LINUX Cheat Sheet

Basic Commands

Configuring user information used across all local repositories.

ls

 Show all files and directories present in the working directory

ls -l

Show all files and directories along with details like ownership, size, and when they were last modified

ls -t

Sort the output of ls by last modified date

pwd

List the path of the current working directory

cd directory

Switch to a different working directory

cd ..

Move up one directory level

cd /

Switch to the root directory

clear

Wipe out all the text from the terminal screen

history

Print out all the previously executed commands in the current session

touch filename

Create a new file

vi filename

Open a file for editing

cat filename

Display the contents of a file

hostnamectl

List system information, including kernel, release, architecture, and virtualization etc

ipconfig

Show the network interfaces, IP addresses, and MAC address of the system

date

Print the current system date and time

top

List all the running processes on the system

free -m

Show memory usage stats

head filename

Display the first 10 lines of a file

tail filename

Display the last 10 lines of a file

mv file /new/file/path

Move the file to a different location

mv filename new_filename

Rename a file

cp filename new_filename

Copy a file

man command_name

List helpful information regarding a command

rm filename

Delete a file

rm -rf directory_name

Remove a directory and its contents

sudo

For regular users to run commands with elevated privileges

mkdir directory_name

Create a new directory

kill pid

Kill a process using its process ID

reboot

Restart the system

shutdown -h now

Turn off the system

Networking Commands

Configuring user information, initializing and cloning repositories.

git init [directory]

Initialize an existing directory as a Git repository. Run with no arguments to initialize the current directory as a git repository.

git clone [url]

 Retrieve an entire repository from a hosted location via URL.

Stage & Snapshot

Working with snapshots and the Git staging area.

git status

Show modified files in working directory, staged for your next commit.

git add [file]

Add a file as it looks now to your next commit (stage).

git reset [file]

Unstage a file while retaining the changes in working directory.

git diff

Diff of what is changed but not staged.

git diff –staged

Diff of what is staged but not yet commited.

git commit -m “[descriptive message]”

Commit your staged content as a new commit snapshot.

Branch & Merge

Isolating work in branches, changing context, and integrating changes

git branch

List your branches. a * will appear next to the currently active branch.

git branch [branch-name]

Create a new branch at the current commit.

git checkout

Switch to another branch and check it out into your working directory.

git merge [branch]

Merge the specified branch’s history into the current one.

git log

Show all commits in the current branch’s history.

Inspect & Compare

Examining logs, diffs and object information.

git log

Show the commit history for the currently active branch.

git log branchB..branchA

Show the commits on branchA that are not on branchB.

git log –follow [file]

Show the commits that changed file, even across renames.

git diff branchB…branchA

Show the diff of what is in branchA that is not in branchB.

git show [SHA]

Show any object in Git in human-readable format.

Share & Update

Retrieving updates from another repository and updating local repos

git remote add [alias] [url]

Add a git URL as an alias.

git fetch [alias]

Fetch down all the branches from that Git remote.

git merge [alias]/[branch]

Merge a remote branch into your current branch to bring it up to date.

git push [alias] [branch]

Transmit local branch commits to the remote repository branch.

git pull

Fetch and merge any commits from the tracking remote branch.

Tracking Path Changes

Versioning file removes and path changes

git rm [file]

Delete the file from project and stage the removal for commit.

git mv [existing-path] [new-path]

Change an existing file path and stage the move.

git log –stat -M

Show all commit logs with indication of any paths that moved.

Rewrite History

Rewriting branches, updating commits and clearing history

git rebase [branch

Apply any commits of current branch ahead of specified one.

git reset –hard [commit]

Clear staging area, rewrite working tree from specified commit.

Ignoring Patterns

Preventing unintentional staging or commiting of files.

logs/*.notespattern*/

Save a file with desired paterns as .gitignore with either direct string matches or wildcard globs.

git config –global core.excludesfile [file]

System wide ignore patern for all local repositories

Temporary Commits

Temporarily store modified, tracked files in order to change branches.

git stash

Save modified and staged changes.

git stash list

List stack-order of stashed file changes.

git stash pop

Write working from top of stash stack.

git config –global core.excludesfile [file]

Discard the changes from top of stash stack.

100+ Linux Commands Cheat Sheet