Updated: 2017-05-30 03:27 EDT

1 Unix/Linux Command List You Must Know (Weekly Cumulative)Indexup to index

This is a list of Unix/Linux command names used in this course and (eventually) the week number in which they were first introduced and described. A missing week number means the command hasn’t been formally introduced yet. This page is updated weekly as new commands are introduced.

Almost all these command names have manual pages. Command names that are built-in to the shell (e.g. cd, exit, pwd, history, etc.) are described somewhere in the man page for the bash shell and you can also use the BASH shell built-in help command to get information about built-in commands, e.g. help help and help pwd, etc.

This list only gives the names of the commands, not what the commands do or how to use them. As each command is introduced, you must keep your own notebook with these command names in it and a short description of what each command does; you will be required to learn and remember at least some of what each of these commands can do.

Solutions to assignments in this course use only these command names. If you want to use other command names, clear it with your instructor first.

WK  Topic covered
--  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
01  How the course works; submitting to Blackboard; course information.
01  Remote Login to the Course Linux Server and simple commands
01  Recall terminal command line history using UpArrow DownArrow keys
01  Simple command line Output Redirection using >file.txt
01  File Transfer to/from the CLS
01  Terminal Control Characters: ^C ^L
02  Using Copy and Paste in PuTTY via mouse drag and right-click
02  More Terminal Control Characters: ^C ^L ^W ^U ^R
02  More Terminal Control Characters: ^D ^Z
02  RTFM Manual Pages
02  Absolute and Relative pathnames
03  Setting the BASH shell prompt:  PS1='[\u@\h \W]\$ '
03  Finding files and basic commands
03  GLOB characters: * ? [...], aliases
04  I/O Redirection: stdin, stdout, stderr, < > | 2>&1, Pipes
05  Text Editors: basic VIM, nano (use VIM instead)
05  Shell local and environment variables, export, printenv
05  Start-up files (.bashrc .bash_profile)
05  Midterm Test #1 45 min - 10am Friday February 10 in the lecture class
06  Midterm Test #1 analysis
06  Search $PATH
06  Quoting
06  Linux File System
06  Inodes and hard links, ln
07  Disk Usage, du, quota
07  Symbolic links
07  Permissions: whoami, id, groups
08  Permissions: chmod, umask
08  Compression, archives, difference: gzip, tar, diff
08  system logs, dmesg, syslog
08  Processes, Jobs, Background, Foreground, Kill, Signals
09  Scheduling with crontab, at
09  Midterm Test #2 45 min 10am Friday March 17
10  Midterm Test #2 analysis
10  Shell scripts
10  *** Final Withdrawal Date Friday March 24 2017 (Week 10) ***
11  Shell command Substitution
12  Shell control statements, the "test" helper command
13  Shell control statements
14  Shell control statements; shell script problems
15  Final Exam (three hours) 08:00am Friday April 28 in CA105ABC

WK  Command name first introduced (read the course notes)
--  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
08  &     (shell built-in)
13  &&    (shell built-in)
13  ||    (shell built-in)
13  $((   (shell built-in)
12  :     (shell built-in)
03  alias (shell built-in)
02  apropos  (same as man -k)
09  at
09  atq
09  atrm
05  awk '{print $1}'  (also $2, $NF, etc.)
02  bash
08  bg (shell built-in)
08  bunzip2
08  bzip2
08  bzcat, bzless, bzfgrep, bzgrep, bzdiff, etc.
01  cal (9 1752)
12  case (shell built-in)
01  cat
02  cd (shell built-in)
07  chmod ( -R ugo[-+=]rwx octal_number )
03  clear  (see also ^L)
01  cmatrix
03  cp ( -a -r -p )
09  crontab
04  cut
01  date
07  df
08  diff
08  dmesg
12  do (shell built-in)
07  du
01  echo (shell built-in and external)
12  elif (shell built-in)
04  elinks ( -dump -no-numbering -no-references )
10  else (shell built-in)
12  esac (shell built-in)
01  exit (shell built-in)
05  export (shell built-in)
12  expr (shell built-in)
10  false (shell built-in)
02  fg (shell built-ini: use after ^Z stops a process)
03  fgrep (same as grep -F) ( -i -v -w )
10  fi (shell built-in)
01  figlet
02  file
03  find ( -name -user -inum -size -print -ls )
12  for (shell built-in)
02  fortune
14  function (shell built-in)
03  grep (use fgrep instead until you learn regular expressions next term)
06  groups
08  gunzip
08  gzip
03  head
03  help (shell built-in)
02  history (shell built-in)
06  hostname
06  id
10  if (shell built-in)
08  jobs (shell built-in)
08  kill (shell built-in)
08  killall
02  less (similar to "more"; used by "man")
12  let (shell built-in)
06  ln ( -s )
03  locate ( see slocate )
01  ls ( -l -i -a -d -L )
09  mail ( -s )
02  man ( -k )
03  mkdir ( -p )
03  more (similar to "less")
03  mv
05  nano [*** USE VIM INSTEAD ***]
04  nl (same as "cat -n")
02  passwd
05  printenv
08  ps ( uaxww -efww )
08  pstree
02  pwd (shell built-in and also external)
06  quota -v
13  read (shell built-in)
01  rm ( -r -f )
03  rmdir
05  set (shell built-in)
12  shift (shell built-in)
05  shopt (shell built-in)
01  sl
03  sleep (60)
03  slocate
04  sort ( -f -n -r )  (see the weekly notes)
03  sum
04  tail
08  tar
10  test (shell built-in and also external) also known as [
10  then (shell built-in)
01  toilet ( --gay )
03  touch
04  tr
10  true (shell built-in)
03  tree
08  umask ( octal_number ) (shell built-in)
03  unalias  ( -a ) (shell built-in)
04  uniq ( -c )  (see the weekly notes)
08  unzip
01  users
05  vi / vim / vimtutor
02  wc ( -l -w -c )
06  whereis
06  which
12  while (shell built-in)
01  who
06  whoami
03  whois (see the weekly notes)
08  zip
08  zcat, zless, zfgrep, zgrep, zdiff, etc.

Keep a notebook with these command names in it and a short description of what each command does; you will be required to learn and remember at least some of what each of these commands can do.

Remember

Remember

Author: 
| Ian! D. Allen, BA, MMath  -  idallen@idallen.ca  -  Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| Home Page: http://idallen.com/   Contact Improv: http://contactimprov.ca/
| College professor (Free/Libre GNU+Linux) at: http://teaching.idallen.com/
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