Linux commands

(1) alternative Linux commands to complete the same task, (2) The equivalent or similar commands between Windows and Linux system.

help for command: Type command --help or man command (Linux )

text file manipulation

display the first lines of text file

• head [options] filename (OS: Linux )
• vi [options] filename (and press gg) (Linux )
• vim [options] filename (and press gg) (Linux ); Open file and press gg for gVim (Win )

display the last few lines of text file

• tail [options] filename (Linux )
• vi [options] filename (and press G) (Linux )
• vim [options] filename (and press G) (Linux ); Open file and press G for gVim (Win )
• Tail for Win32 GUI interface (Win ) not support Unicode file for v.4.2.6

Search text in file

• (1)vim [options] filename (2)press /keyword (Linux )
• grep: grep keyword file_name (Linux )

Search text in files

file operation

copy old directory to new directory

• cp -a old_dir new_dir/ (Linux )
• copy /Y old_dir new_dir/ (Win )
• make new directory & copy all old files to new directory
  • mkdir new_dir
  • cp old_dir/* new_dir

download file from remote server

• FTP
• wget: wget http://path.to/file
• SVN update su - www -c "svn up http://remote.svn.server/path/ /local/path/ --username=your_account --password=xxx"
• more on File transfer methods

delete (move) files or directory

• rm -rf /Name_of_directory (Linux )
• del Name_of_directory (Win )
  • After executed del Name_of_directory but the empty directory directory_name will be left.
  • Command delete is not available in Win XP
• linux alternative to dos command ren - Ubuntu Forums

list directory or files / list directory contents

• ls (Linux ) ex: ls -lh List detailed information of files
• dir (Win ) ex: dir/s/b

find a file

• find (Linux ) ex: find / -name filename Find the file which naming filename Under the path / (root folder)
• dir (Win ) ex: dir filename /s I have no idea to specify the file path to find the file.

show the current directory

• pwd(Linux )
• echo %cd%(Win )

network

show ip

• ifconfig (Linux )
• ipconfig/all (Win )

ping

• ping domain_or_ip (Linux )
• ping domain_or_ip -t (Win )

whois: search the information of domain (related: Domain Name Register)

• whois domain (Linux or Win : require to install whois for windows)

apache operation

check apache servie is running or not

• service --status-all | grep httpd (Linux )
• netstat -an | find /i "listening" (Win ) find the local open ports & find local address TCP 0.0.0.0:80 is listening

check which mpm (multi processing module) apache is running

• httpd -l (Linux & Win ) ex: Linux /usr/local/httpd/bin/httpd -l or Win x:\apache\bin>httpd -l where x:\apache is the installation folder of apache

system operation

show current time

• date (Linux ) output: Thu Oct 25 15:05:10 CST 2012
• date/t ({Win )

output:
OS in English: Thu 05/03/2012
OS in Chinese: 2012/05/03 星期四

• related: timestamp in PHP and MySQL syntax

specify the location where Linux or MS-DOS looks when using a command

• echo $PATH (Linux )
• echo %PATH% ({Win )

reboot the system/server

• reboot (Linux )
• shutdown -r (Win )

Search text of command output

• linux command | grep string (Linux ) ex: keyin yum list installed | grep tar to search the installed package naming tar.

help for command

view the documentation for this command

• command --help or man command (Linux )
• command /? (Win )

emergency exit

• ctrl+c or ctrl+break (Linux & Win )
• Pause/Break (Linux ) ex: I pressed the key to leave from the warning message "Vim: Warning: Output is not to a terminal".

further reading

• ÆtherDev - Windows | Linux Equivalent Commands[Last visited: 2012-09-07]