jdomingu19/useful-bash-commands.md

Useful BASH Commands

A curated list of bash commands, organized from beginner to advanced. Each command includes a short explanation and a ready‑to‑copy snippet.

These are the fundamental commands every developer should know. They cover file and directory management, navigation, and basic inspection.

1. Create a directory: Make a new folder.
mkdir <directory-name>

2. Change directory: Move into a folder.
cd <directory-name>

3. List files: Show contents of the current directory.
ls
> ```

4. Show current path: Display the working directory.
pwd

5. Create a file: Generate an empty file.
touch <file-name>

6. Copy a file: Duplicate a file to another location.
cp <source> <destination>

7. Move or rename a file: Relocate or rename files.
mv <source> <destination>

8. Remove a file: Delete a file permanently.
rm <file-name>

9. Remove a directory: Delete a folder and its contents.
rm -r <directory-name>

10. View file contents: Print the file to the terminal.
cat <file-name>

These commands help you inspect, measure, and manipulate files and processes more effectively.

11. Disk usage of a folder: Show folder size.
du -sh <directory-name>

12. Disk usage of a file: Show file size.
du -sh <file-name>

13. Find files by name: Search recursively.
find . -name "<pattern>"

14. Count lines in a file: Useful for scripts or logs.
wc -l <file-name>

15. Search text in files: Find occurrences of a string.
grep "<text>" <file-name>

16. Copy directory recursively: Duplicate entire folders.
cp -r <source-directory> <destination-directory>

17. Show hidden files: Include dotfiles in listing.
ls -a

18. Show running processes: Inspect active tasks.
ps aux

19. Kill a process: Terminate by PID.
kill <pid>

20. Monitor system activity: Real‑time process viewer.
top

These commands provide powerful ways to automate, analyze, and manage your system.

21. Archive files: Create a .tar archive.
tar -cvf archive.tar <files>

22. Extract archive: Unpack .tar files.
tar -xvf archive.tar

23. Compress with gzip: Reduce file size.
gzip <file-name>

24. Decompress gzip: Restore compressed files.
gunzip <file-name>.gz

25. Redirect output: Save command output to a file.
command > output.txt

26. Append output: Add results to an existing file.
command >> output.txt

27. Pipe commands: Chain multiple commands together.
command1 | command2

28. Find large files: Sort by size.
du -ah . | sort -rh | head -n 10

29. Check network connections: Inspect open ports.
netstat -tuln

30. Schedule tasks: Run commands at intervals.
crontab -e

Built with '\u{2665}' (♥) by Jesús Domínguez @jdomingu19