Linux commands: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 22:34, 22 March 2020

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

Help for command:

Linux

or Mac

: Type command_name --help or man command_name ;

Win

: Type command_name /? "Open Source tools Cygwin which provide functionality similar to a Linux distribution on Windows"

Text file manipulation

Display the content of text file

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 )
tail - cat line X to line Y on a huge file - Unix & Linux Stack Exchange
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

Display the entire content of text file

vi [options] filename (Linux )
cat <filename> (Linux )
type <filename> (Win )

Display the partial content of large text file page by page

cat <filename> | less (Linux or Cygwin on Win ) Chinese issue^[1]
type <filename> | more (Win ) If the file was encoded in UTF-8, you need to key in chcp 65001 first ^[2].

Display only certain lines by number

text processing - With the Linux "cat" command, how do I show only certain lines by number - Unix & Linux Stack Exchange

Show certain lines by line number

Newline count (count the number of lines of a file), word count

wc -l <filename> for Linux ^[3] ex: wc -l *.txt to print the newline count of txt files of the current folder
find . -type f -exec cat {} + | wc -l for Linux & Mac to print the newline count of all files on all subdirectories^[4]
wc -l "$(cygpath -u '<path to file>')" for cygwin on Win ex: wc -l "$(cygpath -u 'c:\Program Files\file.txt')"^[5]

linux - wc -l is NOT counting last of the file if it does not have end of line character - Stack Overflow

Save the console message as text file

Save the Unix manpage as plain text file

man man | col -b > man.txt Thanks! Save a Unix manpage as plain text

Search text in a file

grep command for multiple files: grep -ir "string to search" /path/to/directory or grep keyword /path/to/file (Linux )
vim: (1)vim [options] filename (2)press /keyword (Linux )
cat & grep: cat /path/to/file | grep keyword (Linux ) keyword is case sensitive

Search text in a compressed text file

zcat & grep: cat /path/to/compressed_text.gz | grep keyword (Linux )^[6]

Search text in files^[7]

Merge multiple plain text files

Merge multiple text files into one file

File operation

Find a file by filename

locate command (Linux ) ex: locate filename to locate the filename quickly. ^[8]

find command (Linux ) ex: sudo find / -iname filename Find the case-insensitive file name Under the path / (root folder) ^[9]

dir command (Win ) ex: dir /s filename ^[10]^[11] I have no idea to specify the file path to find the file.

Copy & overwrite file

overwrite file without prompt (confirmation): cp command

cp -f to_be_copy.file to_be_overwrote.file (Linux )^[12]
/bin/cp -f to_be_copy.file to_be_overwrote.file (Linux )

Copy old directory to new directory

cp -a old_dir new_dir/ or cp -a old_dir/ new_dir/ (Linux )^[13]^[14]
- If the folder new_dir exists already, system will create the folder old_dir and all files and sub folders under old_dir will copy to the path new_dir/old_dir.
- If the folder new_dir NOT exists, all files and sub folders under old_dir will copy to the folder new_dir.
cp -a old_dir/* new_dir/ (Linux ): All files and sub folders under old_dir will copy to the folder new_dir.
copy /Y old_dir new_dir/ (Win )^[15]
make new directory & copy all old files to new directory
- mkdir new_dir
- cp old_dir/* new_dir
How to move all files in current folder to subfolder? - Ask Ubuntu

Rename (move) files or directory

mv /path/to/old_folder_name /path/to/new_folder_name (Linux )^[16]
mv /path/to/old.file /path/to/new.file (Linux )
mv /path/to/file /path/to/new_folder_name (Linux )
rename old_folder_name new_folder_name (Win )^[17]

Delete files or directory

delete all files or directory

rm -rf /Name_of_directory to delete all files under the 'Name_of_directory (Linux )^[18]
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
rsync
- quick for many small files (1) create a empty folder ex: mkdit /path/to/source (2) To empty the target folder, keyin rsync -avP --delete /path/to/source/ /path/to/target/ (Linux )
- rsync --delete-before -a -H -v --progress --stats /path/to/empty/folder/ /path/to/target_folder_will_be_deleted/ (Linux )^[19] un-verified
Using SFTP/FTP to connection to the server and delete selected files. It may costs too much time if there are many files or sub folders!

Delete the files which their file name were matched with the naming rule when the number of files is too many.

find . -name 'naming_rule' -delete or find . -name 'naming_rule' -type f -delete ^[20]^[21]^[22]

Download file from remote server

FTP
wget (with progress bar): wget http://path.to/file
SVN update: svn up http://remote.svn.server/path/ /local/path/ --username=your_account and key in your SVN password ^[23]
more on File transfer methods

File compression and decompression

compress

pv big.file | gzip > big.file.gz(Linux )^[24] keep the original file
gzip -v big.file(Linux ) NOT keep the original file. File name after compressed: big.file.gz
How do I Compress a Whole Linux or UNIX Directory? for Linux

decompress

gunzip -c big.file.gz > big.file(Linux ) keep the gz file^[25]
gzip -d big.file.gz(Linux ) NOT keep the gz file

ref

Linux: tar Extract Files

List directory or files / list directory contents

ls (Linux ) ls - list directory contents
- List detailed information of files. e.g. ls -lh^[26] ^[27]
- List detailed information of files and sort by modification time. ls -lht
- List top N files and sort by modification time. ls -lht | head -N e.g. ls -lht | head -10 First line is the total file size of specified folder.^[28]
ll (Linux ) ll = ls -l
Print the entire path of files and level-unlimited sub-directories in the current directory. On Win using dir/s/b, and on Linux using find /path/to/files/ -print ^[29].
create ls command in Win command prompt: echo dir %1 > %systemroot%\system32\ls.bat Thanks, hmjd!^[30]
List all files and directories including hidden ones in the current directory. On Win is dir /a, and on Mac or Linux is ls -a^[31]^[32].

Verify if a file or a directory exists

On Linux : ls /path/to/file or ls -d /path/to/directory/ e.g. ls -d ~/ to list your home directory^[33].
On Win :
- dir C:\path\to\file or dir C:\path\to\directory\
- IF EXIST ^[34]^[35]

SET a=C:\path\to\file
REM -- If the directory was separated the \ symbol & the path NOT contains space
IF EXIST %a% (ECHO YES) ELSE (ECHO No)

SET a="C:\path\to\directory contains space\space"
REM -- If the directory was separated the \ symbol & the path contains space
IF EXIST %a% (ECHO YES) ELSE (ECHO No)

SET a=C:/path/to/file
REM -- If the directory was separated the / symbol, the next command replace / with \ symbol.
SET a=%a:/=\%
IF EXIST %a% (ECHO YES) ELSE (ECHO No)

troubleshooting

SET a = C:\path\to\file
REM -- Correct command: SET a=C:\path\to\file
IF EXIST %a% (ECHO YES) ELSE (ECHO No)
REM -- the returned result will not correct!

Print the current directory / where am i

Linux : pwd print name of working directory. More on pwd.
Win : cd or echo %cd% to print current directory ^[36]

Change directory to my home directory

cd ~/ or cd $HOME (Linux ) will switch to my home directory ex: /Users/ACCOUNT^[37]
cd %UserProfile% (Win ) will switch to my home directory ex: C:\Users\ACCOUNT more on MS_Windows_Explorer^[38]

network

show ip

ifconfig (Linux )^[39]^[40]
ipconfig/all (Win )

ping You may got no response if the server was disabled the ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) response.

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)

TRACERT (trace route)

traceroute domain_or_ip (Linux ) & Mac
tracert domain_or_ip -t (Win )

apache operation

check apache servie is running or not

service --status-all | grep -i httpd (Linux ^[41]^[42])
netstat -npl | grep httpd for Linux ^[43]
netstat -an | find /i "listening" (Win ) find the local open ports & find local address TCP 0.0.0.0:80 is listening^[44]
more on connection test...

Where is apache installed?^[45]

cat /etc/rc.d/rc.local if the apache service is already launched

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 ^[46]

mysql operation

MySQL commands: 1. Exporting data into MySql sql file & 2. Importing data from MySql sql file

install package

Linux : ex: install the Pipe Viewer (pv) package
1. How to Enable RPMForge Repository in RHEL/CentOS 7.x/6.x/5.x/4.x
2. (1)yum install pv for RHEL / CentOS / SL / Fedora Linux^[47]; (2) apt-get install pv for Debian / Ubuntu^[48];
Mac
1. install Homebrew "package manager for OS X"
2. brew search PACKAGE_NAME ex: brew search wget
3. if the package is available. brew install PACKAGE_NAME ex: brew install wget

system operation

show current time

date (Linux ) output the system date: Thu Oct 25 15:05:10 CST 2012 ^[49]^[50]
TZ=Asia/Taipei date (Linux ) output the time from the Taipei/CST timezone ^[51]
date/t (Win ) (parameter: /t will not ask you to change the current date)

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

echo $PATH (Linux )^[52]
echo %PATH% (Win ) more on How to setup my system path

reboot the system/server

reboot (Linux )^[53]
shutdown -r (Win )^[54]

Shutdown system at a specific date time.

Linux : (1) Enter date to verify the server timezone. (2) Enter sudo shutdown -h 20:02 ^[55]
Win : Schedule Shutdown or Restarts in Windows using the Task Scheduler

OS version

lsb_release -a (Linux )^[56]
ver (Win )^[57]

Show the process list & kill the process

Show the process list & kill the high-resource-consumption process^[58]^[59]

display the process list
- top "display Linux tasks" for Linux or
- top -a or ps aux --sort -rss | more^[60] "Sort by memory usage" for Linux
keyin q to leave the process list
find which process to be killed. And then keyin:
- kill <PID> or kill -<PID> PID. To kill the process with PID number: 101, enter kill 101. ^[61]
- kill -9 <PID>. Force to kill the process with PID number: 101, enter kill -9 101. ^[62]

Find process running on port

Search and extract string from command output

linux command | awk '/string/' (Linux )^[63] ex:
- keyin dpkg --get-selections | awk '/tar/' to search the installed package naming tar for Ubuntu.^[64]
- keyin dpkg --get-selections | awk '/zip|unzip/' to search the installed package naming zip or unzip for Ubuntu.
linux command | grep string (Linux ) ex: keyin yum list installed | grep tar to search the installed package naming tar for CentOS.^[65]
Windows command | find "string" (Win ) ex: netstat -a | find "3306" (note: enclose string in double quotation marks)^[66]

System CPU usage

CPU usage / system load average

Win :
- namespace: ROOT\CIMV2
- WQL query: SELECT LoadPercentage FROM Win32_Processor; No need to divid by CPU cores number for Win8
- output example: 24 (UInt16, 16 bit Unsigned Integer) unit: %
- CPU usage = LoadPercentage; unit: %
freebsd, Linux & Mac :
- PHP function sys_getloadavg() unit: %; Need to divid by CPU cores number

System memory usage

Memory usage

Win :
- namespace: ROOT\CIMV2
- WQL query: SELECT FreePhysicalMemory, TotalVisibleMemorySize FROM Win32_OperatingSystem^[67]
- output example: 21683460 (UInt64, 64 bit Unsigned Integer) unit: KB
- memory usage = (FreePhysicalMemory * 100) / TotalVisibleMemorySize; unit: %

freebsd & Linux :
- command: free
- output example:

                               total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
                    Mem:       8060416    7922496     137920        120     183608     526180
                    -/+ buffers/cache:    7212708     847708
                    Swap:      4194300    1219364    2974936

- memory usage = 7922496 / 8060416; unit: %

Mac (known as Darwin):
- command: top -l 1
- output example: PhysMem: 8017M used (1486M wired), 172M unused.
- memory usage: 172 / (8017+172); unit: %

System disk space usage

hard disk usage

df command "disk space usage" for Linux df -h
du command "estimate file space usage" of specific folder for Linux
- du -h /path/to/folder/ Detailed output of hard disk usage of specific folder and child folders.
- du -hcs /path/to/folder/ Brief output of total hard disk usage.
- du --max-depth=1 -B M /path/to/folder/ | sort -g^[68]Output example:

0M      /sys
1M      /tmp
9M      /run
27M     /etc
36M     /root
165M    /boot
1647M   /usr
49287M  /var
51379M  /home
102547M /

How To Find Largest Top 10 Files and Directories On Linux / UNIX / BSD - nixCraft It may costs time to return the result if there are too many file under the specified path. Output example of du -a -BM /path/to/folder/ | sort -n -r | head -n 10:

# du -a -BM /var/ | sort -n -r | head -n 10
11199M  /var/
10384M  /var/lib
6336M   /var/lib/mysql
3714M   /var/lib/strong-pm
3661M   /var/lib/strong-pm/svc
2042M   /var/lib/strong-pm/svc/1/work
2042M   /var/lib/strong-pm/svc/1
1619M   /var/lib/strong-pm/svc/2/work

Options cited from the content of Linux man page^[69]

-a, --all "write counts for all files, not just directories"
-B, --block-size=SIZE "scale sizes by SIZE before printing them"

Scan the disk

GUI: How to Perform Scandisk in Windows Win
Command: shutdown -rF now Force fsck when rebooting a Linux server (Linux )^[70]

Switch the user account

switch the current user

su on Linux switch the current user to super user ^[71]
su - <user name> on Linux switch the current user to another user

prints the current user

whoami on Linux & Win "prints the effective user ID"^[72]^[73]

Clean the screen/console

Win : cls ^[74]
Linux & Mac : clear ^[75]

help for command

view the documentation for this command

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

find the path of an executable

which command for Linux ex: which wc will return the path '/usr/bin/wc'
which command or where command for Mac ex: which wc will return the path '/usr/bin/wc'
where command for Win version 2003 or 8. ex: where nslookup will return the path 'C:\Windows\System32\nslookup.EXE'^[76] not all DOS command will return the information ex: where cd, where dir. Related page: How to setup my system path

emergency exit

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

references

↑ linux - Show special characters in Unix while using 'less' Command - Stack Overflow un-verified
↑ (Solved) Window命令視窗中文亂碼改編碼方法
↑ wc (Unix) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
↑ linux - Use wc on all subdirectories to count the sum of lines - Stack Overflow
↑ Cygwin convert windows path to linux path
↑ Unix / Linux: cat .GZ Compressed Text File On Screen
↑ 鳥哥的 Linux 私房菜 -- 學習 bash shell
↑ Linux 快速尋找檔案 - locate - Tsung's Blog
↑ Find command: how to ignore case? - Unix and Linux; Find the case-sensitive file name Under the path / (root folder) ex: find / -name filename ref:Tips For Linux - How to find files in Linux using 'find'
↑ How to find a file in MS-DOS.
↑ /S 顯示指定目錄及所有子目錄中的檔案。 (引用自 dir /? 命令說明)
↑ Linux：檔案複製強制覆寫, cp force overwrite @ 符碼記憶

↑

from manual:
-a, --archive
              same as -dR --preserve=all
-d     same as --no-dereference --preserve=links
--preserve[=ATTR_LIST]
              preserve the specified attributes (default: mode,ownership,timestamps), if  possible  addi-
              tional attributes: context, links, xattr, all
-R, -r, --recursive
              copy directories recursively

↑ unix - How to copy with cp to include hidden files and hidden directories and their contents? - Super User
↑ /Y 不顯示覆寫現存目的檔案的確認提示。 (引用自 copy /? 命令說明)
↑ Linux Rename Files, Folders or Directories
↑ MS-DOS ren and rename command help
↑
[OPTION]
- -r remove directories and their contents recursively;
- -f ignore nonexistent files, never prompt
(above content cited from linux documentation: rm --help)
↑ Linux下使用rsync最快速删除海量文件的方法_果冻的剥壳_新浪博客
↑ How to recursively remove .DS_Store files on Mac OS X | Tangential Musings
↑ XYZ的筆記本: Linux 使用 rm 刪除檔案,出現 /bin/rm: Argument list too long
↑ Linux find command
↑ using the www account su - www -c "svn up http://remote.svn.server/path/ /local/path/ --username=your_account --password=xxx"
↑ A Unix Utility You Should Know About: Pipe Viewer - good coders code, great reuse
↑ linux - How do you gunzip a file and keep the .gz file? - Super User
↑ 鳥哥的 Linux 私房菜 -- Linux 的檔案權限與目錄配置
↑
[OPTION]
- -l use a long listing format
- -h, --human-readable; with -l, print sizes in human readable format (e.g., 1K 234M 2G) Quoted from linux man ls
↑ How to list top 10 files | Unix Linux Forums | UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers
↑ linux - Making ls output like dir /b /s - Super User
↑ How to create ls in windows command prompt? - Stack Overflow
↑ How to see hidden files in MS-DOS and the Command Prompt
↑ Bash Shell: Display All Hidden Dot Files In a Directory
↑ Single linux command to return to home directory
↑ How to verify if a file exists in a Windows .BAT file? - Stack Overflow
↑ Windows shell string operations (changing backslash to slash) - Stack Overflow
↑ Windows equivalent to UNIX pwd - Stack Overflow
↑ linux - Where is the $HOME environment variable set? - Super User
↑ weka - Where is my home directory located?
↑ 鳥哥的 Linux 私房菜 -- Linux 常用網路指令介紹
↑ bash: ifconfig: command not found 無法使用ifconfig指令？先加上 su -l指令
↑ Red Hat / CentOS: Check / List Running Services
↑ -i means ignore caseHow to use the grep command, by The Linux Information Project (LINFO)
↑ Linux / UNIX Find Out What Program / Service is Listening on a Specific TCP Port
↑ Netstat
↑ Enabling and disabling services during start up in GNU/Linux | All about Linux
↑ Check which mpm (multi processing module) apache is running | Binary Tides
↑ Linux / Unix pv Command: Monitor Progress of Data Sent Via a Pipe
↑ ivarch.com: Pipe Viewer
↑ 鳥哥的 Linux 私房菜 -- NTP 時間伺服器
↑ DATE (command) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
↑ How can I have `date` output the time from a different timezone? - Unix & Linux Stack Exchange
↑ 鳥哥的 Linux 私房菜 -- 檔案與目錄管理 -- 關於執行檔路徑的變數： $PATH
↑ reboot - Linux Command - Unix Command
↑ Windows原來也有內建好用的關機軟體(Shutdown.exe) | ㊣軟體玩家
↑ How to shutdown Linux at a specific datetime from terminal? - Unix & Linux Stack Exchange
↑ The Will Will Web | 如何查詢 Linux 的種類與版本 ( Linux Standard Base )
↑ Find windows OS version from command line
↑ How do I Find Out Linux CPU Utilization? - nixCraft
↑ Show All Running Processes in Linux
↑ 鳥哥的 Linux 私房菜 -- 第十六章、程序管理與 SELinux 初探
↑ Kill Process in Linux or Terminate a Process in UNIX / Linux Systems, kill(1): terminate process - Linux man page
↑ 鳥哥的 Linux 私房菜 -- 第十六章、程序管理與 SELinux 初探
↑ shell script - How to search and extract string from command output? - Unix & Linux Stack Exchange
↑ logical operators in grep
↑ Unix/Linux grep command examples | grep command in Unix and Linux | grep examples | alvinalexander.com
↑ Microsoft Windows XP - Find
↑ Collect Memory Data from WMI (Win32)
↑ 【系統】使用 du 來看磁碟的使用空間 @ My Life :: 隨意窩 Xuite日誌
↑ du man page
↑ Cloud Provider and Dedicated Server Hosting in Dallas, TX
↑ Linux su command help and examples
↑ Linux whoami command help and examples
↑ Whoami
↑ Cls
↑ Clear! (clear your terminal screen) | Linux.org
↑ What is Windows' equivalent of the "which" command in Unix? Is there an equivalent PowerShell command? - Super User

@@ Line 95: / Line 95: @@
 ==== Rename (move) files or directory ====
-* {{kbd | key=mv ''old_folder_name new_folder_name''}} ({{Linux}})<ref>[http://www.liamdelahunty.com/tips/linux_rename_directory.php Linux Rename Files, Folders or Directories]</ref>
+* {{kbd | key=mv ''/path/to/old_folder_name /path/to/new_folder_name''}} ({{Linux}})<ref>[http://www.liamdelahunty.com/tips/linux_rename_directory.php Linux Rename Files, Folders or Directories]</ref>
+* {{kbd | key=mv ''/path/to/old.file /path/to/new.file''}} ({{Linux}})
 * {{kbd | key=mv ''/path/to/file /path/to/new_folder_name''}} ({{Linux}})
 * {{kbd | key=rename ''old_folder_name new_folder_name''}} ({{Win}})<ref>[http://www.computerhope.com/renamehl.htm MS-DOS ren and rename command help]</ref>