An A-Z Index of the Linux BASH command line This is a list of the commands used in the Bash shell. Puppy uses the Ash shell up to v 1.0.2 which does not contain all of these commands. From version 1.0.3 (June 2005) these Bash commands are available. if you add SHELL=/bin/bash to /etc/profile, rxvt and aterm will run bash automatically alias : Create an alias awk : Find and Replace text within file(s) break : Exit from a loop builtin : Run a shell builtin cal : Display a calendar case : Conditionally perform a command cat : Display the contents of a file cd : Change Directory chgrp : Change group ownership chmod : Change access permissions chown : Change file owner and group chroot : Run a command with a different root directory cksum : Print CRC checksum and byte counts clear : Clear terminal screen cmp : Compare two files comm : Compare two sorted files line by line command : Run a command - ignoring shell functions continue : Resume the next iteration of a loop cp : Copy one or more files to another location cron : Daemon to execute scheduled commands crontab : Schedule a command to run at a later time csplit : Split a file into context-determined pieces cut : Divide a file into several parts date : Display or change the date & time dc : Desk Calculator dd : Data Dump - Convert and copy a file declare : Declare variables and give them attributes df : Display free disk space diff : Display the differences between two files diff3 : Show differences among three files dir : Briefly list directory contents dircolors : Colour setup for `ls' dirname : Convert a full pathname to just a path dirs : Display list of remembered directories du : Estimate file space usage echo : Display message on screen ed : A line-oriented text editor (edlin) egrep : Search file(s) for lines that match an extended expression eject : Eject CD-ROM enable : Enable and disable builtin shell commands env : Display, set, or remove environment variables eval : Evaluate several commands/arguments exec : Execute a command exit : Exit the shell expand : Convert tabs to spaces export : Set an environment variable expr : Evaluate expressions factor : Print prime factors false : Do nothing, unsuccessfully fdformat : Low-level format a floppy disk fdisk : Partition table manipulator for Linux fgrep : Search file(s) for lines that match a fixed string find : Search for files that meet a desired criteria fmt : Reformat paragraph text fold : Wrap text to fit a specified width. for : Expand words, and execute commands format : Format disks or tapes free : Display memory usage fsck : Filesystem consistency check and repair. function : Define Function Macros gawk : Find and Replace text within file(s) getopts : Parse positional parameters grep : Search file(s) for lines that match a given pattern groups : Print group names a user is in gzip : Compress or decompress named file(s) hash : Remember the full pathname of a name argument head : Output the first part of file(s) history : Command History hostname : Print or set system name id : Print user and group id's if : Conditionally perform a command import : Capture an X server screen and save the image to file info : Help info install : Copy files and set attributes join : Join lines on a common field kill : Stop a process from running less : Display output one screen at a time let : Perform arithmetic on shell variables ln : Make links between files local : Create variables locate : Find files logname : Print current login name logout : Exit a login shell lpc : Line printer control program lpr : Off line print lprint : Print a file lprintd : Abort a print job lprintq : List the print queue lprm : Remove jobs from the print queue ls : List information about file(s) m4 : Macro processor man : Help manual mkdir : Create new folder(s) mkfifo : Make FIFOs (named pipes) mknod : Make block or character special files more : Display output one screen at a time mount : Mount a file system mtools : Manipulate MS-DOS files mv : Move or rename files or directories nice : Set the priority of a command or job nl : Number lines and write files nohup : Run a command immune to hangups passwd : Modify a user password paste : Merge lines of files pathchk : Check file name portability popd : Restore the previous value of the current directory pr : Convert text files for printing printcap : Printer capability database printenv : Print environment variables printf : Format and print data ps : Process status pushd : Save and then change the current directory pwd : Print Working Directory quota : Display disk usage and limits quotacheck : Scan a file system for disk usage quotactl : Set disk quotas ram : ram disk device rcp : Copy files between two machines. read : read a line from standard input readonly : Mark variables/functions as readonly remsync : Synchronize remote files via email return : Exit a shell function rm : Remove files rmdir : Remove folder(s) rpm : Remote Package Manager rsync : Remote file copy (Synchronize file trees) screen : Terminal window manager sdiff : Merge two files interactively sed : Stream Editor select : Accept keyboard input seq : Print numeric sequences set : Manipulate shell variables and functions shift : Shift positional parameters shopt : Shell Options shutdown : Shutdown or restart linux sleep : Delay for a specified time sort : Sort text files source : Run commands from a file `.' split : Split a file into fixed-size pieces su : Substitute user identity sum : Print a checksum for a file symlink : Make a new name for a file sync : Synchronize data on disk with memory tac : Concatenate and write files in reverse tail : Output the last part of files tar : Tape ARchiver tee : Redirect output to multiple files test : Evaluate a conditional expression time : Measure Program Resource Use times : User and system times touch : Change file timestamps top : List processes running on the system traceroute : Trace Route to Host trap : Run a command when a signal is set(bourne) tr : Translate, squeeze, and/or delete characters true : Do nothing, successfully tsort : Topological sort tty : Print filename of terminal on stdin type : Describe a command ulimit : Limit user resources umask : Users file creation mask umount : Unmount a device unalias : Remove an alias uname : Print system information unexpand : Convert spaces to tabs uniq : Uniquify files units : Convert units from one scale to another unset : Remove variable or function names unshar : Unpack shell archive scripts until : Execute commands (until error) useradd : Create new user account usermod : Modify user account users : List users currently logged in uuencode : Encode a binary file uudecode : Decode a file created by uuencode v : Verbosely list directory contents (`ls -l -b') vdir : Verbosely list directory contents (`ls -l -b') watch : Execute/display a program periodically wc : Print byte, word, and line counts whereis : Report all known instances of a command which : Locate a program file in the user's path. while : Execute commands who : Print all usernames currently logged in whoami : Print the current user id and name (`id -un') xargs : Execute utility, passing constructed argument list(s) yes : Print a string until interrupted Using commands . : Period, Run commands from a file # : Comment / Remark Shell scripts start with: #!/bin/sh open xterminal (rxvt) and run console program (midnight commander) xterm -e mc Bash can process command lines in sophisticated ways, doing complex string substitution etc.
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