An A-Z Index of the Linux command line: bash + utilities .

alias Create an alias • apropos Search Help manual pages (man -k) apt-get Search for and install software packages (Debian/Ubuntu) aptitude Search for and install software packages (Debian/Ubuntu) aspell Spell Checker awk Find and Replace text, database sort/validate/index b basename Strip directory and suffix from filenames base32 Base32 encode/decode data and print to standard output base64 Base64 encode/decode data and print to standard output bash GNU Bourne-Again SHell bc Arbitrary precision calculator language bg Send to background bind Set or display readline key and function bindings • break Exit from a loop • builtin Run a shell builtin bzip2 Compress or decompress named file(s) c cal Display a calendar case Conditionally perform a command cat Concatenate and print (display) the content of files cd Change Directory cfdisk Partition table manipulator for Linux chattr Change file attributes on a Linux file system chgrp Change group ownership chmod Change access permissions chown Change file owner and group chpasswd Update passwords in batch mode chroot Run a command with a different root directory chkconfig System services (runlevel) cksum Print CRC checksum and byte counts clear Clear terminal screen cmp Compare two files comm Compare two sorted files line by line command Run a command - ignoring shell functions • continue Resume the next iteration of a loop • cp Copy one or more files to another location cpio Copy files to and from archives cron Daemon to execute scheduled commands crontab Schedule a command to run at a later time csplit Split a file into context-determined pieces curl Transfer data from or to a server cut Divide a file into several parts d date Display or change the date & time dc Desk Calculator dd Data Duplicator - convert and copy a file, write disk headers, boot records ddrescue Data recovery tool declare Declare variables and give them attributes • df Display free disk space diff Display the differences between two files diff3 Show differences among three files dig DNS lookup dir Briefly list directory contents dircolors Colour setup for 'ls' dirname Convert a full pathname to just a path dirs Display list of remembered directories dmesg Print kernel & driver messages du Estimate file space usage e echo Display message on screen • egrep Search file(s) for lines that match an extended expression eject Eject removable media enable Enable and disable builtin shell commands • env Environment variables ethtool Ethernet card settings eval Evaluate several commands/arguments exec Execute a command exit Exit the shell expect Automate arbitrary applications accessed over a terminal expand Convert tabs to spaces export Set an environment variable expr Evaluate expressions f false Do nothing, unsuccessfully fdformat Low-level format a floppy disk fdisk Partition table manipulator for Linux fg Send job to foreground fgrep Search file(s) for lines that match a fixed string file Determine file type find Search for files that meet a desired criteria fmt Reformat paragraph text fold Wrap text to fit a specified width. for Expand words, and execute commands format Format disks or tapes free Display memory usage fsck File system consistency check and repair ftp File Transfer Protocol function Define Function Macros fuser Identify/kill the process that is accessing a file g gawk Find and Replace text within file(s) getopts Parse positional parameters grep Search file(s) for lines that match a given pattern groupadd Add a user security group groupdel Delete a group groupmod Modify a group groups Print group names a user is in gzip Compress or decompress named file(s) h hash Remember the full pathname of a name argument head Output the first part of file(s) help Display help for a built-in command • history Command History hostname Print or set system name htop Interactive process viewer i iconv Convert the character set of a file id Print user and group id's if Conditionally perform a command ifconfig Configure a network interface ifdown Stop a network interface ifup Start a network interface up import Capture an X server screen and save the image to file install Copy files and set attributes iostat Report CPU and i/o statistics ip Routing, devices and tunnels j jobs List active jobs • join Join lines on a common field k kill Kill a process by specifying its PID killall Kill processes by name l less Display output one screen at a time let Perform arithmetic on shell variables • link Create a link to a file ln Create a symbolic link to a file local Create a function variable • locate Find files logname Print current login name logout Exit a login shell • look Display lines beginning with a given string lpc Line printer control program lpr Off line print lprint Print a file lprintd Delete a print job lprintq List the print queue lprm Remove jobs from the print queue lsattr List file attributes on a Linux second extended file system lsblk List block devices ls List information about file(s) lsof List open files lspci List all PCI devices m make Recompile a group of programs man Help manual mapfile Read lines from standard input into an indexed array variable mkdir Create new folder(s) mkfifo Make FIFOs (named pipes) mkfile Make a file mkisofs Create an hybrid ISO9660/JOLIET/HFS filesystem mknod Make block or character special files mktemp Make a temporary file more Display output one screen at a time most Browse or page through a text file mount Mount a file system mtools Manipulate MS-DOS files mtr Network diagnostics (traceroute/ping) mv Move or rename files or directories mmv Mass Move and rename (files) n nc Netcat, read and write data across networks netstat Networking connections/stats nft nftables for packet filtering and classification nice Set the priority of a command or job nl Number lines and write files nohup Run a command immune to hangups notify-send Send desktop notifications nslookup Query Internet name servers interactively o open Open a file in its default application op Operator access p passwd Modify a user password paste Merge lines of files pathchk Check file name portability Perf Performance analysis tools for Linux ping Test a network connection pgrep List processes by name pkill Kill processes by name popd Restore the previous value of the current directory pr Prepare files for printing printcap Printer capability database printenv Print environment variables printf Format and print data • ps Process status pushd Save and then change the current directory pv Monitor the progress of data through a pipe pwd Print Working Directory q quota Display disk usage and limits quotacheck Scan a file system for disk usage r ram ram disk device rar Archive files with compression rcp Copy files between two machines read Read a line from standard input • readarray Read from stdin into an array variable • readonly Mark variables/functions as readonly reboot Reboot the system rename Rename files renice Alter priority of running processes remsync Synchronize remote files via email return Exit a shell function rev Reverse lines of a file rm Remove files rmdir Remove folder(s) rsync Remote file copy (Synchronize file trees) s screen Multiplex terminal, run remote shells via ssh scp Secure copy (remote file copy) sdiff Merge two files interactively sed Stream Editor select Accept keyboard input seq Print numeric sequences set Manipulate shell variables and functions sftp Secure File Transfer Program shift Shift positional parameters shopt Shell Options shutdown Shutdown or restart linux sleep Delay for a specified time slocate Find files sort Sort text files source Run commands from a file '.' split Split a file into fixed-size pieces ss Socket Statistics ssh Secure Shell client (remote login program) stat Display file or file system status strace Trace system calls and signals su Substitute user identity sudo Execute a command as another user sum Print a checksum for a file suspend Suspend execution of this shell • sync Synchronize data on disk with memory t tail Output the last part of file tar Store, list or extract files in an archive tee Redirect output to multiple files test Evaluate a conditional expression time Measure Program running time timeout Run a command with a time limit times User and system times touch Change file timestamps top List processes running on the system tput Set terminal-dependent capabilities, color, position traceroute Trace Route to Host trap Execute a command when the shell receives a signal • tr Translate, squeeze, and/or delete characters true Do nothing, successfully tsort Topological sort tty Print filename of terminal on stdin type Describe a command • u ulimit Limit user resources • umask Users file creation mask umount Unmount a device unalias Remove an alias • uname Print system information unexpand Convert spaces to tabs uniq Uniquify files units Convert units from one scale to another unrar Extract files from a rar archive unset Remove variable or function names unshar Unpack shell archive scripts until Execute commands (until error) uptime Show uptime useradd Create new user account userdel Delete a user account usermod Modify user account users List users currently logged in uuencode Encode a binary file uudecode Decode a file created by uuencode v v Verbosely list directory contents ('ls -l -b') vdir Verbosely list directory contents ('ls -l -b') vi Text Editor vmstat Report virtual memory statistics w w Show who is logged on and what they are doing wait Wait for a process to complete • watch Execute/display a program periodically wc Print byte, word, and line counts whereis Search the user's $path, man pages and source files for a program which Search the user's $path for a program file while Execute commands who Print all usernames currently logged in whoami Print the current user id and name ('id -un') wget Retrieve web pages or files via HTTP, HTTPS or FTP write Send a message to another user x xargs Execute utility, passing constructed argument list(s) xdg-open Open a file or URL in the user's preferred application. xz Compress or decompress .xz and .lzma files yes Print a string until interrupted zip Package and compress (archive) files. . Run a command script in the current shell !! Run the last command again ### Comment / Remark

Commands marked • are bash built-ins

Many commands particularly the Core Utils are also available under alternate shells (C shell, Korn shell etc).

More bash commands: Linux Command Directory from O'Reilly, GNU CoreUtils.

SS64 bash discussion forum

Links to other Sites, books etc