60 Essential Linux Commands Summary

This summary is based on the video: 60 Linux Commands you NEED to know (in 10 minutes).

System & Access Commands

Command	Function	Time
SSH	Connect to a remote Linux machine using your username and server address.	[00:00:04]
clear	Clean off the terminal screen.	[00:02:45]
sudo	Execute a command with superuser (root) permissions.	[00:02:59]
exit	Exit out of the current user session or terminal.	[00:03:22]

Command	Function	Time
ls	List the files in the current directory. Options like `-l` (list view) and `-a` (show hidden files) can be added.	[00:00:18]
PWD	Print Working Directory—tells you your current location in the file system.	[00:00:31]
CD	Change Directory. Use `CD ..` to go back one directory or `CD` alone to go back home.	[00:00:35]
touch	Create a new, empty file.	[00:00:49]
mkdir	Make Directory—create a new folder.	[00:02:07]
CP	Copy a file to a new location.	[00:02:12]
MV	Move or rename a file to a new location.	[00:02:19]
RM	Remove or delete a file.	[00:02:24]
rmdir	Remove an empty directory. Use `rm -R` to remove a non-empty directory recursively.	[00:02:29]
Ln	Create a link (shortcut) to a file, often with the `-s` switch for a soft link.	[00:02:36]
find	Locate files in a specified directory based on criteria (e.g., name, type).	[00:05:58]
CHmod	Change Mode—change the permissions or attributes of a file, such as making it executable (`+x`).	[00:06:14]
CHown	Change Ownership—change the user who owns a file.	[00:06:23]

Editing & Viewing Files

Command	Function	Time
echo	Display a line of text, or redirect text into a file (e.g., `echo "text" > file.txt`).	[00:01:21]
Nano	A beginner-friendly, simple text editor for editing files.	[00:01:30]
Vim	A powerful, advanced text editor. (To save and quit: `Escape`, `:`, `wQ`).	[00:01:43]
cat	Concatenate—display the entire contents of a file to the terminal.	[00:01:55]
shred	Permanently delete the contents of a file to prevent recovery.	[00:02:00]
wget	Download files from the internet using an HTTP/FTP URL.	[00:04:45]
curl	Transfer data from or to a server, often used to download files (e.g., `curl [URL] > file.txt`).	[00:04:54]
zip/unzip	Compress and decompress files using the ZIP format.	[00:05:05]
less	View a file one page at a time, allowing scrolling (better for large files than `cat`).	[00:05:22]
head	Show only the beginning lines of a file.	[00:05:28]
tail	Show only the ending lines of a file.	[00:05:31]
CMP	Compare two files to see if they are the same (only tells you where they differ).	[00:05:33]
diff	Show the differences between two files line-by-line.	[00:05:42]
sort	Sort lines of text input (often from a piped command) alphabetically.	[00:05:48]

User & Package Management

Command	Function	Time
whoami	Displays the username of the current logged-in user.	[00:02:48]
adduser	Create a new user account (often guides you through setting parameters).	[00:02:54]
useradd	Alternative command to create a new user (allows setting more parameters directly).	[00:03:08]
Su	Switch User—change to a different user account.	[00:03:14]
passwd	Change the password for the current user or a specified user.	[00:03:28]
apt	Package manager for Debian-based systems (like Ubuntu) used to install, remove, and manage software.	[00:03:49]
apt update	Refreshes the list of available software packages from the repositories.	[00:03:54]
apt install	Downloads and installs a specified package.	[00:04:04]
Yum	Package manager used on Red Hat or CentOS machines.	[00:04:00]
finger	Used to inspect information about another user on the system (requires installation).	[00:04:11]

Information & System Status

Command	Function	Time
man	Display the manual page (documentation) for a command.	[00:04:17]
whatis	Provides a very quick, one-line description of a command’s function.	[00:04:34]
which	Shows the file path for a specific command executable.	[00:04:39]
whereis	Shows the file paths for the command’s executable, source files, and manual pages.	[00:04:42]
uname	Unix Name—print basic system information. Use `-a` for all details.	[00:08:42]
neofetch	Displays system information in a stylized, decorative way (requires installation).	[00:08:52]
Cal	Display a simple calendar.	[00:08:59]
free	Displays the amount of used and available physical memory and swap space.	[00:09:14]
DF	Disk Free—shows disk space usage across all mounted file systems. Use `-H` for human-readable output.	[00:09:21]
history	Display a list of all commands previously executed in the current session.	[00:10:28]

Networking & Firewall

Command	Function	Time
ifconfig	Display network interface configuration (IP addresses, etc.).	[00:06:34]
ip address	A modern alternative to `ifconfig` for viewing network interface information.	[00:06:40]
grep	Global Regular Expression Print—filter text output (often from a pipe `\|`) to find lines matching a pattern.	[00:06:45]
awk	A powerful text-processing tool used to extract and manipulate data from text streams.	[00:07:05]
cat /etc/resolv.conf	Check the DNS server settings (may not be the main source on modern systems).	[00:07:13]
resolvectl status	Check DNS settings on newer systems using `systemd-resolved`.	[00:07:23]
ping	Test network connectivity to a host. Use `-c` to limit the number of packets sent.	[00:07:30]
traceroute	Display the route (hops) and latency of packets across an IP network to a destination.	[00:07:44]
netstat	Network Statistics—display active network connections and open ports.	[00:07:55]
SS	Socket Statistics—a more modern replacement for `netstat`.	[00:08:08]
ufw	Uncomplicated Firewall—a simple interface for managing firewall rules.	[00:08:21]
ufw allow	Command to allow traffic on a specified port or service.	[00:08:29]
ufw status	Check the current status of the firewall.	[00:08:33]
ufw enable	Enable the firewall.	[00:08:36]

Processes & System Control

Command	Function	Time
PS	Process Status—display information about currently running processes. Use `-aux` to see all processes.	[00:09:28]
top	Display a dynamic, real-time list of running processes, often sorted by CPU usage.	[00:09:36]
htop	A more interactive and user-friendly alternative to `top` (requires installation).	[00:09:38]
kill	Terminate a process using its Process ID (PID) and a signal (e.g., `-9` for forced kill).	[00:09:42]
pkill	Process Kill—terminate a process by its name instead of its PID.	[00:10:02]
systemctl	Control the system and service manager (used for stopping, starting, or restarting system services).	[00:10:11]
sudo reboot	Restart the machine.	[00:10:33]
sudo shutdown	Shut down the machine. Use `-h now` to do it immediately.	[00:10:37]
From video: 37 INSANE Linux Commands you NEED to Know in 2025.

System Monitoring & Analysis 📊

Command	Function	Time
ncdu	Finds disk space usage visually and interactively, like a better version of `du` and `df`.	[00:00:16]
duf	A prettier, more visually appealing version of the `df` command for showing drive usage.	[00:00:30]
lshw	Shows everything you need to know about the hardware resources in your system. Use `-C` to filter (e.g., `lshw -C CPU`).	[00:01:34]
glances	An all-in-one stat dashboard that shows pretty much everything from a glance (CPU, RAM, Disk, Network).	[00:03:25]
iotop	Shows a `top`-style list of the processes using the most disk I/O, updating in real-time.	[00:03:39]
dstat	A combined timeline view of what you want to see (CPU, RAM, Disk, Network, Memory), merging aspects of `vmstat`, `iostat`, `ifstat`, and `netstat`.	[00:04:05]
watch	Reruns any command every few seconds you set (e.g., `watch -n 0.5 nvidia-smi`) to monitor output.	[00:04:22]
progress	Shows the progress of currently running commands like `cp`, `mv`, `tar`, or `scp` in another session.	[00:04:36]
systemd-analyze blame	Shows which services take the longest during the last system boot up.	[00:06:46]
systemd-analyze critical-chain	Highlights the critical path of dependencies to understand boot bottlenecks.	[00:06:55]
procs	A prettier, more friendly version of `ps aux`. Allows sorting by CPU and viewing a process tree.	[00:07:04]

Modern CLI Replacements ✨

Command	Function	Time
rip Grep (rg)	Grep powered by Rust. Faster and more powerful for finding patterns in logs, functions, or files.	[00:00:37]
fd	A modern replacement for `find`. It is faster with better default settings (recursive, case insensitive, colored output, ignores hidden files).	[00:02:18]
Z Oxide (z)	A replacement for `cd`. It learns your frequent directories and lets you jump to them with a partial name.	[00:02:54]
Exa	A replacement for `ls` with better color coding, built-in tree view, and icon support.	[00:03:17]
dog	A better alternative to `dig` for DNS lookups. Supports nice colors, DNS over TLS, and JSON output.	[00:04:57]

Command	Function	Time
fzf (FuzzyFinder)	Provides interactive filtering for any list or piped output (e.g., searching through history).	[00:02:30]
ranger	A GUI file manager for the terminal, featuring bulk renames and previews.	[00:02:45]
stat	Shows every single detail about a file, including the day it was created and file system-specific information (use `-f`).	[00:03:49]
rsync	Smart file transfer tool. Only syncs differences (delta-only), can resume broken transfers, and mirrors over SSH.	[00:07:27]
shred	Permanently deletes a file by overwriting it multiple times before deletion (unlike `rm`, which just unlinks it).	[00:07:46]
unp	Unpacks any archive file by guessing the archive type and running the correct command under the hood.	[00:08:23]

Networking & Utilities 🛠️

Command	Function	Time
Mosh	A replacement for SSH that supports roaming (losing/changing connection) and keeps your session open.	[00:00:54]
MTR	Tracks latency and packet loss hop by hop, live. A combination of `ping` and `traceroute`.	[00:02:10]
termshark	A Terminal User Interface for T-shark (Wireshark’s command-line tool) to examine packet captures.	[00:05:10]
lsof -i	List Open Files (`lsof`) with the `-i` switch to show the process that owns a specified port (e.g., `lsof -i :80`).	[00:05:39]
IP calc	A quick subnet calculator that spits out ranges, mask, and wildcard information from a CIDR notation.	[00:05:58]
wormhole	Peer-to-peer end-to-end encrypted file transfer. Sends a file with one command and spits out a code for the recipient.	[00:06:19]
lazyDocker	An interactive Terminal User Interface (TUI) for Docker, allowing easy management of containers and images.	[00:07:15]
jq	The JSON “lightsaber.” A powerful tool to query and transform JSON output using oneliners.	[00:08:35]

Advanced Utilities (moreutils) & Other Tools 💡

Command	Function	Time
ts	Utility from `moreutils` to add timestamps to any output or action.	[00:07:56]
errno	Utility from `moreutils` to find out what specific error numbers mean.	[00:08:00]
ifdata	Utility from `moreutils` to look at your network interfaces more simply, providing cleaner output.	[00:08:02]
vidir	Utility from `moreutils` to edit your directory names directly in your text editor.	[00:08:08]
vip	Utility from `moreutils` to insert your text editor in the middle of a Unix command pipeline to edit data being piped.	[00:08:13]
Taskwarrior	Task management from the CLI. Allows adding, listing, and completing tasks.	[00:08:44]
Asciinema	Records your terminal sessions into small text-based “cast” files for playback, pausing, and copying text from.	[00:09:02]
Asciinema a	Converts your command-line video recording into a GIF/GIF.	[00:09:40]
Fabric	Allows using the CLI to interact with AI, often by piping in history or logs to ask the AI to summarize or analyze.	[00:09:58]
Ollama	Allows running local AI models to help you craft complex commands on the fly.	[00:10:19]