Linux Commands Cheatsheet

The everyday Linux terminal commands, grouped and searchable — copy any one.

A searchable Linux commands cheatsheet covering files, viewing and searching, permissions, processes, networking, archives and pipes. Copy any command with one click. Runs entirely in your browser, nothing is uploaded. It runs free in your browser on Gera Tools, with nothing uploaded.

Last updated Source: Gera Tools

How do I find a file by name in Linux?

Use find . -name "*.log" to search the current directory and everything below it for files matching a pattern. To search file contents instead, use grep -r "text" . to scan recursively.

This is a searchable quick reference of the everyday Linux terminal commands, organised by task so you can find the right one without leaving your browser. It is aimed at developers, sysadmins and anyone learning the shell who wants a fast lookup rather than wading through man pages. Every entry has a plain-English description and a one-click copy button.

How it works

The commands are grouped into six categories and rendered as a single client-side list. As you type, the sheet filters live — matching against both the command text and its description — so searching “disk space” surfaces df -h even though those words are not in the command itself. There is no server lookup; the whole cheatsheet ships with the page and filtering is a local string match.

CategoryTypical commands
Files & directoriesls, cd, cp, mv, rm, mkdir
Viewing & searchingcat, less, grep, find, head, tail
Permissions & ownershipchmod, chown, umask
Processes & systemps, top, kill, df, du, free
Networking & transferssh, scp, rsync, curl, ss
Archives & pipestar, gzip, zip, xargs, tee

High-frequency commands worth knowing cold

find . -name "*.log" -mtime -7 — find log files modified in the last 7 days, which is faster than searching everything when you know the approximate age.

grep -rn "ERROR" . --include="*.log" — recursive search with line numbers, filtered to only log files.

df -h && du -sh * — one-liner to check both filesystem-level and directory-level disk use in the same command.

ps aux | grep myprocess — combine the full process list with a filter to find a named process quickly.

tar -czf backup.tar.gz /path/to/dir — create a compressed archive in one command; c creates, z compresses with gzip, f sets the filename.

Worked example

To find every .log file under the current directory and search its contents:

find . -name "*.log"
grep -r "ERROR" .

find walks the directory tree by filename; grep -r scans file contents recursively. To do both in one pass — find files then search them — chain with xargs:

find . -name "*.log" | xargs grep "ERROR"

Click Copy next to any command to paste it straight into your terminal. Everything runs in your browser — nothing you type or copy is sent anywhere.

Common flags to memorise

  • ls -lah — long listing, all files (including hidden), human-readable sizes
  • chmod +x — add execute for all; chmod 600 — private files
  • rsync -avz --delete — sync with verbose output, compression, and removal of deleted files
  • kill -9 PID — force-kill when a process ignores normal signals; use kill PID first