Essential Unix Commands

Here are some of the most popular and commonly used command-line commands in Unix:

1. ls – Lists directory contents.
2. cd – Changes the current directory.
3. pwd – Prints the current working directory.
4. cp – Copies files and directories.
5. mv – Moves or renames files and directories.
6. rm – Removes files or directories.
7. touch – Creates an empty file or updates the timestamp of an existing file.
8. mkdir – Creates a new directory.
9. rmdir – Removes empty directories.
10. chmod – Changes file permissions.
11. chown – Changes file owner and group.
12. cat – Concatenates and displays the content of files.
13. more – Views file contents one screen at a time.
14. less – Similar to more, but with more features.
15. head – Outputs the first part of files.
16. tail – Outputs the last part of files.
17. echo – Displays a line of text or a variable value.
18. grep – Searches for patterns in files.
19. find – Searches for files and directories in a directory hierarchy.
20. man – Displays the manual pages for commands.
21. ps – Displays information about active processes.
22. kill – Sends signals to processes, typically to terminate them.
23. top – Displays real-time system information, including active processes.
24. df – Reports file system disk space usage.
25. du – Estimates file space usage.
26. tar – Archives files.
27. gzip – Compresses files.
28. gunzip – Decompresses files.
29. ssh – Connects to a remote machine securely.
30. scp – Securely copies files between hosts.
31. wget – Downloads files from the web.
32. curl – Transfers data from or to a server.
33. awk – Pattern scanning and processing language.
34. sed – Stream editor for filtering and transforming text.
35. nano – Simple text editor.
36. vi or vim – Advanced text editor.

These commands form the backbone of Unix command-line operations and are essential for various tasks like file management, system monitoring, process control, and networking.