Quote:Command explanationalias Make different names for commands

apropos search the whatis database for strings

at Runs a program at certain times

atq Lists programs waiting to be run by at

atrm Removes programs from the at queue

cat Concatenates files and print to standard output

cd Changes to a directory

chfn Changes information displayed by finger

chmod Change access permissions of files

chown Change the user and group ownership of files

chsh Change your shell

cp Copy files

dd Copy disk images

df Available free disk space

dir List directory contents

dmesg list startup messages

du Disk space used

dump Used to backup filesystems

e2fsck filesystem checker

export Set environment variables in bash

find Finds files

fdformat Low level format a floppy disk

fdisk Used to create and delete partitions

finger Look up user information

free Information on RAM and swap usage

grep Find lines matching a certain pattern

groupadd or addgroup* Adds a new group

groupdel or delgroup* Deletes a group

groups displays a user's group

gzip Compress and decompress files

halt Shut down system

host Look up host information

ifconfig Used to setup network interfaces

info View info pages

init Change run levels

insmod Install modules

kill Abort system processes

less Filter for viewing files

ln Create links between files and diretories

locate Locate files that match a certain pattern

login Sign on to system or switch users

logout (ctrl+d) Sign off of current user

lpc Manage printer queue

lpq View printer queue

lpr Print files

ls List directory contents

lsmod View loaded modules

make Compile and maintain programs

makewhatis Build whatis database

man View manual pages

mcd Change to directory on a DOS diskette

mcopy Copy files to a DOS diskette

mdel Delete files on a DOS diskette

mdeltree Delete directories on a DOS diskette

mdir Lists directory contents on a DOS diskette

mformat Format DOS diskettes

mkbootdisk Makes a boot disk :-) ( you did make one right?)

mkdir Makes a new directory

mkswap Setup swap device

modprobe Installs modules

more filter for viewing files and directories

mount access or mount filesystems and devices

mv Move or rename files and directories

netcfg Network configuration tool (not in all distros)

netstat Displays status of network connections

nslookup Name server lookup tool

passwd Change passwords

ping Check a host on the network

printtool Used to setup printers

ps Display process tree

pstree Displays entire process tree

pwd Displays the present working directory

reboot Reboots system :-)

restore Used to restore a dump backup

rm Remove files

rmdir Remove directories

rmmod remove loaded modules

rpm Manage rpm packages

set Temporarily change environment variables

shutdown Shut down the system :-)

startx Start the X Window system

su Switch to a different user

sync Flush buffered data to hard disk

sysinfo Display system information

tar Create and manage archives

telinit Change run levels

top Display running processes

touch Used to create a file or update it's time stamp

traceroute Displays route of IP packets

umount Unmount filesystems (watch the spelling)

uname Display information about your system

unzip Extract compressed files

updatedb Builds locate's database

uptime Shows how long your system has been running

useradd or adduser* Adds new user accounts

userdel or deluser* Delete user accounts

usermod Modify user accounts

whatis Gives brief overview of commands

whereis Locate binary, source and manual pages for a command

which Display a program's executable path

who Show the users that are logged in

whoami Show the user that you are currently logged in as

xlock Locks the X Window system