Help File Library: Basic Command Reference for UNIX/Linux
| Linux/UNIX command | Description | MS-DOS equivalent |
| ./foo | start foo (allocated in current dir.) | foo |
| / ¯ | previous / next command | doskey |
| cd x (or cd /x) | go to directory x | cd |
| cd .. (or cd ../ or cd /..) | go down one directory | cd.. |
| x then [tab] <beep> [tab] | view all commands starting with x | - |
| adduser | add a user to the system | / |
| ls (or dir) | list a directory | dir |
| cat | view a textfile on the terminal | type |
| mv x y | move or rename file x to file y | move |
| cp x y | copy file x to file y | copy |
| rm x | delete a file | del |
| mkdir x | make a directory | md |
| rmdir x | remove a directory | rd |
| rm -r x | remove directory x and all its underlying files | deltree |
| rm p | remove a package | - |
| df (or df x) | Show free space on device x | chkdsk ? |
| top | view memory status (q to quit) | mem |
| man x | get a manual page about command x | / |
| less x | view text file x (note that the more filter works under Linux too!) | type x |more |
| echo | print something on the screen | echo |
| mc | Norton Commander for UNIX | nc |
| mount | to couple a device (e.g. CD-ROM, umount to uncouple) | - |
| halt | to shutdown | - |
| reboot ([ctrl] + [alt] + [del]) | to restart | [ctrl] + [alt] + [del] |
Advanced commands
| chmod <permissions> <file> | Change file permissions |
| ls -l x | Perform a detailed directory listing for file x |
| ln -s x y | Make a symbolic link from x to y |
| find x -name y -print | find file y, begin the search from within directory x and print the results to the screen |
| ps | to view all running processes |
| kill x | to terminate process x (x is PID from ps) |
| [alt] + F1 - F7 | switch to terminal 1 - 7 (in text terminal; F7 = X-Windows (when started)) |
| lilo | to make a boot disk |
Terminology
| symlink | Symbolic link to another file or directory. Like Win95's shortcuts |
| shell script | Like MS-DOS's batchfiles; perform a series of commands after another. |
X-Windows
| startx | to start X-windows |
| [ctrl] + [alt] + [backsp] | to quit X during trouble |
| [ctrl] + [alt] + F1 - F6 | to switch to text terminal 1 - 6 (in X-windows) |
| xf86Config | most primitive setup/configurator for x (in text terminal) |
| Xconfigurator | another configurator for X in text terminal |
| xf86Setup | an X-Windows configurator for X |
| configX | to configure Metro-X server |
