Most Widely Used UNIX Commands

A Comprehensive Reference for Red Hat Linux

Contents

1 Most Widely Used UNIX Commands 2

1.1 ls — List Directory Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 cd — Change Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 grep — Pattern Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.4 find — Search for Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.5 cp — Copy Files and Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.6 mv — Move or Rename Files and Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.7 rm — Remove Files or Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.8 mkdir — Make Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.9 chmod — Change File Modes or Permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.10 chown — Change File Owner and Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.11 ps — Report Process Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.12 top — Display Processes in Real Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.13 kill — Send Signals to Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.14 ssh — Secure Shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.15 tar — Archive Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.16 curl — Transfer Data from or to Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.17 wget — Non-interactive Network Downloader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.18 cat — Concatenate and Print Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.19 less — View File Contents Paginated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.20 head & tail — View Beginning or End of Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.21 echo — Display a Line of Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.22 awk — Pattern Scanning and Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.23 sed — Stream Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.24 man — Display Manual Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2 Red Hat UNIX Commands Comprehensive Reference 7

2.1 Linux History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2 Why Red Hat? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.3 Types of Linux Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.4 Linux Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.5 General Commands Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.6 User & Group Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.7 Vi Text Editor (vim) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.8 Shell, Bash, Alias & History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.9 Processes, Redirection, Pipelines, Word Count, and String Processing . . . . 9
2.9.1 Processes, Priorities, Signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.9.2 Job Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

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2.9.3 Redirection & Pipelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.9.4 Word Count & String/Text Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.10 Filesystem, Package Management, Search, Archiving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.10.1 Filesystem & Inodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.10.2 Disk Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.10.3 RPM Package Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.10.4 YUM Package Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.10.5 File Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.10.6 Archiving & Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

3 Summary Table of Major Topics 10

1 Most Widely Used UNIX Commands

This document provides a concise reference of commonly used UNIX commands and
their most frequently used flags, with a focus on Red Hat Linux environments.

1.1 ls — List Directory Contents

Description: Displays files and directories in the current or specified directory.
Common Flags:
• -l: Long listing format (permissions, owner, size, date)
• -a: Include hidden files (. and ..)
• -h: Human-readable sizes (e.g., 1K, 234M)
• -R: Recursive listing of subdirectories
ls -lahR /var/log

1.2 cd — Change Directory

Description: Change the shell working directory.
Common Flags: None (options are shell-specific, e.g., -P vs. -L for physical vs. logical
in some shells).
Usage Examples:
cd /etc # Go to /etc directory
cd .. # Move up one level
cd # Go to home directory

1.3 grep — Pattern Search

Description: Search for patterns within files.
Common Flags:
• -i: Case-insensitive search
• -r or -R: Recursive search in directories
• -n: Show line numbers
• -v: Invert match (show non-matching lines)

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grep -rin ”error” /var/log

1.4 find — Search for Files

Description: Search for files and directories based on conditions.
Common Flags/Options:
• .: Starting directory
• -name ”pattern”: Filename glob
• -type [f|d]: File (f) or directory (d)
• -mtime +N: Modified more than N days ago
• -exec ... {}
;: Execute command on each match
find . -type f -name ”*.log” -mtime +7 -exec rm {} \;

1.5 cp — Copy Files and Directories

Description: Copy files or directories.
Common Flags:
• -r or -R: Copy directories recursively
• -p: Preserve file attributes (mode, ownership, timestamps)
• -i: Prompt before overwrite
• -u: Copy only when source is newer
cp -rpu ~/projects /backup/

1.6 mv — Move or Rename Files and Directories

Description: Move or rename files and directories.
Common Flags:
• -i: Prompt before overwrite
• -u: Move only when source is newer
mv -i oldname.txt newname.txt

1.7 rm — Remove Files or Directories

Description: Delete files or directories.
Common Flags:
• -r: Recursive deletion
• -f: Force deletion without prompt
• -i: Prompt before every removal
rm -rf /tmp/old_build/

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1.8 mkdir — Make Directories
Description: Create new directories.
Common Flags:
• -p: Create parent directories as needed
mkdir -p /var/www/myapp/{logs,tmp}

1.9 chmod — Change File Modes or Permissions

Description: Modify access permissions.
Common Flags:
• Symbolic: u+rwx, g-w, o=rx
• Numeric: 755, 644
chmod 644 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
chmod u+rw,go-rwx secret.txt

1.10 chown — Change File Owner and Group

Description: Change file owner and/or group.
Common Flags:
• -R: Recursive
• user:group: Specify new owner and group
chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/myapp

1.11 ps — Report Process Status

Description: Display current processes.
Common Flags:
• -e: All processes
• -f: Full-format listing
• -u username: Processes of a specific user
ps -ef | grep nginx

1.12 top — Display Processes in Real Time

Description: Monitor system processes and resource usage.
Common Flags:
• -d seconds: Delay between updates
• -u user: Show only processes of a user
top -u root -d 5

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1.13 kill — Send Signals to Processes
Description: Send signals to terminate or control processes.
Common Flags:
• -9: SIGKILL (force kill)
• -15: SIGTERM (default, graceful)
kill -15 1234
kill -9 $(pidof my_app)

1.14 ssh — Secure Shell

Description: Connect to remote machines securely.
Common Flags:
• -p port: Specify non-default port
• -i keyfile: Use a specific private key
• -C: Enable compression
ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa -p 2222 [email protected]

1.15 tar — Archive Files

Description: Create or extract archive files.
Common Flags:
• -c: Create archive
• -x: Extract archive
• -v: Verbose output
• -f: Specify filename
• -z: gzip compression
• -j: bzip2 compression
tar czvf backup.tar.gz /etc
tar xjvf archive.tar.bz2

1.16 curl — Transfer Data from or to Server

Description: Fetch or send data via URL.
Common Flags:
• -O: Save to file with remote name
• -o file: Save output to file
• -I: Fetch headers only
• -L: Follow redirects
• -u user:pass: HTTP authentication
curl -L -o latest.tar.gz https://example.com/app.tar.gz
curl -I https://api.example.com/status

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1.17 wget — Non-interactive Network Downloader
Description: Download files from the web.
Common Flags:
• -O file: Save output as file
• -c: Continue incomplete download
• -r: Recursive download
• –no-parent: Don’t ascend to parent directory
wget -c http://example.com/large.iso

1.18 cat — Concatenate and Print Files

Description: Display file contents.
Common Flags:
• -n: Number all output lines
• -b: Number non-blank lines
cat -n README.md

1.19 less — View File Contents Paginated

Description: View file contents one page at a time.
Common Flags:
• -N: Show line numbers
• -S: Chop long lines (no wrap)
less -N /var/log/syslog

1.20 head & tail — View Beginning or End of Files

Common Flags:
• -n N: Show first/last N lines
• -f (for tail): Follow file as it grows
head -n 20 access.log
tail -n 50 -f /var/log/nginx/error.log

1.21 echo — Display a Line of Text

Description: Print text to the terminal.
Common Flags:
• -n: Do not output trailing newline
• -e: Enable interpretation of backslash escapes
echo -e ”User:\t$(whoami)”

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1.22 awk — Pattern Scanning and Processing
Description: Process and analyze text files, especially columnar data.
Common Flags:
• -F: Field separator
• ’{ print $1, $3 }’: Inline script to select fields
awk -F: ’$3 > 1000 { print $1 }’ /etc/passwd

1.23 sed — Stream Editor

Description: Perform basic text transformations on an input stream.
Common Flags:
• -e script: Add editing commands
• -i: Edit files in place
sed -i ’s/oldtext/newtext/g’ file.txt

1.24 man — Display Manual Pages

Description: View system reference manuals.
Common Flags:
• -k keyword: Search manual page names and descriptions
• section: Specify section number
man -k socket
man 5 crontab

2 Red Hat UNIX Commands Comprehensive Reference

2.1 Linux History

• Originated from Unix (1969)
• Linux kernel created by Linus Torvalds in 1991
• Distributions: Ubuntu, Red Hat, Fedora, etc.

2.2 Why Red Hat?

• Used by 90% of Fortune Global 500
• Secure, scalable, professionally supported

2.3 Types of Linux Installation

• Kickstart (Automated)
• Graphical
• Text-based

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2.4 Linux Components
• Kernel: Core OS component
• Shell: Interface between user and kernel (bash is most common)
• Terminal: Interface to type and view commands
• Shell Types: sh, ksh, csh, bash

2.5 General Commands Structure

command [options] [arguments]

2.6 User & Group Administration

• User files: /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, /etc/group, /etc/gshadow
• Create user: useradd, passwd, newusers
• Modify user: usermod, chage
• Delete user: userdel
• Group management: groupadd, groupmod, groupdel, gpasswd, newgrp, groups
• File/Dir ownership: chown, permissions: chmod, defaults: umask
• Switch users: su, whoami, id, who, w, finger, sudo
• System control: Shutdown, reboot, virtual consoles (Ctrl+Alt+F1 to F6)

2.7 Vi Text Editor (vim)

Description: Default text editor in Linux/Unix with command, insert, and last line modes.
Configuration Files:
• Global init: /etc/profile, /etc/bash.bashrc
• User init: ~/.profile, ~/.bash_profile, ~/.bash_login, ~/.bashrc
• Env vars: $HOME, $PATH, $PWD, $SHELL, $USER, $HOSTNAME

2.8 Shell, Bash, Alias & History

Environment Variables:
• $HOME, $PATH, $PWD, $SHELL, $USER, $HOSTNAME
• echo $VAR: Show value
• set: Show all variables
Alias Commands:
• alias ll=’ls -l’: Create alias
• alias: List all aliases
• unalias name: Remove alias
• \command: Run command without alias
Command History:

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• !!: Repeat last command
• !string: Repeat last starting with ”string”
• !n: Run command by number
• !-n: Run n commands back
• ^old^new: Replace text in previous command

2.9 Processes, Redirection, Pipelines, Word Count, and String Processing

2.9.1 Processes, Priorities, Signals
• Process = running program, has PID
• Daemon: background process
• Parent/child process
• Priority (niceness): -20 (highest) to +19 (lowest)
• Users can only lower their process priority; root can raise

2.9.2 Job Control

2.9.3 Redirection & Pipelines
2.9.4 Word Count & String/Text Processing
2.10 Filesystem, Package Management, Search, Archiving
2.10.1 Filesystem & Inodes
2.10.2 Disk Usage
2.10.3 RPM Package Management
2.10.4 YUM Package Manager
2.10.5 File Search
2.10.6 Archiving & Compression
tar – Archive tool
• tar cvf archive.tar files – Create archive
• tar tf archive.tar – View contents
• tar xvf archive.tar – Extract files
compress, uncompress, zcat
• compress -v file – Compress file � .Z
• uncompress -v file.Z – Decompress .Z file
• zcat file.Z – View compressed file content
• gzip file – Compress � .gz
• gunzip file.gz – Decompress .gz file
• gzcat file.gz – View .gz file content

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• bzip2 file – Compress � .bz2
• bunzip2 file.bz2 – Decompress .bz2 file
• bzcat file.bz2 – View .bz2 file content

3 Summary Table of Major Topics

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Command Explanation
uname Displays system name
uname -n Hostname of the system
uname -a All available system information
cal Calendar for current month
cal 5 2004 Calendar for May 2004
date Displays current date and time
Ctrl + c Interrupts a running command
Ctrl + d Ends input or logs out
man -k keyword Search manual pages by keyword
man -s keyword Manual section for keyword
whatis command One-line description of a command
command –help Show help for command
pwd Show current directory
cd /path Change to specified directory
cd .. Go up one directory
cd ~ Go to home directory
cd - Go to previous directory
ls List directory contents
ls -a Show all files including hidden ones
ls -l Long listing with permissions, size, etc.
ls -F Adds symbols to indicate file types
ls -ld dir Show details of the directory itself
ls -R Recursively list subdirectories
cat filename Show file content
more filename Scroll through file content
head -n filename Show first n lines of file
tail [-n +n] filename Show last n lines of file
touch filename Create an empty file
mkdir dir Create a new directory
mkdir -p dir/dir2 Create nested directories
rm filename Delete file
rm -i filename Ask before deletion
rm -r dirname Delete directory and contents
rmdir dirname Delete an empty directory
cp source target Copy file
cp -i Ask before overwriting file
cp -r Copy directory recursively
mv source target Move or rename file

Table 1: General Commands

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Command Explanation
useradd username Add a new user
passwd username Set the user’s password
useradd -D Show default useradd settings
newusers filename Create multiple users from file
usermod -l newname oldname Change a username
usermod -L username Lock the user’s password
usermod -U username Unlock the user’s password
userdel [-r] username Delete user (optionally home dir)
chage [options] username Manage password aging policies
groupadd groupname Create a new group
groupmod [options] groupname Modify an existing group
groupdel groupname Delete a group
find / -nogroup List files with no valid group
gpasswd Manage group members/admins
newgrp group Switch to another group
groups List groups you belong to
su [-] [username] Switch user
su [-] [username] -c command Execute command as another user
whoami Show current effective user
id Show UID, GID, groups
id username Show UID, GID, groups of user
who Show who is logged in
w Show system usage and active users
finger Show user info
sudo Execute a command as another user
visudo Edit sudoers file safely
chown user file Change file ownership to user
chown user:group file Change file owner and group
chmod [modes] file Change file permissions
chmod u+x file Add execute permission to user
chmod a=rw file Set read/write for all
chmod 755 file Set permissions in octal
umask Show current default permission mask
umask 002 Set default file permission mask
Ctrl+Alt+F1 to F6 Switch to virtual consoles
shutdown -k now Send shutdown warning only
shutdown -h now Shut down and halt system
poweroff Power off system
init 0 Shut down the system

Table 2: User and Group Administration Commands

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Key/Command Action
vi filename Open file in vi
vi -r filename Recover unsaved file
view filename Open in read-only mode
i Insert before cursor
a Append after cursor
o Open new line below
O Open new line above
A Append at end of line
I Insert at beginning of line
h, <-, Backspace Move left
l, ->, Space Move right
j, Down Arrow Move down
k, Up Arrow Move up
w Next word
b Previous word
e End of word
0 Beginning of line
G End of file
nG / :n Go to line number n
Ctrl+F/B Scroll forward/back
Ctrl+L Refresh screen
s Replace character
x Delete character
dw Delete word
dd Delete line
D Delete to end of line
n,nd Delete lines n through n
/text Search forward
?text Search backward
n, N Next/previous match
:%s/old/new/g Global replace
yy Yank line
p, P Paste after/before line
n,n co n Copy lines to line n
n,n m n Move lines to line n
:w Save
:w new_file Save as new file
:q! Quit without saving
:wq, :x, ZZ Save and exit
:set nu / nonu Show/hide line numbers
:set ic / noic Case insensitivity/sensitivity
:set showmode Show mode info

Table 3: Vi Editor Commands

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Command Explanation
nice [-n adjustment] Start a process with a specific niceness
renice priority -p PID Change priority of a running process
ps [options] Show process status
ps -e List all system processes
ps -f Full details
ps -u UID Processes of a specific user
top Live view of running processes
pgrep pattern Find processes matching a pattern
pgrep -l pattern List PID and process name
kill PID Send SIGTERM to a process
kill -SIGNAL PID Send specific signal
pkill process_name Kill processes by name
pkill -9 process_name Force kill process

Table 4: Process Management Commands

Command Explanation
sleep 500 & Run process in background
jobs List background jobs
fg %job_number Bring job to foreground
bg %job_number Resume job in background
kill -STOP %job_number Pause background job
kill %job_number Kill background job

Table 5: Job Control Commands

Command Explanation
command > file Redirect output to file (overwrite)
command » file Redirect output to file (append)
command < file Use file as input
2> file Redirect standard error to file
command 2> errs > results Error to errs, output to results
command1 | command2 Output of one command to another
ls -lR / | more Example: piped output to pager
ls -lR / | tee file Output to both file and screen

Table 6: Redirection and Pipeline Commands

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Command Explanation
wc [options] filename Word count utility
wc -c filename Character count
wc -l filename Line count
wc -w filename Word count
diff file1 file2 Compare two files
grep [options] pattern files Search for patterns
grep -i pattern Case insensitive search
grep -l pattern files List matching files
grep -n pattern files Matching lines with line number
grep -v pattern files Invert match (show non-matching lines)
grep -c pattern files Count matches
grep -w pattern files Match whole word only
tr [options] string1 string2 Translate characters
echo ”Hello” | tr ’A-Z’ ’a-z’ Convert to lowercase
cut -f3 -d: /etc/passwd Cut field 3 from /etc/passwd (colon-separated)
cut -c1-5 filename Cut characters 1 to 5
sort [options] file Sort file
sort -t: -k1 /etc/passwd Sort by first field (:)
sort -t: -k3 /etc/passwd Sort by third field
sort -t: -n -k3 -o out in Numeric sort by 3rd field (output to out)

Table 7: Word Count and Text Processing Commands

Command Explanation
ls -i fname Show inode number of a file
ls -id / Show inode number of a directory
cp f1 f2 Creates a new inode for the copied file
mv f1 f2 Keeps same inode if in same filesystem
ln -s file linkname Create symbolic (soft) link
ln file linkname Create hard link (same inode)

Table 8: Filesystem and Inode Commands

Command Explanation
df -h Free space on mounted filesystems (human readable)
du -sh [dir] Space used by a directory

Table 9: Disk Usage Commands

Command Explanation
rpm -i file.rpm Install RPM package
rpm -e package Remove package
rpm -U file.rpm Upgrade (remove old, install new)
rpm -F file.rpm Freshen (update if installed)
rpm -qa | grep x Search installed packages
rpm -qa –last List packages by install time
rpm –import key Import GPG key for package verification

Table 10: RPM Package Management Commands

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Command Explanation
yum search keyword Search for packages
yum list package Show versions available/installed
yum list installed List installed packages
yum list available List repo packages
yum grouplist ”string” Show groups matching string
yum install package Install package and dependencies
yum localinstall /path/file.rpm Install local RPM file
yum remove package Uninstall a package
yum upgrade package Upgrade and remove old version
yum update package Update but keep old
yum provides file Find which package owns a file
yum repolist all Show all repos
yum clean all Clear YUM cache

Table 11: YUM Package Manager Commands

Command Explanation
locate filename Fast search using database (needs updatedb)
updatedb Update locate database
find path -name ”filename” Find files by name
find path -size +10 Files larger than 10 blocks
find path -atime -7 Accessed within last 7 days
find path -mtime +5 Modified more than 5 days ago
find path -user user Owned by user
find path -type f Find regular files
find path -perm 644 Find files with permissions 644

Table 12: File Search Commands

Topic Description
Linux History Origins, kernel, distributions
Why Red Hat? Enterprise use, security, support
Installation Types Kickstart, graphical, text-based
System Components Kernel, shell, terminal
General Commands Basic navigation and file operations
User/Group Management Adding, modifying, removing users/groups
Permissions & Ownership chown, chmod, umask
Vi Editor Modes, navigation, editing, saving
Shell/Bash Environment Env variables, aliases, history
Process Management ps, top, nice, kill, job control
Redirection/Pipelines Output/input/error, chaining commands
Text Processing wc, grep, cut, sort, diff
Filesystem/Inodes Links, inodes, disk usage
RPM/YUM Package Management rpm/yum operations, searching, cleaning
File Search find, locate, updatedb
Archiving/Compression tar, gzip, bzip2, compress

Table 13: Summary of Major Topics

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