Sysadmin commands

alias

Create an alias for Linux commands. It’s a shorthand way to customize and streamline your commands

apropos

Search man page names and descriptions.

atop

htop and top alternative

awk

A powerful pattern scanning and processing language. It’s used to manipulate data and generate

blkid

command-line utility to locate/print block device attributes.

btop

C++ version and continuation of bashtop and bpytop.

bzip2

similar to gzip. It uses a different compression algorithm.

cat

display file contents.

cd

directory navigation.

cheat

allows you to create and view interactive cheatsheets on the command line.”

chmod

change the access permissions of file system objects.

chown

change file owner and group.

chpassword

allows users to change the password for various user accounts.

chroot

run command or interactive shell with a special root directory.

clear

clears the screen of the terminal.

comm

compare Two Sorted Files Line by Line

cp

copying files and folders.

cron

set up scheduled tasks to run.

crontab

Schedule commands to run periodically at fixed times, dates, or intervals with the cron da

dd

convert and copy files.

df

display disk space usage.

diff

Compare files line by line. It’s particularly useful for comparing text files such as scripts

dmesg

prints the message buffer of the kernel ring.

dstat

view processes, memory, paging, I/O, CPU, etc., in real-time. All-in-one for vmstat, iostat

du

estimate file space usage.

env

Run a command in a modified environment.

expr

perform Math Calculations in Shell

fdisk

manipulate the disk partition table.

find

locates files based on some user-specified criteria.

free

display memory usage.

fsck

tool for checking the consistency of a file system.

glances

htop and top alternative

grep

Search a file for a pattern of characters, then display all matching lines.

gzip

file compression and decompression.

history

used to view the previously executed commands.

htop

interactive process viewer and manager.

iostat

for storage I/O statistics.

iotop

interactive I/O viewer. Get an overview of storage r/w activity.

ip

from Iproute2, a collection of utilities for controlling TCP/IP networking and traffic control

journalctl

query the systemd journal.

kill

terminate a process.

killall

Sends a kill signal to all instances of a process by name.

last

show a listing of last logged-in users.

less

similar to the more command with additional features.

ln

Make links between files. By creating a link, you can access the linked file by more than one p

locate

search files in Linux.

ls

list directory contents.

lspci

List all PCI devices. This is particularly useful for diagnosing hardware and system problem

lsusb

List USB devices. Similar to lspci, but for USB hardware connected to the system.

man

for reading system reference manuals.

mkdir

create or make new directories.

mkfs

build a Linux file system.

more

display file contents one screen/page at a time.

mount / umount

provides access to an entire filesystem in one directory.

mv

moving files and folders.

nc

command-line networking utility. (Also, see 60 Linux Networking commands and scripts.)

ncdu

a disk utility for Unix systems.

netstat

for network statistics.

nl

add Line Numbers to a File

nmon

htop and top alternative

nohup

Run Commands in the Background.

parted

for creating and manipulating partition tables.

passwd

change a user’s password.

ps

information about the currently running processes.

pstree

display a tree of processes.

pv

monitor Data Transfer Progress

pwd

shows your current directory location.

rm

removing files and folders.

rsync

remote file transfers and syncing.

sar

collects, reports, and saves system activity information, including CPU, memory, disk, and ne

scp

securely Copy Files Using SCP, with examples.

screen

hold a session open on a remote server. (also a full-screen window manager)

sed

A stream editor used to perform basic text transformations on an input stream (a file or input

sleep

suspends program execution for a specified time.

sof

List open files and the corresponding processes. This command is invaluable for troubleshootin

ssh

secure command-line access to remote Linux systems.

sudo

execute commands with administrative privilege.

systemctl

central management tool for controlling the init system.

tac

output file contents, in reverse.

tail

used to display the tail end of a text file or piped data.

tar

an archiving utility.

timeout

auto-Kill Commands After a Set Time

tldr

Collaborative cheatsheets for console commands.

tmux

a terminal multiplexer.

top

shows an overall system view.

touch

used to update the access date and modification date of a computer file or directory.

umask

set file mode creation mask.

uname

show system information (arch, linux version)

uptime

shows system uptime and load average.

useradd

create a new user or update default new user information.

userdel

used to delete a user account and all related files.

usermod

used to modify or change any attributes of an existing user account.

vi

text editor.

vmstat

shows system memory, processes, interrupts, paging, block I/O, and CPU info.

w

show a list of currently logged-in user sessions.

wait

Suspend script execution until all jobs running in the background have been terminated.

watch

Execute a program periodically, showing output fullscreen. It’s useful for monitoring comman

whois

client for the whois directory service.

yes

auto-Answer Prompts

zip

for packaging and compressing (to archive) files.