST******* rm -i * Prompts at each nonhidden file and lets you decide whether or not to delete it rm -f file1 file2 Forces deletion without prompt regardless of permissions rm -f program Removes the file program without regard to permissions, status, etc. rm -r directory rm -R directory Remove a directory along with anything inside of it rm -r bin rm -R bin Each of these will remove the bin directory and everything inside of it. rmdir directory Removes a directory like rm -r does if the directory is empty rmdir bin Removes the bin directory if it is empty ****dangerous**** rm -fR name rm -Rf name This combination will force the removal of any file and any directory including anything inside of it rm -Rf c_ya Forces removal without prompts of the c_ya directory and anything inside of it rm -Ri directory Deletes the contents of a directory and the directory if it is empty by prompting the user before each deletion rm -Ri rusure Deletes anything in the directory called rusure that you verify at the prompt, and if you remove everything in the directory, you will be prompted whether you want to remove the directory itself or not NOTE: Options can be combined using rm rmdir -p directory Removes a directory and any empty parent directories above it (-pi does the same thing but it prompts before each removal) rmdir-p/home/bin/dir1 Deletes the dir1 directory; if bin directory is empty, it is deleted, and if home directory is empty it is also deleted
- 4. UNIX Command Cheat Sheets 4 www.ensyncsolutions.com Command Description (short) Example Explanation cp file1 newname Copies a file (file1) and names the copy the new name (newname) cp old new Makes a copy of the file/directory named old and names the copy new, all within the current directory NOTE: If you copy a file to a newfile name and newfile already exists, the newfile contents will be overwritten. cp file dir2/ Places a copy of file in dir2/ and it retains its original name cp ../dir1/* . Copies everything from the dir1 directory located just below where you currently are and places the copy “here” ( . ) in your current directory cp -p name target Preserves all permissions in the original to the target cp -p execut1 execut2 Copies execut1 executable file and calls the copy execut2, which also has executable permissions cp -R directory target Copies a directory and names the copy the new name (target) cp -R old/ junk/ Makes a copy of the directory named old and names the directory copy junk cp -f name target Forces existing pathnames to be destroyed before copying the file none No example or description needed mv initial final Renames files and directories mv temp script_1 Renames the file (or directory) temp to the name script_1 in the current directory Also moves files to other directories mv script.exe ~/bin Moves the script.exe file to the bin directory that is in the home (~) parent directory and it keeps its initial name You can do multiple moves. mv script_1 script.exe ~/bin Moves both script_1 and script.exe to the bin directory pwd Prints the current directory to the screen pwd May print something like “/home/bob” pr (option) filename Prints the specified file to the default printer (options are not required but can be combined in any order) pr userlist Prints the contents of userlist to the default printer pr +k filename Starts printing with page k pr +5 userlist Prints the contents of userlist starting with page 5 pr -k filename Prints in k columns pr -2 userlist Prints the contents of userlist in 2 columns pr -a filename Prints in multicolumns across the page (use with -k) pr -3a userlist1 Prints userlist in three columns across the page pr -d filename Prints in double space format pr -d userlist Prints userlist with double space format pr-h“header”filename Prints the file with a specified header rather than the filename pr -h “users” userlist Prints userlist with users as the header NOTE: Options can be combined using pr
- 5. UNIX Command Cheat Sheets 5 www.ensyncsolutions.com Command Description (short) Example Explanation lpconfig printer_id queue Configures remote printers to a local print queue lpconfig prntr1 bobprt Configures a printer named prntr1 to accept print requests from a local queue named bobprt lpconfig -r queue Removes the said queue from the local system lpconfig -r bobprt Removes bobprt queue from the local system if the person removing the queue is the owner or “root” lpconfig -d queue Makes the said queue the default queue lpconfig -d vpprnt Makes vpprnt the default print queue lpstat (-options) Prints printer status information to screen (options not required) lpstat Prints status of all requests made to the default printer by the current server lpstat -u“user1, user2” Prints the status of requests made by the specified users lpstat -u“bob” Prints status of all requests made by the user with the id bob lpstat s Prints the queues and the printers they print to none None lpstat -t Shows all print status information none None lpstat -d Shows the default printer for the lp command none None lpstat -r Lets you know if the line printer scheduler is running none None lp (-option) file(s) Like pr, this prints designated files on the connected printer(s) (options not required and options may be combined). lp junkfile Prints the file junkfile to the default printer in default one-sided, single- sided, single-spaced format lp -ddest file(s) Prints the file(s) to a specific destination lp -dbobsq zoom Sends the file zoom to the bobsq print queue to print lp -nnumber file(s) Allows user to designate the number of copies to be printed lp -n5 crash Prints five copies of crash in default settings lp -ttitle file(s) Places title on the banner page lp -tBobs cash Prints Bobs on the banner page of the file printout named cash lp -ooption file(s) Allows printer-specific options to be used (i.e., double-sided or two pages per side, etc.) lp -od output Prints the output file double-sided on the printout lp -obold output Prints output in bold print lp -ohalf output Divides the paper into two halves for printing output lp -oquarter output Prints four pages of output per side of paper lp -olandscape output Prints output in landscape orientation lp -oportrait output Prints output in portrait orientation NOTE: Options can be combined using lp cancel request_id Stops print jobs or removes them from the queue (request_ids are obtained using lpstat) cancel 5438 Stops the print job with the id 5438 whether it is printing or if it is sitting in the queue cancel -a printer Removes all print requests from the current user on the specified printer cancel -a bobsprt Removes all the requests from the current user to the printer named bobsprt cancel -u login_id Removes any print requests queued belonging to the user cancel -u bob Cancels all queued print requests for user bob
- 6. UNIX Command Cheat Sheets 6 www.ensyncsolutions.com Command Description (short) Example Explanation ps Shows certain information about active processes associated with the current terminal ps Shows a listing of process IDs, terminal identifier, cumulative execution time, and command name ps -e Shows information about all processes ps -e Shows a listing of process IDs, terminal identifiers, cumulative execution time, and command names for all processes ps -f Shows a full listing of information about the processes listed ps -f Shows UID (user or owner of the process), PID (process ID--use this number to kill it), PPID (process ID of the parent source), C (processor utilization for scheduling), STIME (start time of the process), TTY (controlling terminal for the process), TIME (cumulative time the process has run), and COMMAND (the command that started the process) ps -u user_id Shows all processes that are owned by the person with the pertinent user_id ps -u bob Shows all the processes that belong to the person with the userid bob ps -ef Shows all processes in a full listing ps -ef Shows all current processes in full listing kill process_id Stops the process with the said id kill 6969 Kills the process with PID 6969 kill -9 process_id Destroys the process with the said id kill -9 6969 PID # 6969 doesn’t have a chance here. grep string file Searches input file(s) for specified string and prints the line with matches grep mike letter Searches for the string mike in the file named letter and prints any line with mike in it to the screen grep -c string file Searches and prints only the number of matches to the screen grep -c hayes bankletter Searches the file bankletter for the string hayes and prints the number of matches to the screen grep -i string file Searches without regard to letter case grep -i hi file1 Searches file1 for hi, Hi, hI, and HI and prints all matches to the screen grep -n string file Prints to the screen preceded by the line number grep -n abc alpha Searches alpha for abc and prints the matches’ lines and line numbers to the screen grep -v string file All lines that do not match are printed grep -v lead pencils Prints all lines in pencils that do not contain the string lead grep -x string file Only exact matches are printed grep -x time meetings Prints only lines in meetings that match time exactly grep is useful when you use it in a | “pipe” ps -ef | grep bob Finds all processes in full listing and then prints only the ones that match the string bob to the screen You can also redirect its output to a file. grep -i jan b_days>mymonth Searches the file b_days for case- insensitive matches to jan and places the matching lines into a file called mymonth
- 7. UNIX Command Cheat Sheets 7 www.ensyncsolutions.com Command Description (short) Example Explanation vuepad filename Opens filename for editing/viewing in the vuepad editor none None vi filename Text editor that exists on every UNIX system in the world none None emacs filename Another text editor none None compress filename Compresses the file to save disk space. none None uncompress filename Expands a compressed file none None awk UNIX programming language none None eval `resize` Tells the target computer that you’ve resized the window during telnet none None chexp # filename Keeps the file(s) from expiring (being erased) on the target computer for # days chexp 365 nr* Keeps the target computer from deleting all files starting with nr for 1 year (365 days) chexp 4095 nr* Makes all files whose name starts with nr never expire or be deleted (infinite) qstat Displays the status of a process that has been submitted the Network Queuing System (basically a batch job) qstat Shows the status of the requests submitted by the invoker of the command—this will print request-name, request-id, the owner, relative request priority, and request state (is it running yet?) qstat -a Shows all requests qstat -l Shows requests in long format qstat -m Shows requests in medium- length format qstat -u bob Shows only requests belonging to the user bob qstat -x Queue header is shown in an extended format xterm xterm -option xterm +option Opens a new window (x-terminal) for you to work -option sets the option +option resets the option to default xterm This opens another window like the one you are currently working in. USING XTERM WILL ELIMINATE A LOT OF DESKTOP CLUTTER. I STRONGLY SUGGEST YOU LEARN TO USE IT IN YOUR SCRIPTS. xterm -help Displays the xterm options xterm -help Shows the options available
- 8. UNIX Command Cheat Sheets 8 www.ensyncsolutions.com Command Description (short) Example (Explanation) xterm -e program Executes the listed program in the new xterm window—when the program is finished, the new xterm window goes away xterm -e myprog.exe This opens an xterm window and executes the program myprog.exe from that window so that you may still work in your present window. xterm -sb Opens an xterm that saves a set number of lines when they go off the top of the page and makes them accessible with a scroll bar xterm -sb Puts a scroll bar on the right side of the page for reviewing past lines in the window NOTE: When clicking in the scroll bar, the left button scrolls down, the right scrolls up, and the middle snaps the scroll bar to the mouse position for dragging up and down. xterm -sl number Specifies the number of lines to be saved once they go off the top of the screen (default is 64) xterm -sl 1000 The xterm will save 1,000 lines of work once it has moved off the immediate viewing area; it can be accessed using the scroll bar. xterm -geom xxy+px+py This option allows you to specify the size x pixels by y pixels and placement position x by position y of the new window when it opens. Position +0+0 is the top left- hand corner of the screen, and the bottom right is approx. +1200+1000 depending on your resolution. Note: The size of the window takes precedence over position, so if you position it too close to the side of the screen, it will position at the edge with the correct size. xterm -geom 80x80+0+50 xterm -geom 10x35+300+500 xterm -geom 5x5+0+0 The first command will open a window 80 pixels wide by 80 pixels tall and position its top left-hand corner at 0 pixels to the right of the left edge and 50 pixels down from the top of the screen. The second command will open a window 10 pixs wide by 35 pixs tall and position its top left-hand corner 300 pixs from the left edge and 500 pixs down from the top. The third command will make a 5 by 5 window and position its top left- hand corner at the top left-hand corner of the screen. xterm will not compromise size when positioning. xterm -title label Allows you to label your window’s top title bar xterm -title SCRIPTS Opens an xterm window with the title SCRIPTS (default is whatever follows the -e option) xterm -(areas) color Allows you to modify different colors in your xterm window xterm -bg white xterm -bd huntergreen xterm -fg red The first command sets the background color to white. The second command sets the window border color to huntergreen. The third command window sets the text color to red.
- 9. UNIX Command Cheat Sheets 9 www.ensyncsolutions.com xterm -fn font Sets the font in the new xterm window xterm -fn courr18 Sets the font to courr18 (default is fixed) xterm -iconic Starts the new xterm as an icon (double-click to maximize) xterm -iconic -title xyz Opens an xterm in iconic form with the title xyz NOTE: Options can be combined using xterm