Linux Terminal Commands For Beginners

Introduction

The terminal is a hackers home. If you want to be proficient with linux you have to know your way around the terminal. Knowing terminal command can save you a lot of time and also will make you look cool amongst your friends. After reading this post you will be a linux NINJA! in the terminal

What is the Terminal

The linux terminal is a text-based interface that lets users interact with a computer’s operating system by entering commands.

The terminal is usually the place that you will be spending most of your time in the linux OS mostly due to the fact that it is fast and easier to do things that would take more time using the GUI or just harder using your mouse.

List of Basic Linux Commands

File Management

ls – used to list directories/folders in your current location
cd – change directory
mkdir – make/create directories
rm – remove files or directories

File Viewing

cat – Displays a file’s content in the terminal
nano – It is a terminal based editor
less – Displays the beginning of a file (mostly used when the file is large like rockyou.txt)
tail – Displays the end of a file (last 10 lines)

System Navigation

pwd – prints the working directory
clear – clears the terminal(an alternative to this is ctrl + L)

Permissions and Ownership

chmod – Changing file permissions

chown – change file ownership

Process Management

ps – used to view the running processes
kill – used to terminate/kill a process

Networking

ping – used to check if a website or server is up
curl – used to transfer data to and from a website/server
wget – used to retrieve files via FTP/HTTP
ifconfig – used to check the IP address and the network devices

Other Useful Commands

cp – used to copy file/ directories
mv – used to move or renamefiles
touch – creates an empty file
find – searches for files and directories
uname – displays system information
top – used to view the running processes
apt used in package management
grep – search text in files
locate – used to quickly locate files

Conclusion

Mastering the terminal commands is essential for proper system management. These are just the basics but they are also the most common. If you master these commands you will be able to manage files ,navigate and troubleshoot your system effectively.

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