[Linux] List of Important BASH External Commands

The bash shell utilizes many bash external commands to allow you to maneuver around the file systems and manipulate files and directories.

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Bash is an sh-compatible shell that incorporates useful features from the Korn shell (ksh) and C shell (csh). It is intended to conform to the IEEE POSIX P1003.2/ISO 9945.2 Shell and Tools standard.

It offers functional improvements over sh for both programming and interactive use; these include command line editing, unlimited size command history, job control, shell functions and aliases, indexed arrays of unlimited size, and integer arithmetic in any base from two to sixty-four. Bash can run most sh scripts without modification.

Below is the list of common bash external commands you’ll want to use when working in the bash shell.

S.No.	Command	Description
1	bzip2	Compression using the Burrows-Wheeler block sorting text compression algorithm and Huffman coding.
2	cat	List the contents of the specified file.
3	change	Change the password expiration date for the specified system user account.
4	chfn	Change the specified user account’s comment information.
5	chgrp	Change the default group of the specified file or directory.
6	chmod	Change system security permissions for the specified file or directory.
7	chown	Change the default owner of the specified file or directory.
8	chpasswd	Read file of login name and password pairs and update the passwords.
9	chsh	Change the specified user account’s default shell
10	compress	Original Unix files compression utility.
11	cp	Copy the specified files to an alternate location.
12	date	Display the date in various formats.
13	df	Display current disk space statistics For all mounted devices.
14	du	Display disk usage statistics for the specified file path.
15	file	View the file type of the specified file.
16	find	Perform recursive search for files
17	finger	Display information about user accounts on the Linux system or remote system.
18	free	Check available and used memory on the system.
19	grep	Search file for the specified text string.
20	groupadd	Create new system group.
21	groupmod	Modify an existing system group.
22	gzip	The GNU Project’s compression using Lempel-Ziv compression.
23	head	Display the first portion of the specified file’s contents.
24	killall	Send system signal to a running process based on process name
25	less	Advanced viewing of file contents.
26	link	Create a link to file using an alias name.
27	ls	List directory contents.
28	mkdir	Create the specified directory under the current directory.
29	more	List the contents of the specified file, pausing after each screen of data
30	mount	Display or mount disk devices into the virtual file system.
31	mv	Rename a file.
32	nice	Run a command using different priority level on the system.
33	passwd	Change the password for system user account.
34	ps	Display information about the running processes on the system.
35	pwd	Display the current directory.
36	renice	Change the priority of running application on the system.
37	rm	Delete the specified file.
38	rmdir	Delete the specified directory.
39	sort	Organize data in data file based on the specified order.
40	stat	View the file statistics of the specified file.
41	sudo	Run an application as the root user account.
42	tail	Display the last portion of the specified file’s contents.
43	tar	Archive data and directories into single file.
44	touch	Create new empty file, or update the timestamp on an existing file.
45	top	Display the active processes, showing vital system statistics.
46	umount	Remove mounted disk device from the virtual file system.
47	uptime	Display information on how long the system has been running.
48	useradd	Create new system user account.
49	userdel	Remove an existing system user account.
50	usermod	Modify an existing system user account.
51	vmstat	Produce detailed report on memory and CPU usage on the system
52	which	Find the location of an executable file
53	zip	Unix version of the Windows PKZIP program.

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