Linux Tools
Learn about the software that we have installed for all our members at Pikes Peak Makerspace (PPM).
Use of software installed on PPM computers does not require any additional required training (Level 1).
Contact Us if you cannot find your answer here on our Wiki or if you notice any information that is outdated.
Linux Tools for Beginners
Command Line
apropos – search the manual page names and descriptions
clear – clear the terminal screen
echo – display a line of text
help – list of shell commands
history – track input from the user a line at a time
info – read the info documents
man – interface to the on-line reference manuals
say – convert text to audible speech
scrot – SCReenshOT utility (Raspberry Pi)
whatis – display one-line manual page descriptions
File and Directory Management
alias – define or display aliases
cd – change the current directory
chown – change file owner and group
cp – copy files and directories
dd – convert and copy a file
dir – list directory contents
file – determine file type
git – distributed revision control system
ls – list directory contents
mkdir – make directories
mv – move (rename) files
pwd – print working directory
rm – remove files or directories
scp – secure copy
touch – change file timestamps
which – locate a program file in the user's path
File Editing
awk – pattern scanning and text processing language
cut – remove sections from each line of files
geany – a small and lightweight IDE (Raspberry Pi)
gzip – compress or expand already compressed files
nano – Nano's ANOther editor, an enhanced free Pico clone
open – open files and directories
pandoc – universal document converter
scratch – easy to use interactive programming environment (Raspberry Pi)
sed – stream editor
tar – manipulate tape archives
unzip – list, test and extract compressed files in a ZIP archive
vim – Vi IMproved, a programmers text editor
File Transfer
curl – "command line tool and library for transferring data with URLs"
wget – "package for retrieving files using HTTP, HTTPS, FTP and FTPS"
File Viewing
cat – concatenate and print files
diff – compare 2 files line by line
find – search for files in a directory hierarchy
grep – print lines that match patterns
head – output the first part of files
jq – lightweight and flexible command-line JSON processor
less – opposite of more
locate – faster version of find, depends on a database
look – display lines beginning with a given string
more – page through text one screenful at a time
tail – output the last part of files
wc – word counts, and line and byte counts
zgrep – search compressed files
Math Functions
bc – basic calculator
dc – RPN “Desktop Calculator”
log – natural logarithmic function
mathematica – open the app (Raspberry Pi)
sin – sine function
Network Config
ifconfig – configure network interface parameters
ipconfig – "Internet Protocol configuration", refreshes DHCP and DNS settings on some systems
ss – utility to investigate sockets
ssh – OpenSSH SSH client (remote login program)
Network Monitoring
ping – send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets to network hosts
nc – arbitrary TCP and UDP connections and listens
netstat – show network status
traceroute – print the route packets take to network host
Package Managers
apt – APT package handling utility
apt-get – APT package handling utility
dnf – for Fedora, (successor to YUM)
dpkg – for Debian
homebrew – for macOS or Linux
rpm – for Red Hat and CentOS
snap – for Ubuntu
yum – for Fedora (Yellowdog Updater Modified)
zypper – for OpenSUSE
Process Management
bg – run a job/process in the background
fg – run a job/process in the foreground
halt – halt, power-off or reboot the machine
htop – human readable table of processes
jobs – list all jobs; active, stopped, or otherwise
kill – terminate or signal a process
killall – kill processes by name
ps – process status
pstree – display a tree of processes
reboot – halt, power-off or reboot the machine
shutdown – halt, power-off or reboot the machine
sudo – execute a command as another user
tmux – terminal multiplexer
top – table of processes
System Info
arch – print machine hardware name (architecture)
date – print or set the system date and time
df – display free disk space
du – display disk usage statistics
fc-list – list available fonts (Raspberry Pi)
free – display amount of free and used memory in the system
hostname – show or set the system's host name
lsblk – list block devices
lscpu – list information about the CPU architecture
lshw – list hardware
lsusb – list USB devices
time – get time in seconds
uname – print operating system name
uptime – print up time and load
User and Group Management
groupadd – create a new group
groupdel – delete a group
groups – show group memberships
id – return user identity
passwd – modify a user's password
useradd – create a new user or update default new user info
userdel – delete a user account and related files
usermod – modify a user account
who – print effective user ID
whoami – print the user name
Related Pages
Links to related PPM Wiki pages:
Hand-Curated Links
Links to member-recommended external sites:
- List of POSIX commands — on Wikipedia
- List of free and open-source software packages — on Wikipedia
- PowerShell learning resources — on learn.Microsoft.com
For Additional Help
- Use the PPM Slack channel #computing
- List of all PPM Slack channels
- Note that we have a Slack channel (#job-board) for members to post, discuss, or accept job opportunities either within PPM or from the community.
Search the PPM Wiki — include Content pages as well as Multimedia.
Contact Us if you cannot find your answer here on our Wiki or if you notice any information that is outdated.