It’s 58 Linux commands on one page, grouped by what you’re
actually trying to do instead of listed alphabetically. Files and text, users
and permissions, packages, processes, networking, and file transfer, each with
a one-line description you can read in passing.
Is it a free download? Yes. Drop your email below and it lands in your inbox.
No payment, no card.
Why grouped beats alphabetical
An alphabetical list puts apt next to apropos and nowhere near dpkg,snap, or pip, the other package managers you’d actually be choosing
between. That’s the problem with most Linux cheat sheets. They’re sorted for
the file system, not for your brain.
This one groups by task instead. Need to change who owns a file? chmod andchown sit next to useradd, usermod, and sudo, because permission
problems and user problems are usually the same problem. Need to check what’s
using the network? ss, netstat, lsof, and ip sit together, because
that’s the order you’d actually run them in while troubleshooting.
The command most people learn wrong
su and sudo get used like they’re interchangeable. They’re not.
sudo runs one command as another user, usually root, and logs which user did
it. su switches your whole session to that user until you exit, and by
default that user is root, with no per-command log.
On a shared server, that difference is the entire reason an incident review
can or can’t tell you who ran what. Worth remembering.
What’s inside
- Files and text, 21 commands:
ls,cd,cat,mkdir,touch,tree,mv,cp,nano,find,locate,grep,sed,awk, and the rest of
the text pipeline (head,tail,sort,cut,tr,column,wc) - Users, groups and permissions, 10 commands:
sudo,su,useradd,userdel,usermod,addgroup,delgroup,passwd,chmod,chown - Package management, 6 commands:
apt,aptitude,dpkg,snap,pip,gem, covering Debian, Snap, Python and Ruby in one table - Processes and sessions, 9 commands:
ps,who,env,jobs,bg,fg,kill,systemctl,journalctl - Networking, 4 commands:
ifconfig,ip,netstat,ss, the Linux side
of the same layers covered in our
OSI Model Cheat Sheet PDF - File transfer, 3 commands:
curl,wget,python3 -m http.server - Devices and version control, 5 commands:
lsblk,lsusb,lspci,lsof,git - Print ready, one page: built for A4 and US Letter, double-sided, so it
sits next to your keyboard instead of living in a browser tab
Want to see six of these run back to back in a real setup?
Wazuh SIEM Home Lab: How to Install It With Docker
uses apt, curl, and docker in that exact order to get a working SIEM up
in an afternoon.
Who it’s for
- Anyone starting Linux from zero who needs the 58 commands that cover 90% of
daily work, not a 300-command manual. Setting up a machine to actually run
these on?
Home Lab Setup for Network Engineers
walks through the hardware and VM options. - CompTIA Linux+ or Security+ candidates who need the CLI half of the exam
automatic. Headed toward SOC work after that? Our
Wazuh SIEM Workbook
picks up right where the permissions and process commands here leave off. - Windows admins picking up Linux for a new role, who know what they want to
do but not yet what it’s called in Linux. - Anyone about to start our
DevOps Workbook who
wants the command reference open in a second tab.
It’s a lookup table, not a course. There’s no shell scripting, no piping
chains explained, no sed/awk syntax beyond what the command does. If you
want that depth, our
280-page DevOps Workbook
and the
System Engineer career program
at the Academy both go further.
Already comfortable with the commands and want to test yourself out loud? The
Free DevOps Interview Questions PDF
runs 180 Q&As across the same toolchain, Linux administration included.
