Unix Command Summary

Command Summary
`awk/nawk [options] file`	Scan for patterns in a file and process the results.
`cat [options] file`	Concatenate (list) a file.
`cd [directory]`	Change directory.
`chgrp [options] group file`	Change the group of the file.
`chmod [options] file`	Change file or directory access permissions.
`chown [options] owner file`	Change the ownership of a file; can only be done by the superuser.
`chsh (passwd -e/-s) username login_shell`	Change the user's login shell (often only by the superuser).
`cmp [options] file1 file2`	Compare two files and list where differences occur (text or binary files).
`compress [options] file`	Compress file and save it as file.Z
`cp [options] file1 file2`	Copy file1 into file2; file2 shouldn't already exist. This command creates or overwrites file2.
`cut (options) [file(s)]`	Cut specified field(s)/character(s) from lines in file(s).
`date [options]`	Report the current date and time.
`dd [if=infile] [of=outfile] [operand=value]`	Copy a file, converting between ASCII and EBCDIC or swapping byte order, as specified.
`diff [options] file1 file2`	Compare the two files and display the differences (text files only).
`df [options] [resource]`	Report the summary of disk blocks and inodes free and in use.
`du [options] [directory or file]`	Report amount of disk space in use.
`echo [text string]`	Echo the text string to stdout.
`ed or ex [options] file`	Unix line editors.
`emacs [options] file`	Full-screen editor.
`expr arguments`	Evaluate the arguments. Used to do arithmetic, etc. in the shell.
`file [options] file`	Classify the file type.
`find directory [options] [actions]`	Find files matching a type or pattern.
`finger [options] user[@hostname]`	Report information about users on local and remote machines.
`ftp [options] host`	Transfer file(s) using file transfer protocol.
`grep [options] 'search string' argument egrep [options] 'search string' argument fgrep [options] 'search string' argument`	Search the argument (in this case probably a file) for all occurrences of the search string, and list them.
`gzip [options] file gunzip [options] file zcat [options] file`	Compress or uncompress a file. Compressed files are stored with a .gz ending.
`head [-number] file`	Display the first 10 (or number of) lines of a file.
`hostname`	Display or set (super-user only) the name of the current machine.
`kill [options] [-SIGNAL] [pid#] [%job]`	Send a signal to the process with the process id number (pid#) or job control number (%n). The default signal is to kill the process.
`ln [options] source_file target`	Link the source_file to the target.
`lpq [options] lpstat [options]`	Show the status of print jobs.
`lpr [options] file lp [options] file`	Print to defined printer.
`lprm [options] cancel [options]`	Remove a print job from the print queue.
`ls [options] [directory or file]`	List directory contents or file permissions.
`mail [options] [user] mailx [options] [user] Mail [options] [user]`	Simple email utility available on Unix systems. Type a period as the first character on a new line to send message out, question mark for help.
`man [options] command`	Show the manual (man) page for a command.
`mkdir [options] directory`	Make a directory.
`more [options] file less [options] file pg [options] file`	Page through a text file.
`mv [options] file1 file2`	Move file1 into file2.
`od [options] file`	Octal dump a binary file, in octal, ASCII, hex, decimal, or character mode.
`passwd [options]`	Set or change your password.
`paste [options] file`	Paste field(s) onto the lines in file.
`pr [options] file`	Filter the file and print it on the terminal.
`ps [options]`	Show status of active processes.
`pwd`	Print working (current) directory.
`rcp [options] hostname`	Remotely copy files from this machine to another machine.
`rlogin [options] hostname`	Login remotely to another machine.
`rm [options] file`	Remove (delete) a file or directory (-r recursively deletes the directory and its contents) (-i prompts before removing files).
`rmdir [options] directory`	Remove a directory.
`rsh [options] hostname`	Remote shell to run on another machine.
`script file`	Saves everything that appears on the screen to file until exit is executed.
`sed [options] file`	Stream editor for editing files from a script or from the command line.
`sort [options] file`	Sort the lines of the file according to the options chosen.
`source file . file`	Read commands from the file and execute them in the current shell. source: C shell, .: Bourne shell.
`strings [options] file`	Report any sequence of 4 or more printable characters ending in NL or NULL. Usually used to search binary files for ASCII strings.
`stty [options]`	Set or display terminal control options.
`tail [options] file`	Display the last few lines (or parts) of a file.
`tar key[options] [file(s)]`	Tape archiver--refer to man pages for details on creating, listing, and retrieving from archive files. Tar files can be stored on tape or disk.
`tee [options] file`	Copy stdout to one or more files.
`telnet [host [port]]`	Communicate with another host using telnet protocol.
`touch [options] [date] file`	Create an empty file, or update the access time of an existing file.
`tr [options] string1 string2`	Translate the characters in string1 from stdin into those in string2 in stdout.
`uncompress file.Z`	Uncompress file.Z and save it as a file.
`uniq [options] file`	Remove repeated lines in a file.
`uudecode [file]`	Decode a uuencoded file, recreating the original file.
`uuencode [file] new_name`	Encode binary file to 7-bit ASCII, useful when sending via email, to be decoded as new_name at destination.
`vi [options] file`	Visual, full-screen editor.
`wc [options] [file(s)]`	Display word (or character or line) count for file(s).
`whereis [options] command`	Report the binary, source, and man page locations for the command named.
`which command`	Reports the path to the command or the shell alias in use.
`who or w`	Report who is logged in and what processes are running.
`zcat file.Z`	Concatenate (list) uncompressed file to screen, leaving file compressed on disk.