Cheatsheet

Main commands: Commands Short description ls -l Lists files in a long format showing permissions, owner, and size. ls -a Lists all files, including hidden ones (those starting with a dot). ls -ld Lists details of the directory itself rather than its contents. ls -lh Lists files in long format with file sizes in human-readable format (KB, MB). ls -lt Lists files sorted by modification time, newest first. ls -ltr Lists files sorted by modification time in reverse order (oldest first). ls -R Lists all files in the current directory and all subdirectories recursively. pwd Prints the full path of the current working directory. cd .. Moves one level up into the parent directory cd dir_name Changes the current directory to the specified folder cd ~ Moves directly to the current user’s home directory. cd - Switches back to the previous directory you were in. cd Shortcut to return to the home directory. tree -a Displays all files and directories in a tree structure, including hidden ones. tree -d Displays only directories in the tree structure. tree -h Displays the tree structure along with human-readable file sizes. tree -f Displays the full path prefix for each file in the tree. tree -p Displays the tree structure along with file permissions. tty Prints the file name of the terminal connected to standard input. uptime Shows how long the system has been running and the current load. clear Clears the terminal screen for a fresh workspace. which command_name Shows the full path of the executable for a command. whereis command_name Locates the binary, source, and manual page files for a command. type command_name Explains how a command name would be interpreted (alias, builtin, or file). uname Prints the name of the operating system kernel. uname -a Prints all available system information in one line. uname -s Displays the kernel name. uname -n Displays the network node hostname. uname -r Displays the kernel release version. uname -v Displays the kernel version date and build info. uname -m Displays the machine hardware architecture (e.g., x86_64). uname -p Displays the processor type or “unknown”. uname -i Displays the hardware platform or “unknown”. uname -o Displays the operating system name (e.g., GNU/Linux). lscpu Displays detailed information about the CPU architecture. man cmd_name Opens the official manual page for a specific command. man -k cmd_name Searches the manual descriptions for a specific keyword. appropos cmd_name Searches the manual pages for a keyword (same as man -k). cmd_name --help Displays a brief summary of a command’s options and usage. cmd_name -? An alternative flag used by some programs to show help. ls -l /usr/share/doc/cmd_name Checks for additional offline documentation files for a program.