| Directory Navigation | pwd | Shows the current working directory. | pwd |
| ls | Lists files and directories in the current location. | ls -l (detailed list) |
| cd | Changes the current directory. | cd /home/user/Documents |
| cd .. | Moves one level up in the directory tree. | cd .. |
| mkdir | Creates a new directory. | mkdir projects |
| rmdir | Removes an empty directory. | rmdir old_folder |
| File Management | cp | Copies files or directories. | cp file.txt /home/user/ |
| mv | Moves or renames files and directories. | mv file.txt newname.txt |
| rm | Deletes files. | rm file.txt |
| touch | Creates an empty file. | touch notes.txt |
| cat | Displays the content of a file. | cat notes.txt |
| nano / vim | Text editors from the terminal. | nano script.sh |
| System Management | top | Shows running processes and system resource usage. | top |
| ps | Displays active processes. | ps aux |
| kill | Terminates a process by ID. | kill 1234 |
| shutdown | Shuts down the system. | sudo shutdown -h now |
| reboot | Restarts the system. | sudo reboot |
| df | Shows disk usage. | df -h |
| free | Displays memory usage. | free -m |
| Permissions & Users | chmod | Changes file permissions. | chmod 755 script.sh |
| chown | Changes file owner. | sudo chown user file.txt |
| whoami | Shows the current logged-in user. | whoami |
| sudo | Runs commands as superuser. | sudo apt update |
| Network Commands | ping | Checks connection to a host or domain. | ping google.com |
| ifconfig / ip a | Displays network configuration. | ip a |
| wget | Downloads files from the web. | wget https://example.com/file.txt |
| curl | Transfers data from or to a server (APIs, web pages, etc.). | curl https://api.github.com |
| Compression & Archives | tar | Creates or extracts compressed archives. | tar -czvf backup.tar.gz folder/ |
| zip / unzip | Compresses or extracts ZIP files. | zip archive.zip file.txt |
| System Information | uname | Displays system information. | uname -a |
| uptime | Shows how long the system has been running. | uptime |
| date | Displays current date and time. | date |
| cal | Displays a calendar. | cal |