ITEC202 Operating Systems Lab-Linux/Unix Command Line Cheat Sheet

Oct 13, 2026

Upload by moss~

A practical Linux/Unix command-line cheat sheet for lab-style use, covering core workflows: locating the current directory (pwd), listing and filtering files (ls with details and wildcards), and navigating the filesystem (cd with common path forms). It also summarizes essential file and directory operations (mkdir, rmdir, touch, cp, rm, mv), text viewing/editing tools (nano, cat, more, head, tail, tail -f), process and resource inspection (top), and frequent utilities like ssh, grep, tar, time, man, and redirection/piping.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages1

AccessFree to download

Command Basics

Working Directory and Listing

Navigation and Paths

Files and Directories

Create, Copy, Move, Remove

Editing and Viewing Text

Processes, Search, and Archives

Monitoring and Help

SSH, grep, tar, and Utilities

Output Control

Redirection and Pipes

Wildcards and Safety Notes

ITEC202 Operating Systems Lab-Linux/Unix Command Line Cheat Sheet | Command | Description | | | --- | --- | --- | | pwd | prints working directory (prints to screen, ie displays the full path, or your location on the filesystem) | | | ls | lists contents of current directory | | | ls –l | lists contents of current directory with extra details | | | ls /home/user/*. txt | lists all files in /home/user ending in .txt | | | cd | change directory to your home directory | | | cd ~ | change directory to your home directory | | | cd /scratch/user | change directory to user on scratch | | | cd - | change directory to the last directory you were in before changing to wherever you are now | | | mkdir mydir | makes a directory called mydir | | | rmdir mydir | removes directory called mydir. mydir must be empty | | | touch myfile | creates a file called myfile. updates the timestamp on the file if it already exists, without modifying its contents | | | cp myfile myfile2 | copies myfile to myfile2 . if myfile2 exists, this will overwrite it! | | | rm myfile | removes file called myfile | | | rm –f myfile | removes myfile without asking you for confirmation. useful if using wildcards to remove files *** | | | cp –r dir newdir | copies the whole directory dir to newdir. –r must be specified to copy directory contents recursively | | | rm –rf mydir | this will delete directory mydir along with all its content without asking you for confirmation! *** | | | nano | opens a text editor. see ribbon at bottom for help. ^x means CTRL-x. this will exit nano | | | nano new. txt | opens nano editing a file called new.txt | | | cat new. txt | displays the contents of new.txt | | | more new. txt | displays the contents of new.txt screen by screen. spacebar to pagedown, q to quit | | | head new. txt | displays first 10 lines of new.txt | | | tail new. txt | displays last 10 lines of new.txt | | | tail –f new. txt | displays the contents of a file as it grows, starting with the last 10 lines. ctrl-c to quit. | | | mv myfile newlocdir | moves myfile into the destination directory newlocdir | | | mv myfile newname | renames file to newname. ifa file called newname exists, this will overwrite it! | | | mv dir subdir | moves the directory called dir to the directory called subdir | | | mv dir newdirname | renames directory dir to newdirname | | | top | displays all the processes running on the machine, and shows available resources | | | du –h--max-depth=1 | run this in your home directory to see how much space you are using. don’t exceed 5GB | | | ssh servername | goes to a different server. this could be queso, brie, or provolone | | | grep pattern files | searches for the pattern in files, and displays lines in those files matching the pattern | | | date | shows the current date and time | | | anycommand > myfile | redirects the output of anycommand writing it to a file called myfile | | | date > timestamp | redirects the output of the date command to a file in the current directory called timestamp | | | anycommand >> myfile | appends the output of anycommand to a file called myfile | | | date >> timestamp | appends the current time and date to a file called timestamp. creates the file if it doesn’t exist | | | command1 | command2 | “pipes” the output of command1 to command2 . the pipe is usually shift-backslash key | | | date | grep Tue | displays any line in the output of the date command that matches the pattern Tue. (is it Tuesday?) | | | tar -zxf archive. tgz | this will extract the contents ofthe archive called archive.tgz. kind of like unzipping a zipfile. *** | | | tar -zcf dir. tgz dir | this creates a compressed archive called dir.tgz that contains all the files and directory structure of dir | | | time anycommand | runs anycommand, timing how long it takes, and displays that time to the screen after completing anycommand | | | man anycommand | gives you help on anycommand | | | cal -y | free calendar

FAQs

How do you view the current directory and list its contents in Linux/Unix?

Use pwd to print the working directory, then use ls to list current directory contents. For detailed output, use ls -l.

How can you create, copy, move, and delete files safely?

Create files with touch, copy with cp (use -r for recursive directory copies), and rename/move with mv. Delete with rm, and note that rm -f and rm -rf skip confirmation—use them with extreme caution.

How do you redirect and combine command outputs on the terminal?

Use > to overwrite and >> to append output to a file. Use pipes (command1 | command2) to feed the output of one command into another, and use man anycommand for command help.

Oct 13, 2026

Upload by moss~