Linux Terminal Reference

A quick reference list of the most used commands for navigating and managing Linux servers from the terminal.

Command	Description	Usage Example
ls	Lists the content of the current directory. Ex: ls -la	ls -la
cd [dir]	Changes the current directory to [dir]. Ex: cd /var/www/html	cd /var/www/html
pwd	Displays the full path of the current directory. Ex: pwd	pwd
mkdir [name]	Creates a new directory. Ex: mkdir new_folder	mkdir new_folder
rm [file]	Deletes files or directories (use with caution). Ex: rm -r old_folder	rm -r old_folder
cp [source] [destination]	Copies files or directories. Ex: cp file.txt backup.txt	cp file.txt backup.txt
mv [source] [destination]	Moves or renames files/directories. Ex: mv file.txt documents/	mv file.txt documents/
grep '[text]' [file]	Searches for a text pattern within files. Ex: grep 'error' server.log	grep 'error' server.log
cat [file]	Displays the entire content of a file in the terminal. Ex: cat notes.txt	cat notes.txt
tail -f [file]	Displays the last lines of a file in real-time (useful for logs). Ex: tail -f access.log	tail -f access.log
chmod [permissions] [file]	Changes read/write/execute permissions. Ex: chmod 755 script.sh	chmod 755 script.sh
chown [user]:[group] [file]	Changes the owner and group of a file/directory. Ex: chown www-data:www-data index.php	chown www-data:www-data index.php
sudo [command]	Executes a command with superuser (root) privileges. Ex: sudo apt update	sudo apt update
top	Displays running processes and resource usage in real-time. Ex: top	top
ssh [user]@[host]	Securely connects to a remote server. Ex: ssh root@192.168.1.10	ssh root@192.168.1.10