console-commands

Curated and comprehensive list of Linux-Mac (Unix) and Windows console commands.

---

Disclaimer: Don't insert the square brackets when typing the command in the console, they are used here just for the sake of clarity.
Disclaimer: In Win32, all the commands are compatible with PowerShell, only a subset is compatible with CMD.

Table of Contents

^Hide/_Show

Unix

• Basics
• Change Directory
• List Directory Contents
• File Size and Disk Space
• File and Directory Management
• Command History
• Permissions
• Processes & Statistics
• Networking
• Homebrew
• Search
• Output
• Raspberry Pi hooks
• Specific Scripts

Win32

• Generic
• Networking
• File/Directory operations
• I/O and Disks
• Powershell scripting
• Specific scripts

---

Unix

Basics

• / (Forward Slash) Top level directory
• . (Single Period) Current directory
• .. (Double Period) Parent directory
• ~ (Tilde) Home directory
• sudo [command] Run command with the security privileges of the super user
• nano [file] Opens the Terminal editor
• open [file] Opens a file
• [command] -h Get help about a command
• man [command] Show the help manual of the command

Change Directory

• cd Home directory
• cd [folder] Change directory, e.g. cd Documents
• cd ~ Home directory
• cd/ Root of the drive
• cd - Previous directory or folder you last browsed
• pwd Show your working directory
• cd.. Move up to the parent directory
• cd../.. Move up two levels

List Directory Contents

• ls Display the name of files and subdirectories in the directory
• ls -C Force multi-column output of the listing
• ls -a List all entries including those with .(period) and ..(double period)
• ls -1 Output the list of files in one entry per line format
• ls -F Display a / (slash) immediately after each path that is a directory, * (asterisk) after executable programs or scripts, and @ after a symbolic link
• ls -S Sort files or entries by size
• ls -l List in a long format. Includes file mode, owner and group name, date and time file was modified, pathname, and more
• ls -lt List the files sorted by time modified (most recent first)
• ls -lh Long listing with human readable file sizes in KB, MB, or GB
• ls -lo List the file names with size, owner, and flags
• ls -la List detailed directory contents, including hidden files

File Size and Disk Space

• du List usage for each subdirectory and its contents
• du -sh [folder] Human readable output of all files in a directory
• du -s Display an entry for each specified file
• du -sk* | sort -nr List files and folders, totaling the size including the subfolders. Replace sk* with sm* to list directories in MB
• df -h Calculate your system's free disk space
• df -H Calculate free disk space in powers of 1,000 (as opposed to 1,024)
• lscpu Show cpu stats
• lshw Show hardware stats
• hwinfo Show hardware infos
• inixi -Fx Show hardware info, beautifully wrapped
• df Show file system usage

File and Directory Management

• mkdir [dir] Create new folder named dir
• mkdir -p [dir/dir] Create nested folders
• mkdir [dir1] [dir2] [dir3] Create several folders at once
• mkdir ["dir"] Create a folder with a space in the filename
• rmdir [dir] Delete a folder (only works on empty folders)
• rm -R [dir] Delete a folder and its contents
• cp [file] [dir] Copy a file to the folder
• cp [file] [newfile] Copy a file to the current folder
• cp [file] [~/dir/newfile] Copy a file to the folder and rename the copied file
• cp -R [dir] ["new dir"] Copy a folder to a new folder with spaces in the filename
• cp -i [filedir] Prompts you before copying a file with a warning overwrite message
• cp [file1] [file2] [file3/dir] Copy multiple files to a folder
• rm [file] Delete a file (This deletes the file permanently; use with caution.)
• rm -i [file] Delete a file only when you give confirmation
• rm -f [file] Force removal without confirmation
• rm [file1] [file2] [file3] Delete multiple files without any confirmation
• mv [file] [newfilename] Move/rename
• mv [file] [dir] Move a file to the folder, possibly by overwriting an existing file
• mv -i [file] [dir] Optional -i flag to warn you before overwriting the file
• mv *.png [~/dir] Move all PNG files from current folder to a different folder
• mdfind Spotlight search file
• open Open a file with desktop app

Command History

• Ctrl + R Search through previously used commands
• history n Shows the previous commands you've typed Add a number to limit to the last n items
• ![value] Execute the last command typed that starts with a value
• !! Execute the last command typed

Permissions

• ls -ld Display the default permission for a home directory
• ls -ld/[dir] Display the read, write, and access permission of a particular folder
• chmod 755 [file] Change the permission of a file to 755
• chmod -R 600 [dir] Change the permission of a folder (and its contents) to 600
• chown user:group [file] Change the ownership of a file to user and group. Add -R to include folder contents

Processes & Statistics

• ps -ax Output currently running processes. Here, a shows processes from all users and x shows processes that are not connected with the Terminal
• ps -aux Shows all the processes with %cpu, %mem, page in, PID, and command
• top Display live information about currently running processes
• htop See processes and memory stats
• top -ocpu -s 5 Display processes sorted by CPU usage, updating every 5 seconds
• top -o rsize Sort top by memory usage
• free Show memory usage
• vmstat Report virtual memory statistics
• dstat, atop Helps correlate all existing resource data for processes, memory, paging, block I/O, traps, and CPU activity.
• iftop Interactive network traffic viewer per interface
• nethogs Interactive network traffic viewer per process
• iotop Interactive I/O viewer
• iostat For storage I/O statistics
• sar
• mpstat For CPU statistics
• tload Load average graph for terminal
• xload Load average graph for X
• /proc/loadavg Text file containing load average
• kill PID Quit process with ID PID. You'll see PID as a column in the Activity Monitor
• ps -ax | grep [appname] Find a process by name or PID
• factor Factor integers

Networking

• ifconfig Find your IP address
• ping [host] Ping host and display status
• whois [domain] Output whois info for a domain
• curl -O [url/to/file] Download file via HTTP, HTTPS, or FTP
• ssh [username]@[host] Establish SSH connection to host with user username
• scp file[user]@[host]:[/remote/path] Copy file to a remote host
• nettop Display network activity
• traceroute [host] Display the packets route to the host
• dig [host] Simulate the domain name server
• netstat Show listening ports (deprecated)
• ss Show listening ports (successor to netstat)
• networkQuality macOS Monterey specific network quality test
• tcpdump Tool for analyzing internet traffic

Homebrew

• brew doctor Check brew for potential problems
• brew install [formula] Install a formula
• brew uninstall [formula] Uninstall a formula
• brew list List all the installed formulas
• brew search Display available formulas for brewing
• brew upgrade Upgrade all outdated and unpinned brews
• brew update Fetch latest version of homebrew and formula
• brew cleanup Remove older version of installed formula
• brew tap homebrew/cask Tap the cask repository from GitHub
• brew cask list List all installed casks
• brew cask install [cask] Install the given cask
• brew cask uninstall [cask] Uninstall the given cask

Search

• find dir -name ["file"] Find all files named file inside dir. Use wildcards (*) to search for parts of filenames
• grep "[text]" [file] Output all occurrences of TEXT inside file (add -i for case insensitivity)
• grep -rl "[text]" dir Search for all files containing TEXT inside dir
• ls | grep "^abc" Find all the files with name starting with abc in the current directory

Output

• cat [file] Output the content of file
• less [file] Output the contents of file using the less command that supports pagination and more
• head [file] Output the first 10 lines of file

Raspberry Pi hooks

• sudo apt update Update Package Lists
• sudo apt upgrade Download and Install Updated Packages
• sudo apt clean Clean Old Package Files
• sudo raspi-config The Raspberry Pi Configuration Tool
• tree -d Show a Tree of Directories
• clear Clear the Terminal Window
• sudo halt Shut Down a Raspberry Pi
• sudo reboot Restart a Raspberry Pi
• startx Start the Desktop Environment (LXDE)

Specific Scripts

• security find-generic-password -wa wifiname Show Wi-Fi password
• sudo powermetrics --samplers cpupower,gpupower,thermal,battery -i 1000 -o powermetricslog.txt Powermetrics logs into a file
• sudo powermetrics -s smc macOS specific get fan speed
• yes > /dev/null & Stress CPU
• find / -type f -name something.txt Searches for a file from root directory
• locate [filename] Locate a file by name
• cat /dev/urandom Freeze the console with endless random stream output
• sudo tcpdump -nnSX port 433 Prints all the HTTPS traffic

---

Win32

Generic

• call Calls a batch file from another one
• cd Change directory
• cls Clear screen
• cmd Start command prompt
• color Change console color
• date Show/set date
• dir List directory content
• echo Text output
• exit Exits the command prompt or a batch file
• find Find files
• hostname Display host name
• pause Pauses the execution of a batch file and * shows a message
• runas Start a program as another user
• shutdown Shutdown the computer
• sort Sort the screen output
• start Start an own window to execute a program or command
• taskkill Terminate a process or a application
• tasklist Display applications and related tasks
• time Display/edit the system time
• timeout Wait any time
• title Set title for prompt
• ver Display operating system version
• w32tm Setting time synchronisation/time server/time zone

Networking

• ftp Transfer files to a FTP server
• ftype Display file type and mapping
• getmac Sisplay MAC address
• ipconfig Sisplay IP network settings
• netsh Configure/control/display network components
• netstat Display TCP/IP connections and status
• nslookup Query the DNS
• pathping Test the connection to a specific IP address
• ping [domainname] Pings the network
• route Display network routing table, add static routes
• systeminfo Displays computer-specific properties and configurations
• telnet Establish Telnet connection
• tftp Transfer files to a TFTP server
• tracert [domainname] Trace routes similar to patchping
• arp -a Display network addresses
• nslookup [domainname] Simulate the domain name server

File/Directory operations

• attrib Display file attributes
• comp Compare file contents
• compact Display/change file compression
• copy / xcopy Copy files
• diskcomp Compare content of two floppy disks
• diskcopy Copy floppy disc to another one
• erase / del Delete one or more files
• expand Extract files
• fc Compare files and display the differences
• mkdir Create a new directory
• move Move/rename files
• rename Rename files
• replace Replace files
• rmdir / rd Delete directory
• tree Display folder structure graphically
• type Display content of text files

I/O and Disks

• chkdsk Check volumes
• chkntfs Display/change volume check at startup
• sfc System file scan
• defrag Defragment media
• diskpart Volume management
• driverquery Display installed devices and their properties
• format Format volumes
• label Change volume name
• mode Configure interfaces/devices
• mountvol Assign/delete drive mountpoints
• verify Monitoring whether volumes are written correctly
• vol Show volume description and serial numbers of the HDDs
• powercfg Energy and battery reports and options

PowerShell scripting

• for for loop
• gpresult Display group policies
• gpupdate Update group policies
• perfmon Start performance monitor
• prompt Change command prompt
• reg Add/read/import/export registry entries

Specific scripts

• In a batch file (.bat) -> :main start goto main
  (Possible one line console execution of script above)
  :main & start & goto main
• shutdown -s -t 60
• while (1) { ps | sort -desc cpu | select -first 30; sleep-seconds 2; cls } top command equivalent in Windows