Linux File Management Commands Cheat Sheet
Linux File Management Commands Cheat Sheet
# ---------- CREATE FILES ----------
touch file.txt # create an empty file
> file.txt # create or overwrite file instantly
echo "hello" > file.txt # create file and write text
echo "hello" >> file.txt # append text to file
cat > file.txt # create file and type content manually (Ctrl+D to save)
nano file.txt # create/edit file using nano editor
vim file.txt # create/edit file using vim editor
gedit file.txt # create/edit file using GUI editor
# ---------- VIEW FILES ----------
cat file.txt # display entire file content
less file.txt # view large file page-by-page (recommended)
more file.txt # basic paginated view
head file.txt # show first 10 lines
head -n 20 file.txt # show first 20 lines
tail file.txt # show last 10 lines
tail -f file.txt # watch file live (logs)
nl file.txt # show content with line numbers
# ---------- COPY / MOVE / RENAME ----------
cp file1 file2 # copy file
cp -r dir1 dir2 # copy directory recursively
mv old.txt new.txt # rename file
mv file.txt /tmp/ # move file to another location
# ---------- DELETE ----------
rm file.txt # delete file
rm -r dir # delete directory and contents
rm -f file.txt # force delete without prompt
rm -rf dir # force delete directory recursively (dangerous)
# ---------- SEARCH FILES ----------
find / -name file.txt # search entire system for file name
find . -name "*.yml" # search current directory for yaml files
locate file.txt # fast search using database
grep "text" file.txt # search word inside file
grep -r "text" dir/ # search inside all files recursively
# ---------- FILE INFORMATION ----------
ls # list files
ls -l # detailed list (permissions, owner, size)
ls -a # show hidden files
ls -lh # human readable sizes
file file.txt # show file type
stat file.txt # detailed metadata
du -h file.txt # disk usage (size)
wc file.txt # count lines, words, characters
# ---------- PERMISSIONS / OWNERSHIP ----------
chmod 755 file.txt # change file permissions
chmod +x script.sh # make file executable
chown user file.txt # change owner
chgrp group file.txt # change group
# ---------- COMPRESS / ARCHIVE ----------
tar -cvf archive.tar dir/ # create tar archive
tar -xvf archive.tar # extract tar archive
gzip file.txt # compress file (.gz)
gunzip file.txt.gz # decompress file
zip file.zip file.txt # create zip file
unzip file.zip # extract zip file
# ---------- OTHER USEFUL ----------
truncate -s 0 file.txt # empty file content without deleting
diff file1 file2 # compare two files
sort file.txt # sort file lines
uniq file.txt # remove duplicate lines
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