Ultimate Linux Terminal Tricks Cheatsheet

cheat-sheet.md

🚀 Ultimate Linux Terminal Tricks Cheatsheet

🧭 Navigation Ninja

Command	Description
cd -	🔙 Teleport to previous directory
pushd <dir>	📚 Change directory, save current to stack
popd	📚 Return to most recently pushed directory
cd ~	🏠 Go to home directory
cd ..	⬆️ Go up one directory
pwd	🗺️ Print working directory
ls -lah	📋 List all files (including hidden) with details
tree	🌳 Display directory structure

🧹 Tidy Terminal

Command	Description
Ctrl + L	🧼 Quick clear screen
reset	🔄 Deep clean terminal state
clear	🧽 Clear screen (alternative to Ctrl + L)
history -c	🗑️ Clear command history

🎭 Multitasking Magic

Command	Description
Ctrl + Z	⏸️ Suspend foreground process
fg	▶️ Resume most recent background job
bg	🏃‍♂️ Resume job in background
jobs	📋 List all background jobs
command &	🏃‍♂️ Run command in background
nohup command &	🏃‍♂️💪 Run command in background, immune to hangups
screen	📺 Terminal multiplexer
tmux	🖥️ Terminal multiplexer (alternative to screen)

🔐 Sudo Sorcery

Command	Description
sudo !!	🧙‍♂️ Re-run last command with sudo
sudo -i	👑 Start a root shell
sudo -u <user> command	🎭 Run command as another user
visudo	📝 Safely edit sudoers file

📜 History Hacks

Command	Description
Ctrl + R	🔍 Search command history
history	📖 Display full command history
!<number>	🔢 Run command by history number
!!	↩️ Repeat last command
!$	🔚 Use last argument of previous command
!*	🔗 Use all arguments of previous command
!string	🔮 Run most recent command starting with 'string'
export HISTTIMEFORMAT="%F %T "	⏰ Add timestamps to history
export HISTCONTROL=ignorespace	🕵️ Hide commands starting with space
export HISTIGNORE="ls:cd:exit"	🙈 Ignore common commands in history

🖥️ Terminal Tweaks

Command	Description
F11	🖥️ Toggle fullscreen mode
Ctrl + Shift + Plus	🔍 Increase font size
Ctrl + Shift + Minus	🔎 Decrease font size
Ctrl + Shift + C	📋 Copy selected text
Ctrl + Shift + V	📋 Paste clipboard content
tput cols	📏 Get terminal width
tput lines	📏 Get terminal height

⌨️ Text Editing Tricks

Command	Description
Ctrl + U	✂️ Cut from cursor to line start
Ctrl + K	✂️ Cut from cursor to line end
Ctrl + Y	📋 Paste previously cut text
Ctrl + A	⬅️ Move to start of line
Ctrl + E	➡️ Move to end of line
Alt + B	👈 Move back one word
Alt + F	👉 Move forward one word
Ctrl + W	🗑️ Delete word before cursor
Alt + D	🗑️ Delete word after cursor
Ctrl + _	↩️ Undo last edit

🔗 Command Chaining

Command	Description
command1 ; command2	🔗 Run commands sequentially
command1 && command2	✅ Run command2 if command1 succeeds
command1 || command2	❌ Run command2 if command1 fails
command1 | command2	🚿 Pipe output of command1 to command2
command1 &> /dev/null	🤫 Redirect all output to null

📊 Output Optimization

Command	Description
tail -f <file>	👀 Monitor file in real-time
head -n 20 <file>	🔝 Display first 20 lines of file
truncate -s 0 <file>	🗑️ Clear file contents
command | column -t	📏 Align output in columns
command | less	📜 Paginate command output
command | tee <file>	📝🖥️ Write output to file and display on screen
command | xargs	🔨 Build command lines from standard input

🔍 File Search and Manipulation

Command	Description
find . -name "*.txt"	🔎 Find all .txt files in current directory and subdirectories
grep "pattern" <file>	🔍 Search for pattern in file
sed 's/foo/bar/g' <file>	🔄 Replace 'foo' with 'bar' in file
awk '{print $1}' <file>	✂️ Print first column of file
sort <file>	🔤 Sort lines in file
uniq <file>	🎭 Remove duplicate lines from file
wc -l <file>	🔢 Count lines in file

💾 System Information

Command	Description
uname -a	💻 Display system information
lscpu	🧠 Display CPU information
free -h	🧮 Display memory usage
df -h	💽 Display disk usage
du -sh *	📂 Display size of files and directories
ps aux	🔄 List all running processes
top	📊 Dynamic real-time view of running processes
htop	📈 Interactive process viewer

🌐 Networking

Command	Description
ifconfig	🖧 Display network interfaces
ip addr	🖧 Modern alternative to ifconfig
netstat -tuln	🔌 Display network connections
ss -tuln	🔌 Modern alternative to netstat
ping <host>	📡 Test network connectivity
traceroute <host>	🗺️ Trace route to host
nslookup <domain>	🔍 Query DNS
curl <url>	📥 Transfer data from or to a server
wget <url>	📥 Download files from the web

🔒 File Permissions

Command	Description
chmod 755 <file>	🔐 Change file permissions
chown user:group <file>	👤 Change file owner and group
umask 022	🎭 Set default permissions for new files

🏆 Pro Tips

1. 💡 Use tab completion to save time
2. 🎨 Customize your shell prompt (PS1)
3. 🏷️ Create aliases for frequent commands
4. 📝 Use Ctrl + X + E to edit long commands in text editor
5. 🔧 Master Vim or Nano for quick edits
6. 📊 Use htop for system monitoring
7. 📦 Learn package management commands
8. 🧠 Explore advanced shell features
9. 🔐 Use SSH keys for secure remote access
10. 📜 Write shell scripts to automate repetitive tasks
11. 🔍 Learn regular expressions for powerful text processing
12. 📚 Read man pages (man <command>) to learn more about commands