Basic Unix/Linux commands

Basic Unix/Linux commands

To find more information on any command in this list, click on the man page link.
Note that a few commands don't have a man page, but this document doesn't know which they are.

Basic Unix/Linux commands
alias Make an alias for a command sl3 man page
cat Put contents of file(s) on standard output sl3 man page
cd Change current working directory sl3 man page
chmod Change the access modes of file(s) sl3 man page
cp Copy contents of a file (or directory) sl3 man page
echo Display a line on standard output sl3 man page
env Display or set environment for a command sl3 man page
exit Indicate end-of-input for a shell session sl3 man page
export Mark a variable as environmental (in sh/ksh shells) sl3 man page
find Find a file or directory name according to options sl3 man page
hostname Display the current computer's name sl3 man page
id Display the current logged on userid sl3 man page
ll Synonym on some systems for ls -l sl3 man page
ln Make a hard or soft link between files sl3 man page
locate Find a local-system file quickly sl3 man page
login Login to a computer (usually entered implicitly) sl3 man page
logout A synonym for exit in the login shell sl3 man page
ls List contents of file directories sl3 man page
lsf Synonym on some systems for ls -F sl3 man page
man Display the manual page(s) for a command (help) sl3 man page
mkdir Make (create) a directory sl3 man page
mv Move or rename a file (or directory) sl3 man page
mylocate Find a file of yours on a shared file-system quickly Birmingham PP only
passwd Change your login password sl3 man page
printf Display a line on standard output with formatting sl3 man page
ps Display current processes sl3 man page
pwd Display the current working directory name sl3 man page
read Read variables from standard input sl3 man page
rm Remove (erase) a file sl3 man page
rmdir Remove (erase) an empty directory sl3 man page
set Set a shell option (or set a variable in C shell) sl3 man page
setenv Set an environmental variable in C shell sl3 man page
touch Create (if necessary) an empty file sl3 man page
ulimit Set a limit for the size of subsequently created files sl3 man page
umask Set a mask for the mode of subsequently created files sl3 man page
unalias Remove an alias definition sl3 man page
uptime Display uptime, number of users, CPU load sl3 man page
users Display current logged-in users sl3 man page
w Do `uptime' and `who' sl3 man page
whereis Show full paths of system command or facility sl3 man page
which Show full path of given command name sl3 man page
who Display who is logged on sl3 man page
whoami Display current userid sl3 man page
Some basic utility programs
bc A historic basic calculator program sl3 man page
cal Display a calendar for a particular year or month sl3 man page
compress Compress a file so it uses less space on disk sl3 man page
convert Convert an image file from one format to another sl3 man page
date Display the current date and time sl3 man page
dd Copy a file with reblocking and/or conversion sl3 man page
df Display disk utilisation for file systems sl3 man page
display Display a graphics image file sl3 man page
du Display disk utilisation for a file/directory sl3 man page
ed A historic line-oriented editor sl3 man page
emacs A useful text editor sl3 man page
ex A historic line-oriented editor sl3 man page
finger Display information about user(s) sl3 man page
fsplit Split a Fortran file into subroutines sl3 man page
gs Convert PostScript file(s) to various formats sl3 man page
gunzip Uncompress a gzip'ed file (.gz) sl3 man page
gvim GUI version of vi sl3 man page
gzcat Do a gunzip and send it to standard output sl3 man page
gzip GNU version of compress utility sl3 man page
ispell Improved spell checking program sl3 man page
less File viewing program (superior to more) sl3 man page
lp Print a file on a hard-copy printer sl3 man page
lpq Check on status of printing (in BSD Unix) sl3 man page
lpr Print a file on a hard-copy printer (in BSD Unix) sl3 man page
make Process a makefile to create a program sl3 man page
more View a file on the terminal sl3 man page
pg View a file on the terminal sl3 man page
quota Check on disk allocation for your userid sl3 man page
script Keep a disk log of the current session sl3 man page
shar Make file(s) into a mailable composite file sl3 man page
sort Sort and merge files sl3 man page
spell Basic spell checking program (see ispell) sl3 man page
split Split a file into smaller chunks sl3 man page
tar Makes file(s) into a composite file, or the reverse sl3 man page
time Display the elapsed and CPU time for a command sl3 man page
uncompress Uncompress a compressed (.Z) file sl3 man page
unzip Recreate file(s) from a ZIP archive file sl3 man page
uudecode decode a file encoded using uuencode sl3 man page
uuencode encode a binary or wide file so it is mailable (historic) sl3 man page
vi Text editor, terminal-screen oriented sl3 man page
view Read-only version of vi sl3 man page
wc Count bytes, characters, words, and lines in file(s) sl3 man page
zcat uncompress a file and send it to standard output sl3 man page
Some shell programs
bash The Bourne-again shell: a shell program sl3 man page
csh The C shell program sl3 man page
dash An efficient implementation of the Bourne/Posix shell sl3 man page
ksh Korn shell (on which Posix shell is based) sl3 man page
sh POSIX shell program or Bourne shell program sl3 man page
tcsh The tcsh shell program sl3 man page
tclsh Shell for the tcl interpreter sl3 man page
zsh The Zee-shell (based on Bourne) sl3 man page
Some filter programs
asa Convert files with ASA controls to Unix sl3 man page
awk Match text in file(s) and perform actions sl3 man page
cat Catenate file(s) and put them on standard output sl3 man page
cut Extract fields from input line(s) sl3 man page
egrep Variant of grep sl3 man page
fgrep Variant of grep sl3 man page
grep Match text in file(s) sl3 man page
head Output the first few lines of the input sl3 man page
nl Add numbers to lines as they are output sl3 man page
paste Join several files vertically sl3 man page
rev Reverse the order of characters in the input file sl3 man page
sed Stream-edit lines sl3 man page
tac Like cat (see cat) but put lines in reverse order sl3 man page
tee Copy input to output with a file copy too sl3 man page
tail Output the last few lines of the input sl3 man page
tee Copy input to output with a file copy too sl3 man page
tr Copy input to output with char translation sl3 man page
Network facilities and e-mail
elm Historic mail program sl3 man page
firefox A World Wide Web browser sl3 man page
ftp File Transfer Program using TCP/IP sl3 man page
lynx Linemode client for the Web sl3 man page
mail Historic mail reading and sending program sl3 man page
seamonkey A World Wide Web browser sl3 man page
opera A World Wide Web browser sl3 man page
pine A mail program with a mainframe look/feel sl3 man page
ping Check a computer connection is working sl3 man page
rcp Copy a remote computer file (use scp instead) sl3 man page
rlogin Call a remote computer for a session (use ssh instead) sl3 man page
scp Secure Copy of a remote computer file sl3 man page
sftp Secure File Transfer Program sl3 man page
ssh Secure Call to a remote computer sl3 man page
telnet Call a remote computer for a terminal session sl3 man page
Compilers & Interpreters
c++ Compile and link a C++ language program sl3 man page
cc Compile and link a C language program sl3 man page
f77 Compile and link a Fortran 77 program sl3 man page
g++ See c++ sl3 man page
g77 See f77 sl3 man page
gcc See cc sl3 man page
perl Interpret a file written in perl language sl3 man page
python Interpret a file written in python language sl3 man page
rexx Interpret a file written in rexx language sl3 man page
Interactive text editors
emacs A useful text editor, GUI or text-mode sl3 man page
gedit A GUI editor, part of the Gnome package sl3 man page
gvim GUI version of vi sl3 man page
kedit A simple GUI editor, part of the KDE package sl3 man page
kwrite Another GUI editor, part of the KDE package sl3 man page
nano An easy to use text editor, extended from pico sl3 man page
nedit Another GUI editor sl3 man page
pico An easy to use text editor, supplied with pine sl3 man page
the The Hessling Editor, based on IBM xedit sl3 man page
vi Text editor, text-mode oriented, ubiquitous sl3 man page
vim Improved vi, with contexts and colours sl3 man page
TeX and friends
dvips Convert a processed TeX/LaTeX file into PostScript sl3 man page
latex Process a document written in LaTeX sl3 man page
lyx Prepare a TeX/LaTeX file with a WYSIWIG editor sl3 man page
tex Process a document written in TeX sl3 man page
xdvi Display a processed TeX/LaTeX document using X sl3 man page
xlatex Edit, process, display and print LaTeX documents sl3 man page
Some useful printing aids
a2ps Print an ordinary file in well laid-out PostSscript sl3 man page
pr Paginate an ordinary file as it outputs it sl3 man page
psnup Print a PostScript file compactly sl3 man page
Some X utilities (from a huge selection)
display Display a graphics image sl3 man page
gv Display PostScript file(s) for X using gs utility sl3 man page
xclock X display of a digital or analogue clock sl3 man page
xpaint One of several packages for schematic graphics sl3 man page
xterm Terminal emulator for X, emulating a VT102/T4014 sl3 man page
xv View files in various bitmapped formats sl3 man page

Please notify me of any error or glaring omission in the above so I can correct it. Note that the Local Guide, section Linux, gives a complete list of packages available on our systems.

L.S.Lowe.