computers have so many commands! it is hard to remember them all. hopefully this page can help for the next time you are staring nervously at the shell.
by category
| command |
example |
description
|
magick |
magick in.png out.jpg |
convert image files
|
ffmpeg |
ffmpeg -i in.mov out.mp4 |
convert video and audio files
|
yt-dlp |
yt-dlp https://youtu.be/INa_SYywZis |
download videos & audio from YouTube and other platforms
|
text
| command |
example |
description
|
cat |
cat in.txt |
print out a file
|
less |
less in.txt |
page through a file
|
head |
head -n 5 in.txt |
view the beginning of a file
|
tail |
tail -n 5 in.txt |
view the end of a file
|
grep |
grep "search" in.txt |
search a file for some text
|
sed |
sed -i 's/old/new/' in.txt |
find and replace text in a file
|
nano |
nano out.txt |
a pretty simple text editor, like the "Notepad" of linux
|
emacs |
emacs out.txt |
a really powerful text editor that's a bit harder to use
|
vim |
vim out.txt |
an unhinged text editor that some people have opinions about
|
web
| command |
example |
description
|
wget |
wget http://a.horse/disc.iso |
download a file
|
curl |
curl http://ip.me |
send a HTTP request to a server
|
caddy |
caddy run |
host a web server
|
php8.4 |
php8.4 page.php |
run a php script and check it for errors
|
network
| command |
example |
description
|
dig |
dig pronounmail.com |
lookup DNS records for a domain
|
nslookup |
nslookup pronounmail.com |
lookup DNS name server for a domain
|
ping |
ping pronounmail.com |
check if two computers can see each other
|
lsof |
lsof -i -P -n |
list open ports on the current machine
|
services
| command |
example |
description
|
systemctl |
systemctl status my_unit |
start/stop/check statuses of services
|
journalctl |
journalctl -xeu my_unit |
check logs for a service
|
help
| command |
example |
description
|
tldr |
tldr git pull |
command usage examples
|
man |
man git |
command usage details
|