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Console commands

A few simple console commands or terminal commands for the linux console are listed here. It aims to be a memory refresh, especially when one can't remember easily the precise syntax or the order of the parameters needed.

cat

example :

cat /proc/bus/input/devices

purpose :

lists the input devices.

chown

example :

chown username:username filename

purpose :

change the owner of a file.

example :

chown --reference=modelfilename filename

purpose :

change the owner of a file. The new owner will be the same one as the owner of a reference file.

cp

example :

cp /pathname/filename1 /pathname/filename2

purpose :

copy file.

dig

example :

dig @xx.xx.xx.xx td-e.com

purpose :

find out the answer time of a dns server, xx.xx.xx.xx must be the ip number of a dns server.

exiftool

example :

exiftool −common /path/to/a/folder/or/file

purpose :

read and display the common exif fields of the files in a folder, or of a single file.

example :

exiftool −a −u −g1 /path/to/a/folder/or/file

purpose :

read and display all the exif fields of the files in a folder, or of a single file. -a stands for read all, -u stands for reading also unknown fields, -g1 stands for sorted by group.

eject

example :

eject cdrom0

purpose :

eject the cdrom in unit cdrom0.

export

example :

export

purpose :

lists the environment variables.

example :

export SHELL="/bin/bash"

purpose :

setting the environment variable SHELL.

fsck

example :

fsck /somepath

purpose :

Linux file system check, the path should not be mounted.

hdparm

example :

hdparm -E4 /dev/hdc

purpose :

slow down the cd rotation speed.

comment :

useful when you are listening to an audio CD and it is turning with maximum speed. This is annoying because it is too loud and it is not necessary to play the music.

java

example :

java -jar Arachnophilia.jar

purpose :

running java program

killall

example :

killall -9 wine-preloader

purpose :

killing wine, e.g. when a windows application doesn't react anymore.

lsusb

example :

lsusb

purpose :

list the usb devices.

mkdir

example :

mkdir xyz

purpose :

make directory xyz.

mkdosfs

example :

mkdosfs -F 32 /dev/sda1

purpose :

make a dos partition.

mke2fs

example :

mke2fs /dev/sda2

purpose :

make a ext2 partition.

mount

example :

mount -t reiserfs /dev/hdb10 /media/p10

purpose :

mount partition 10 of 2nd Hard Drive to /media/p10.

mtr

example :

mtr www.wallpaper4computer.com

purpose :

traceroute = lists the route to a given domain or ip number.

nano

example :

nano filename

purpose :

nano is a text editor which is a little bit easier to use than other command line editors, in case you absolutely need to, to do repairs! But of course it is not comparable to comfortable gui editors like gedit, bluefish, kate or quanta.

nmap

example :

nmap -sP 192.168.0.0/24

purpose :

Lists the used ip numbers in the given block.

nslookup

example :

nslookup domain.com

purpose :

finds out the ip number of a domain.

play

example :

play xy.wav

purpose :

play the sound from a wav file.

pwd

example :

pwd

purpose :

show the current directory.

rm

example :

rm xyz

purpose :

remove file xyz.

example :

rm xyz -r

purpose :

remove directory xyz (recursively).

example :

rm -r /home/[username]/.wine/drive_c/Windows/WININIT.INI

purpose :

booting wine manually (as normal user NOT root).

sh

example :

sh /path/file.sh

purpose :

run shell. In KDE menu editor, enter path in *work path*, check box *run in terminal*.

sox

example :

sox file.wav file.ogg

purpose :

convert a wav file to an ogg file.

ssh

example :

ssh -p22 username@domain.com

purpose :

ssh - remote system shell on a distant computer through port 22, type exit to leave or log out.

umount

example :

umount /media/usbdisk

purpose :

unmounting a card reader which has been mounted as /media/usbdisk. Mounting and unmounting must be done by the root user, except if the normal user has rights to do it. The right to a normal user to do it, can be given in the file /etc/fstab.

wget

example :

wget -q -O /dev/null http://www.domain.com/filename.php > /dev/null [6 21 * * *]

purpose :

start a php script as a cron job on a server with wget

whereis

example :

whereis filename

purpose :

find where a file is.

wine

example :

wine "/some/path/setup.exe"

purpose :

install a windows application, the install file being of the type setup.exe.

example :

wine msiexec /i installfile.msi

purpose :

install a windows application, the install file being of the type file.msi.

example :

wine "c:\windows\uninstall.exe"

purpose :

uninstall a windows application.

wineboot

example :

wineboot

purpose :

the automatic way to booting wine (normal user NOT root)

winecfg

example :

winecfg

purpose :

wine configuration

xgamma

example :

xgamma -gamma 1.15

purpose :

modify the monitor gamma calibration by a factor of 1.15

comment :

many gui applications to calibrate the gamma of a monitor do call xgamma behind the scenes. Since xgamma does not work with some specific types of graphic card hardware, the gui applications which are frontends to xgamma won't work either.

Remark: Most of the commands above are available in a terminal window by default. Nevertheless, some commands must be additionally installed. To the Ubuntu users, they are available in Synaptic.

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