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Command Line Cheatsheet

A quick reference guide to the most common command line commands.

pwd​

Print working directory - shows your current location.

pwd
# Output: /Users/username/Documents

cd​

Change directory - navigate to a different directory.

cd Documents              # Go to Documents directory
cd ~                     # Go to home directory
cd                       # Go to home directory (shortcut)
cd ..                    # Go up one level
cd ../..                 # Go up two levels
cd /                     # Go to root directory
cd -                     # Go to previous directory

ls​

List directory contents - shows files and folders in current directory.

ls                       # List files and directories
ls -l                    # Long format with details
ls -a                    # Show all files including hidden
ls -la                   # Long format with all files
ls -lh                   # Human-readable file sizes
ls -lt                   # Sort by modification time
ls -R                    # Recursive (show subdirectories)
ls *.txt                 # List only .txt files

File Operations​

cat​

Display file contents - prints entire file to terminal.

cat file.txt             # Display file contents
cat file1.txt file2.txt  # Display multiple files
cat > newfile.txt        # Create new file (type content, Ctrl+D to save)
cat >> file.txt          # Append to file

less / more​

View file contents page by page - useful for long files.

less file.txt            # View file (press 'q' to quit, space to scroll)
more file.txt            # View file (older version, less features)

Display first lines of a file.

head file.txt            # First 10 lines
head -n 20 file.txt      # First 20 lines
head -n 5 file.txt       # First 5 lines

tail​

Display last lines of a file.

tail file.txt            # Last 10 lines
tail -n 20 file.txt      # Last 20 lines
tail -f file.txt         # Follow file (watch for new lines, great for logs)

touch​

Create empty file or update file timestamp.

touch file.txt           # Create empty file
touch file1.txt file2.txt # Create multiple files
touch file.txt           # Update modification time if file exists

cp​

Copy files and directories.

cp file.txt backup.txt   # Copy file
cp file.txt dir/         # Copy file to directory
cp -r dir1/ dir2/        # Copy directory recursively
cp -v file.txt dir/      # Verbose (show what's being copied)
cp -i file.txt dir/      # Interactive (prompt before overwrite)

mv​

Move or rename files and directories.

mv file.txt newname.txt  # Rename file
mv file.txt dir/         # Move file to directory
mv dir1/ dir2/           # Move/rename directory
mv -i file.txt dir/      # Interactive (prompt before overwrite)

rm​

Remove files and directories.

rm file.txt              # Delete file
rm -r dir/               # Delete directory recursively
rm -rf dir/              # Force delete directory (no prompts)
rm -i file.txt           # Interactive (prompt before delete)
rm *.txt                 # Delete all .txt files

mkdir​

Create directories.

mkdir newdir             # Create directory
mkdir -p dir1/dir2/dir3  # Create nested directories
mkdir dir1 dir2 dir3     # Create multiple directories

rmdir​

Remove empty directories.

rmdir emptydir           # Remove empty directory
rmdir dir1 dir2          # Remove multiple empty directories

File Permissions​

chmod​

Change file permissions.

chmod 755 file.txt       # Set permissions (rwxr-xr-x)
chmod +x script.sh       # Add execute permission
chmod -x script.sh       # Remove execute permission
chmod u+x file.txt       # Add execute for user only
chmod 644 file.txt       # Common file permissions (rw-r--r--)
chmod 755 script.sh      # Common script permissions (rwxr-xr-x)

chown​

Change file ownership.

chown user file.txt      # Change owner
chown user:group file.txt # Change owner and group
chown -R user dir/       # Recursive (change ownership of directory and contents)

Finding Files​

find​

Search for files and directories.

find . -name "file.txt"           # Find file by name in current directory
find /home -name "*.txt"          # Find all .txt files in /home
find . -type f -name "*.js"       # Find files only (not directories)
find . -type d -name "node_modules" # Find directories only
find . -size +100M                # Find files larger than 100MB
find . -mtime -7                  # Find files modified in last 7 days

grep​

Search for text patterns in files.

grep "pattern" file.txt           # Search for pattern in file
grep -r "pattern" dir/            # Recursive search in directory
grep -i "pattern" file.txt        # Case-insensitive search
grep -n "pattern" file.txt        # Show line numbers
grep -v "pattern" file.txt        # Invert match (show lines without pattern)
grep -l "pattern" *.txt           # Show only filenames with matches

which​

Find location of executable command.

which python             # Find where python command is located
which node               # Find where node command is located
which git                # Find where git command is located

Text Processing​

wc​

Word count - count lines, words, and characters.

wc file.txt              # Lines, words, characters
wc -l file.txt           # Count lines only
wc -w file.txt           # Count words only
wc -c file.txt           # Count characters only

sort​

Sort lines of text.

sort file.txt            # Sort lines alphabetically
sort -r file.txt         # Reverse sort
sort -n file.txt         # Numeric sort
sort -u file.txt         # Unique (remove duplicates)

uniq​

Remove duplicate lines (must be sorted first).

uniq file.txt            # Remove consecutive duplicates
sort file.txt | uniq     # Sort then remove duplicates
uniq -c file.txt         # Count occurrences

cut​

Extract columns from text.

cut -d',' -f1 file.csv   # Extract first field (comma-delimited)
cut -d':' -f1,3 file.txt # Extract fields 1 and 3 (colon-delimited)
cut -c1-10 file.txt      # Extract characters 1-10

awk​

Pattern scanning and text processing.

awk '{print $1}' file.txt         # Print first column
awk -F',' '{print $2}' file.csv   # Print second column (comma-delimited)
awk '/pattern/ {print}' file.txt  # Print lines matching pattern

sed​

Stream editor for filtering and transforming text.

sed 's/old/new/g' file.txt        # Replace all occurrences
sed 's/old/new/' file.txt         # Replace first occurrence per line
sed '2d' file.txt                 # Delete line 2
sed -n '2,5p' file.txt            # Print lines 2-5

Redirection and Pipes​

>

Redirect output to file (overwrite).

ls > files.txt           # Save ls output to file
echo "hello" > file.txt  # Write text to file

>>​

Redirect output to file (append).

ls >> files.txt          # Append ls output to file
echo "hello" >> file.txt # Append text to file

<​

Redirect input from file.

sort < file.txt          # Sort file contents

|​

Pipe - send output of one command to another.

ls | grep ".txt"         # List files, filter for .txt
cat file.txt | sort      # Display file, then sort
ps aux | grep python     # List processes, filter for python

Process Management​

ps​

List running processes.

ps                       # List your processes
ps aux                   # List all processes
ps aux | grep python     # Find python processes

top / htop​

Monitor system processes and resource usage.

top                      # Interactive process monitor (press 'q' to quit)
htop                     # Enhanced version (if installed)

kill​

Terminate processes.

kill 1234                # Kill process by PID
kill -9 1234             # Force kill process
killall python           # Kill all python processes

jobs​

List background jobs.

jobs                     # List background jobs
jobs -l                  # List with PIDs
fg %1                    # Bring job 1 to foreground
bg %1                    # Send job 1 to background

nohup​

Run command immune to hangups.

nohup python script.py & # Run script in background, immune to logout

System Information​

whoami​

Display current username.

whoami                   # Show your username

uname​

Display system information.

uname                    # System name
uname -a                 # All system information
uname -s                 # Operating system name

df​

Display disk space usage.

df                       # Disk space for all filesystems
df -h                    # Human-readable format
df -h /                  # Disk space for root filesystem

du​

Display directory space usage.

du                       # Current directory size
du -h                    # Human-readable format
du -sh dir/              # Summary of directory size
du -h --max-depth=1      # One level deep

free (Linux) / vm_stat (macOS)​

Display memory usage.

free -h                  # Linux: memory usage (human-readable)
vm_stat                  # macOS: memory statistics

Network​

ping​

Test network connectivity.

ping google.com          # Ping a host (Ctrl+C to stop)
ping -c 4 google.com     # Ping 4 times then stop

curl​

Transfer data from or to a server.

curl https://example.com # Download webpage
curl -O https://example.com/file.zip # Download file
curl -o output.txt https://example.com # Save to file
curl -I https://example.com # Show headers only

wget​

Download files from the web.

wget https://example.com/file.zip # Download file
wget -O output.zip https://example.com/file.zip # Save with custom name

ssh​

Secure shell - connect to remote server.

ssh user@hostname        # Connect to remote server
ssh -p 2222 user@hostname # Connect on custom port
ssh-keygen               # Generate SSH key pair

Compression and Archives​

tar​

Create and extract archive files.

tar -czf archive.tar.gz dir/      # Create compressed archive
tar -xzf archive.tar.gz           # Extract compressed archive
tar -xzf archive.tar.gz -C dir/   # Extract to specific directory
tar -tf archive.tar.gz             # List archive contents

zip / unzip​

Create and extract ZIP archives.

zip archive.zip file1.txt file2.txt # Create ZIP archive
zip -r archive.zip dir/              # Create ZIP archive of directory
unzip archive.zip                    # Extract ZIP archive
unzip -l archive.zip                 # List ZIP contents

gzip / gunzip​

Compress and decompress files.

gzip file.txt            # Compress file (creates file.txt.gz)
gunzip file.txt.gz       # Decompress file
gzip -d file.txt.gz      # Decompress (alternative)

Git Commands​

git status​

Show working tree status.

git status               # Show modified files
git status -s            # Short format

git add​

Stage files for commit.

git add file.txt         # Stage specific file
git add .                # Stage all changes
git add -A               # Stage all changes including deletions

git commit​

Record changes to repository.

git commit -m "message"  # Commit with message
git commit -am "message" # Add and commit in one step

git push​

Push commits to remote repository.

git push                 # Push to remote
git push origin main     # Push to specific branch

git pull​

Fetch and merge from remote repository.

git pull                 # Pull latest changes
git pull origin main     # Pull from specific branch

git clone​

Clone a repository.

git clone https://github.com/user/repo.git # Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/user/repo.git mydir # Clone to specific directory

git branch​

List, create, or delete branches.

git branch               # List branches
git branch new-branch    # Create new branch
git branch -d branch     # Delete branch

git checkout​

Switch branches or restore files.

git checkout branch      # Switch to branch
git checkout -b new-branch # Create and switch to new branch
git checkout file.txt    # Restore file from last commit

Package Managers​

npm (Node.js)​

Node package manager.

npm install              # Install dependencies
npm install package      # Install package
npm install -g package   # Install globally
npm uninstall package    # Remove package
npm update               # Update packages
npm list                 # List installed packages

pip (Python)​

Python package installer.

pip install package      # Install package
pip install -r requirements.txt # Install from requirements file
pip uninstall package    # Remove package
pip list                 # List installed packages
pip freeze > requirements.txt # Save package list

brew (macOS)​

Homebrew package manager.

brew install package     # Install package
brew uninstall package   # Remove package
brew update              # Update Homebrew
brew upgrade             # Upgrade packages
brew list                # List installed packages
brew search package      # Search for packages

Useful Shortcuts​

Ctrl+C​

Cancel/interrupt current command.

Ctrl+D​

Exit terminal or end input.

Ctrl+L / clear​

Clear terminal screen.

Ctrl+A​

Move cursor to beginning of line.

Ctrl+E​

Move cursor to end of line.

Ctrl+U​

Clear line before cursor.

Ctrl+K​

Clear line after cursor.

Tab​

Auto-complete file/directory names.

!!​

Repeat last command.

!$​

Last argument of previous command.

history​

View command history.

history                  # Show command history
history | grep "pattern" # Search history
!123                     # Execute command #123 from history