GNU Core Utilities

Commands

File utilities

• chcon Changes file security context
• chgrp Changes file group ownership
• chown Changes file user ownership
• chmod Changes file permissions
• cp Copies files
• dd Copies and converts file data
• df Reports file system free space
• dir Like ls -C -b; by default lists files in columns, sorted vertically
• dircolors Configures colors used for ls output
• install Copies files and sets file attributes
• ln Creates a link to a file
• ls Lists files
• mkdir Creates directories
• mkfifo Creates named pipes
• mknod Creates block or character special files
• mktemp Creates temporary regular files or directories
• mv Moves and renames files
• realpath Reports the absolute or relative path of a file
• rm Deletes files
• rmdir Deletes empty directories
• shred Overwrites a file to hide its contents and optionally deletes it
• sync Flushes file system buffers
• touch Changes file timestamps, creating files if they do not exist
• truncate Sets the size of a file via truncation or extension
• vdir Like ls -l -b; by default lists files in long format

  Text utilities

• b2sum Computes and checks BLAKE2b message digest
• base32 Encodes or decodes base32
• base64 Encodes or decodes base64
• basenc Encodes or decodes various encodings including hexadecimal, base32, base64, and Z85
• cat Concatenates files
• cksum Report or compute the checksum of files
• comm Compares two sorted files line by line
• csplit Splits a file into sections determined by context lines
• cut Removes sections from each line of files
• expand Converts tabs to spaces
• fmt Formats text
• fold Wraps each input line to fit in specified width
• head Outputs the first part of files
• join Joins lines of two files on a common field
• md5sum Computes and checks MD5 message digest
• nl Numbers lines of files
• numfmt Formats numbers
• od Dumps files in octal and other formats
• paste Merges lines of files
• ptx Produces a permuted index of file contents
• pr Paginates or columnates files
• sha1sum, sha224sum, sha256sum, sha384sum, sha512sum Computes and checks SHA-1/SHA-2 message digests
• shuf Generates random permutations
• sort Sorts lines of text files
• split Splits a file into pieces
• sum Checksums and counts the blocks in a file
• tac Concatenates files in reverse order, line by line
• tail Outputs the last part of files
• tr Translates or deletes characters
• tsort Performs a topological sort
• unexpand Converts spaces to tabs
• uniq Removes duplicate lines from a sorted file
• wc Reports the number of bytes, words, and lines in files

  Shell utilities

• arch Reports machine hardware name
• basename Removes the path prefix from a given pathname
• chroot Changes the root directory
• date Reports or sets the system date and time
• dirname Strips non-directory suffix from file name
• du Shows disk usage on file systems
• echo Outputs text
• env Reports and modifies environment variables
• expr Evaluates expressions
• factor Factors numbers
• false Does nothing but exit with unsuccessful status
• groups Reports the groups of which the user is a member
• hostid Reports the numeric identifier for the current host
• id Reports the real or effective UID and GID
• link Creates a link to a file
• logname Reports the user's login name
• nice Modifies scheduling priority
• nohup Allows a command to continue running after logging out
• nproc Queries the number of processors
• pathchk Checks whether file names are valid or portable
• pinky A lightweight version of finger
• printenv Reports environment variables
• printf Formats text
• pwd Reports the current working directory
• readlink Reports the value of a symbolic link
• runcon Run command with specified security context
• seq Reports a sequence of numbers
• sleep Blocks for a specified amount of time
• stat Reports information about an inode
• stdbuf Runs a command with custom standard streams configuration
• stty Changes and reports terminal line settings
• tee Sends output to multiple files
• test Evaluates an expression
• timeout Runs a command with a time limit
• true Does nothing but exit with success status
• tty Reports the terminal name
• uname Reports system information
• unlink Removes files via unlink function
• uptime Reports how long the system has been running
• users Reports the user names of users currently logged into the current host
• who Reports logged-in users
• whoami Reports the effective userid
• yes Outputs a string repeatedly

• History