Linux Commands for Beginners

Linux is an open-source operating system that has been available since the mid-1990s and powers multiple devices from home appliances to smartphones. Linux is comprised of various distributions such as Ubuntu, CentOS, and Linux Mint. Each distro has its own take on the desktop and overall user environment for home PC use. However, when utilizing Linux for a server, you'll primarily utilize the terminal or shell interface. Linux has a plethora of different commands that you can utilize from within the shell or terminal interface like all operating systems.

In this article, we will list some of the most common commands with a brief explanation of what they do. Without further ado, let's get started!

What Are Some Common Linux Commands?

Command Description Example ls List directory contents : ls

ls -lah 

Change directory : cd

cd /home 

Print your current working directory : pwd

pwd 

Displays the resources currently being used on your system like a task manager : top

top -c 

Display disk space : df

df -h 

Show how much disk space a file is taking up : du

du /home 

Searches for files with a given pattern : find

find filename 

View a file's contents in a pager format one page at a time : less

cat filename | less 

Clears the terminal screen : clear

clear 

Change ownership of a file : chown

chown username:group filename 

Change permissions of a file or files : chmod

chmod 644 /home/filename 

Display the contents of a file usually on the monitor : cat

cat filename 

Isolate a specific pattern from a file or output : grep

cat filename | grep pattern 

Opens up the manual to display helpful information for a specified command : man

man nameofcommand 

Creates a new directory : mkdir

mkdir newfolder 

Creates a new file : touch

touch newfile 

Display who is logged in and what they are up to : who

who -u

Kills a specified process : kill

kill -9 pid 

Move or rename files/directories : mv

mv oldfile newfile