ls

Lists all files and directories in the current location.

ls -al (shows all files including hidden ones)

cd

Changes directory.

cd /home/user/public_html

pwd

Displays the current directory path.

—

mkdir

Creates a new directory.

mkdir backups

cp

Copies files or directories.

cp file.txt /home/user/docs/

mv

Moves or renames files.

mv oldname.txt newname.txt

rm

Deletes files or directories (use with caution).

rm -rf foldername/

cat

Displays the contents of a file.

cat index.html

more / less

Views files one page at a time.

more /etc/passwd

tail

Shows the last lines of a file, often used for logs.

tail -f /var/log/messages

du -sh *

Displays the disk usage of each file/folder in readable format.

—

df -h

Shows overall disk usage of mounted file systems.

—

top

Displays running processes and system resource usage.

Press Shift + P to sort by CPU.

ps aux

Lists all running processes.

ps aux --forest

kill PID

Terminates a running process.

kill -9 10550

netstat -an

Displays all active network connections.

—

scp

Transfers files securely between local and remote servers.

scp file.txt user@host:/path

grep

Searches text for matching patterns.

grep root /etc/passwd

tar -zxvf

Extracts .tar.gz archive files.

tar -zxvf backup.tar.gz

touch

Creates an empty file.

touch newfile.txt

vi / nano

Edits text files inside the terminal.

vi /etc/hosts

`

` (pipe)

Sends the output of one command into another.

> 

Redirects output into a new file.

ls > filelist.txt

>> 

Appends output to an existing file.

echo "test" >> notes.txt

< 

Reads input from a file.

mysql < backup.sql

&&

Runs the next command only if the previous one succeeds.

cd /var/www && ls