UNIX Commands Cheat Sheet

November 26th, 2008 | Web Development How-to's | 3 Comments

If you develop websites and do not use a UNIX prompt, you are at a major disadvantage to those that do. Knowing your way around a UNIX command line allows you to accomplish more in a shorter period of time and often offers a better way to manipulate, edit, and work with files on your server.

Whether you are a beginner developer or a seasoned professional, you know that keeping every command and syntax in your head is impossible. To make life easier I compiled the following list of common UNIX commands as guide.

* NOTE: See below for list of abbreviations used in this guide.

Output, Communication, & Help

Command	Description
lpr -P printer f	Output file f to line printer
script [f]	Save terminal session to f
exit	Stop saving terminal session
mail username	Send mail to user
biff [y/n]	Instant notification of mail
man name	UNIX manual entry for name
learn	Online tutorial

Environment Status

Command	Description
ls [d] [f...]	List files in directory
ls -1 [f...]	List files in detail
alias [name]	Display command aliases
printenv [name]	Print environment values
quota	Display disk quota
date	Print date & time
who	List logged in users
whoami	Display current user
finger [username]	Output user information
chfn	Change finger information
pwd	Print working directory
history	Display recent commands
! n	Submit recent command n

Environment Control

Command	Description
cd d	Change to directory d
mkdir d	Create new directory d
rmdir d	Remove directory d
mv f1 [f2...] d	Move file f to directory d
mv d1 d2	Rename directory d1 as d2
passwd	Change password
alias name1 name2	Create command alias
unalias name1	Remove command alias name1
rlogin nd	Login to remote node
logout	End terminal session
setenv name v	Set env var to value v
unsetenv name1 [name2...]	Remove environment variable

Process Control

Command	Description
Ctrl/c *	Interrupt processes
Ctrl/s *	Stop screen scrolling
Ctrl/q *	Resume screen output
sleep n	Sleep for n seconds
jobs	Print list of jobs
kill [%n]	Kill job n
ps	Print process status stats
kill -9 n	Remove process n
Ctrl/z *	Suspend current process
stop %n	Suspend background job n
command&	Run command in background
bg [%n]	Resume background job n
fg [%n]	Resume foreground job n
exit	Exit from shell

File Manipulation

Command	Description
vi [f]	Vi fullscreen editor
emacs [f]	Emacs fullscreen editor
ed [f]	Text editor
wc f	Line, word, & char count
cat f	List contents of file
more f	List file contents by screen
cat f1 f2 > f3	Concatenates f1 & f2 into f3
chmod mode f	Change protection mode of f
cmp f1 f2	Compare two files
cp f1 f2	Copy file f1 into f2
sort f	Alphabetically sort f
split [-n] f	Split f into n-line pieces
mv f1 f2	Rename file f1 as f2
rm f	Delete (remove) file f
grep ‘ptn’ f	Outputs lines that match ptn
diff f1 f2	Lists file differences
head f	Output beginning of f
tail f	Output end of f

Abbreviations

Abbreviation Description

d directory

d directory

env environment

f filename

n number

nd computer node

var variable

[y/n] yes or no

[] optional arg

… list

Abbreviation	Description
d	directory
d	directory
env	environment
f	filename
n	number
nd	computer node
var	variable
[y/n]	yes or no
[]	optional arg
…	list

If you have some other good examples that you use often and think should be a part of this resource, let me know about them in the comments below.

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Zach is a marketing consultant and owner of a FL web design and marketing group. He offers graphic design and marketing services, speaks on Internet marketing, and blogs about it all in his free time. (»)

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