Basic Commands for Linux (Arch)

📂 File and Directory Management

• ls – List files and directories.

  ls -la  # List with details and hidden files

  -l - Long items properties display. -a - Show hidden files(., ..) -la - The 2 previous commands merged.
• cd – Change directory.

  cd /desired/path

• pwd – Show the current directory path.
• mkdir – Create a new directory.

  mkdir new_directory

• rm – Delete files or directories.

  rm file.txt         # Deletes a file
  rm -r directory     # Deletes a directory and its content

• cp – Copy files or directories.

  cp file.txt /destination/path

• mv – Move or rename files.

  mv file.txt new_name.txt

🔧 System Management

• pacman – Arch Linux package manager.

  sudo pacman -S package           # Install a package
  sudo pacman -R package           # Remove a package
  sudo pacman -Syu                 # Update the system
  sudo pacman -Qs keyword          # Search installed packages

• systemctl – Service and daemon management.

  sudo systemctl start service     # Start a service
  sudo systemctl stop service      # Stop a service
  sudo systemctl enable service    # Enable a service at startup
  sudo systemctl status service    # Check the status of a service

• htop – Interactive process monitor.

  sudo pacman -S htop && htop

• Note: If you want to enable or manage a service with systemd only locally(User only), you need to run one or more of this commands:

  systemctl --user start service # Start a service
  systemctl --user stop service # Stop a service
  systemctl --user enable service # Enable a service at startup
  systemctl --user status sevice # Check the status of a service

• Syntaxis of systemctl command:

  systemctl --option [command] [service]

  If it is globally

  sudo systemctl --option [command] [service]

📜 File Viewing and Editing

• cat – Show the content of a file.

  cat file.txt

• less – View long files.

  less file.txt

• nano or vim – Text editors.

  nano file.txt

• Note: If the file is in a high-rights level

  sudo [program] <file>

  Example:

  sudo vim /etc/conf.d/sensord

📊 Disk and Space Management

• df – View filesystem usage.

  df -h

• du – Check disk usage of a directory or file.

  du -sh directory

• lsblk – View partitions and block devices.

  lsblk

🌐 Internet Connection

• Connecting to internet For Ethernet dhcpcd daemon will stablish the connection. For WiFi, you can use iwd package or networkmanager package
  • Who can be installed with sudo pacman -S iwd or sudo pacman -S networkmanager
  • And activated with systemd(systemctl)
• ping – Test connectivity to an address.

  ping -c 4 google.com

• ip – Configure and display network information.

  ip a

🔑 Permissions and Ownership

• chmod – Change file permissions.

  chmod 755 file.sh

• chown – Change the owner of a file.

  sudo chown user:group file.txt

📦 Compression and Decompression

• tar – Create or extract tar files.

  tar -czvf file.tar.gz directory
  tar -xzvf file.tar.gz

• zip/unzip – Compress or decompress zip files.

  zip -r file.zip directory
  unzip file.zip

• Note: zip/unzip packages must be installed before running zip/unzip, you can install them with the following command: sudo pacman -S zip unzip.

🚀 Useful Shortcuts

• Ctrl + C – Interrupt a running command.
• Ctrl + Z – Suspend a process.
• Ctrl + R – Search commands in history.
• !! – Execute the last command.

  sudo !!

Recommended packages

• Xscreensaver: sudo pacman -S xscreensaver Screensaver
• Conky: sudo pacman -S conky Desktop Widgets
• bpytop: sudo pacman -S bpytop Better htop