Glossary

This section contains an alphabetical overview of commands discussed in this document.

A

a2ps: Format files for printing on a PostScript printer, see Section 8.1.2.
acroread: PDF viewer, see Section 8.1.2.2.
adduser: Create a new user or update default new user information.
alias: Create a shell alias for a command.
alsaconf: Configure sound card using the ALSA driver, see Section 11.1.2.
alsamixer: Tune ALSA sound device output, see Section 11.2.2.3.
anacron: Execute commands periodically, does not assume continuously running machine.
apropos: Search the whatis database for strings, see Section 2.3.3.2.
apt-get: APT package handling utility, see Section 7.5.3.2.
arecord: Record a sound sample, see Section 11.2.3.
aspell: Spell checker.
at, atq, atrm: Queue, examine or delete jobs for later execution, see Section 4.1.2.2 and Section 4.4.3.
aumix: Adjust audio mixer, see Section 11.2.2.3.
(g)awk: Pattern scanning and processing language.

B

bash: Bourne Again SHell, see Section 3.2.3.2 and Section 7.2.5.
batch: Queue, examine or delete jobs for later execution, see Section 4.1.2.2.
bg: Run a job in the background, see Section 4.1.2.1.
bitmap: Bitmap editor and converter utilities for the X window System.
bzip2: A block-sorting file compressor, see Section 9.1.1.3.

C

cardctl: Manage PCMCIA cards, see Section 10.2.3.3.
cat: Concatenate files and print to standard output, see Section 2.2 and Section 3.2.4.
cd: Change directory, see Section 2.2.
cdp/cdplay: An interactive text-mode program for controlling and playing audio CD Roms under Linux, see Section 11.2.1.
cdparanoia: An audio CD reading utility which includes extra data verification features, see Section 11.2.1.
cdrecord: Record a CD-R, see Section 9.2.2.
chattr: Change file attributes.
chgrp: Change group ownership, see Section 3.4.2.3.
chkconfig: Update or query run level information for system services, see Section 4.2.5.1.
chmod: Change file access permissions, see Section 3.4.1, Section 3.4.2.1 and Section 3.4.2.4.
chown: Change file owner and group, see Section 3.4.2.3.
compress: Compress files.
cp: Copy files and directories, see Section 3.3.2.
crontab: Maintain crontab files, see Section 4.4.4.
csh: Open a C shell, see Section 3.2.3.2.
cut: Remove sections from each line of file(s), see Section 7.2.5.2.

D

date: Print or set system date and time.
dd: Convert and copy a file (disk dump), see Section 9.2.1.2.
df: Report file system disk usage, see Section 3.1.2.3.
dhcpcd: DHCP client daemon, see Section 10.3.8.
diff: Find differences between two files.
dig: Send domain name query packets to name servers, see Section 10.2.6.1.
dmesg: Print or control the kernel ring buffer.
du: Estimate file space usage.
dump: Backup file system, see Section 9.2.5.

E

echo: Display a line of text, see Section 3.2.1.
ediff: Diff to English translator.
egrep: Extended grep.
eject: Unmount and eject removable media, see Section 7.5.5.2.
emacs: Start the Emacs editor, see Section 6.1.2.2.
exec: Invoke subprocess(es), see Section 4.1.5.1.
exit: Exit current shell, see Section 2.2.
export: Add function(s) to the shell environment, see Section 3.2.1, Section 7.2.1.2 and Section 7.2.4.2.

F

fax2ps: Convert a TIFF facsimile to PostScript, see Section 8.1.2.
fdformat: Format floppy disk, see Section 9.2.1.1.
fdisk: Partition table manipulator for Linux, see Section 3.1.2.2.
fetchmail: Fetch mail from a POP, IMAP, ETRN or ODMR-capable server, see Section 10.3.2.3.
fg: Bring a job in the foreground, see Section 4.1.2.1.
file: Determine file type, see Section 3.3.1.2.
find: Find files, see Section 3.3.3.3.
firefox: Web browser, see Section 10.3.3.2.
fork: Create a new process, see Section 4.1.5.1.
formail: Mail (re)formatter, see Section 10.3.2.3.
fortune: Print a random, hopefully interesting adage.
ftp: Transfer files (unsafe unless anonymous account is used!)services, see Section 10.3.4.2.

G

galeon: Graphical web browser.
gdm: Gnome Display Manager, see Section 4.2.4.
gedit: GUI editor, see Section 6.3.3.3.
(min/a)getty: Control console devices.
gimp: Image manipulation program.
gpg: Encrypt, check and decrypt files, see Section 9.4.1.2.
grep: Print lines matching a pattern, see Section 3.3.3.4 and Section 5.3.1.
groff: Emulate nroff command with groff, see Section 8.1.2.
grub: The grub shell, see Section 4.2.3 and Section 7.5.4.
gv: A PostScript and PDF viewer, see Section 8.1.2.2.
gvim: Graphical version of the vIm editor, see Section 6.3.3.3.
gzip: Compress or expand files, see Section 9.1.1.3.

H

halt: Stop the system, see Section 4.2.6.
head: Output the first part of files, see Section 3.3.4.3.
help: Display help on a shell built-in command.
host: DNS lookup utility, see Section 10.2.6.1.
httpd: Apache hypertext transfer protocol server, see Section 10.2.3.1.

I

id: Print real and effective UIDs and GIDs, see Section 3.4.1.
ifconfig: Configure network interface or show configuration, see Section 10.1.2.3.
info: Read Info documents, see Section 2.3.3.1.
init: Process control initialization, see Section 4.1.5.1, Section 4.2.4 and Section 4.2.5.
insserv: Manage init scripts, see Section 4.2.5.1.
iostat: Display I/O statistics, see Section 4.3.5.4.
ip: Display/change network interface status, see Section 10.1.2.3.
ipchains: IP firewall administration, see Section 10.4.4.2.
iptables: IP packet filter administration, see Section 10.4.4.2.

J

jar: Java archive tool, see Section 9.1.1.4.
jobs: List backgrounded tasks.

K

kdm: Desktop manager for KDE, see Section 4.2.4.
kedit: KDE graphical editor, see Section 6.3.3.3.
kill(all): Terminate process(es), see Section 4.1.2.1.
konqueror: File manager, (help) browser, see Section 3.3.2.1.
ksh: Open a Korn shell, see Section 3.2.3.2.
kwrite: KDE graphical editor, see Section 6.3.3.3.

L

less: more with features, see Section 3.3.4.2.
lilo: Linux boot loader, see Section 4.2.
links: Text mode WWW browser, see Section 10.2.3.2.
ln: Make links between files, see Section 3.3.5.
loadkeys: Load keyboard translation tables, see Section 7.4.1.
locate: Find files, see Section 3.3.3.3 and Section 4.4.4.
logout: Close current shell, see Section 2.1.3.
lp: Send requests to the LP print service, see Section 8.1.
lpc: Line printer control program, see Section 8.1.
lpq: Print spool queue examination program, see Section 8.1.
lpr: Offline print, see Section 8.1.
lprm: Remove print requests, see Section 8.1.
ls: List directory content, see Section 2.2, Section 3.1.1.2 and Section 3.3.1.1.
lynx: Text mode WWW browser, see Section 10.2.3.2.

M

mail: Send and receive mail, see Section 10.3.2.3.
man: Read man pages, see Section 2.3.2.
mc: Midnight COmmander, file manager, see Section 3.3.2.1.
mcopy: Copy MSDOS files to/from Unix.
mdir: Display an MSDOS directory.
memusage: Display memory usage, see Section 4.3.5.3.
memusagestat: Display memory usage statistics, see Section 4.3.5.3.
mesg: Control write access to your terminal, see Section 4.1.6.
mformat: Add an MSDOS file system to a low-level formatted floppy disk, see Section 9.2.1.1.
mkbootdisk: Creates a stand-alone boot floppy for the running system.
mkdir: Create directory, see Section 3.3.2.
mkisofs: Create a hybrid ISO9660 filesystem, see Section 9.2.2.
mplayer: Movie player/encoder for Linux, see Section 11.2.2 and Section 11.3.
more: Filter for displaying text one screen at the time, see Section 3.3.4.2.
mount: Mount a file system or display information about mounted file systems, see Section 7.5.5.1.
mozilla: Web browser, see Section 10.2.3.2.
mt: Control magnetic tape drive operation.
mtr: Network diagnostic tool.
mv: Rename files, Section 3.3.2.

N

named: Internet domain name server, see Section 10.3.7.
nautilus: File manager, see Section 3.3.2.1.
ncftp: Browser program for ftp services (insecure!), see Section 10.3.4.2.
netstat: Print network connections, routing tables, interface statistics, masquerade connections, and multi-cast memberships, see Section 10.1.2.5 and Section 10.4.2.
newgrp: Log in to another group, see Section 3.4.2.2.
nfsstat: Print statistics about networked file systems.
nice: Run a program with modified scheduling priority, see Section 4.3.5.1.
nmap: Network exploration tool and security scanner.
ntpd: Network Time Protocol Daemon, see Section 7.4.3.
ntpdate: Set the date and time via an NTP server, see Section 7.4.3.
ntsysv: Simple interface for configuring run levels, see Section 4.2.5.1.

O

ogle: DVD player with support for DVD menus, see Section 11.3.

P

passwd: Change password, see Section 2.2 and Section 4.1.6.
pccardctl: Manage PCMCIA cards, see Section 10.2.3.3.
pdf2ps: Ghostscript PDF to PostScript translator, see Section 8.1.2.
perl: Practical Extraction and Report Language.
pg: Page through text output, see Section 3.3.4.2.
pgrep: Look up processes based on name and other attributes, see Section 4.1.4.
ping: Send echo request to a host, see Section 10.2.6.2.
play: Play a sound sample, see Section 11.2.3.
pr: Convert text files for printing.
printenv: Print all or part of environment, see Section 7.2.1.
procmail: Autonomous mail processor, see Section 10.3.2.3.
ps: Report process status, see Section 4.1.4 and Section 4.3.5.4.
pstree: Display a tree of processes, see Section 4.1.4.
pwd: Print present working directory, see Section 2.2.

Q

quota: Display disk usage and limits, see Section 3.2.3.3.

R

rcp: Remote copy (unsafe!)
rdesktop: Remote Desktop Protocol client, see Section 10.4.6.
reboot: Stop the system, see Section 4.2.6.
recode: Convert files to another character set, see Section 7.4.4.
renice: Alter priority of a running process, see Section 4.3.5.1.
restore: Restore backups made with dump, see Section 9.2.5.
rlogin: Remote login (telnet, insecure!), see Section 10.4.2 and Section 10.5.2.
rm: Remove a file, see Section 3.3.2.
rmdir: Remove a directory, see Section 3.3.2.2.
roff: A survey of the roff typesetting system, see Section 8.1.2.
rpm: RPM Package Manager, see Section 7.5.2.1.
rsh: Remote shell (insecure!), see Section 10.4.2.
rsync: Synchronize two directories, see Section 9.3.

S

scp: Secure remote copy, see Section 10.4.4.1.
screen: Screen manager with VT100 emulation, see Section 4.1.2.1.
set: Display, set or change variable.
setterm: Set terminal attributes.
sftp: Secure (encrypted) ftp, see and Section 10.4.4.1.
sh: Open a standard shell, see Section 3.2.3.2.
shutdown: Bring the system down, see Section 4.2.6.
sleep: Wait for a given period, see Section 4.4.1.
slocate: Security Enhanced version of the GNU Locate, see Section 3.3.3.3.
slrnn: text mode Usenet client, see Section 10.2.6.
snort: Network intrusion detection tool.
sort: Sort lines of text files, see Section 5.3.2.
spell: Spell checker, see Section 5.1.2.3.
ssh: Secure shell, see Section 10.4.4.1.
ssh-keygen: Authentication key generation, management and conversion, see Section 10.4.4.5.
stty: Change and print terminal line settings.
su: Switch user, see Section 3.2.1, Section 7.5.3.2 and Section 10.4.6.

T

tac: Concatenate and print files in reverse, see cat.
tail: Output the last part of files, see Section 3.3.4.3.
talk: Talk to a user.
tar: Archiving utility, see Section 9.1.1.1.
tcsh: Open a Turbo C shell, see Section 3.2.3.2.
telinit: Process control initialization, see Section 4.2.5.
telnet: User interface to the TELNET protocol (insecure!), see Section 10.4.2.
tex: Text formatting and typesetting, see Section 8.1.2.
time: Time a simple command or give resource usage, see Section 4.3.2.
tin: News reading program, see Section 10.2.6.
top: Display top CPU processes, see Section 4.1.4, Section 4.3.5.3 and Section 4.3.5.4.
touch: Change file timestamps, see Section 7.1.2.
traceroute: Print the route packets take to network host, see Section 10.2.6.3.
tripwire: A file integrity checker for UNIX systems, see Section 10.4.5.
troff: Format documents, see Section 8.1.2.
tvime: A high quality television application.
twm: Tab Window Manager for the X Window System.

U

ulimit: Controll resources, see Section 7.1.2.5.
umask: Set user file creation mask, see Section 3.4.2.2.
umount: Unmount a file system.
uncompress: Decompress compressed files.
uniq: Remove duplicate lines from a sorted file, see Section 5.3.2.
up2date: Update RPM packages, see Section 7.5.3.3.
update: Kernel daemon to flush dirty buffers back to disk.
update-rc.d: Configure init scripts, see Section 4.2.5.1.
uptime: Display system uptime and average load, see Section 4.1.4 and Section 4.3.5.2.
urpmi: Update RPM packages, see Section 7.5.3.3.
userdel: Delete a user account and related files.

V

vi(m): Start the vi (improved) editor, see Section 6.1.2.3.
vimtutor: The Vim tutor.
vmstat: Report virtual memory statistics, see Section 4.3.5.4.

W

w: Show who is logged on and what they are doing.
wall: Send a message to everybody's terminal, see Section 4.1.6.
wc: Print the number of bytes, words and lines in files, see Section 3.2.1.
which: Shows the full path of (shell) commands, see Section 3.2.1 and Section 3.3.3.2.
who: Show who is logged on, see Section 4.1.6.
who am i: Print effective user ID.
whois: Query a whois or nicname database, see Section 10.2.6.4.
write: Send a message to another user, see Section 4.1.6.

X

xargs: Build and execute command lines from standard input, see Section 3.3.3.3.
xauth: X authority file utility.
xawtv: An X11 program for watching TV.
xcdroast: Graphical front end to cdrecord, see Section 9.2.2.
xclock: Analog/digital clock for X.
xconsole: Monitor system console messages with X.
xdm: X Display Manager with support for XDMCP, host chooser, see Section 4.2.4 and Section 7.3.2.
xdvi: DVI viewer, see Section 8.1.2.2.
xedit: X Window graphical editor, see Section 6.3.3.3.
xfs: X font server.
xhost: Server access control program for X, see Section 10.4.3.2.
xine: A free video player, see Section 11.3.
xinetd: The extended Internet services daemon, see Section 10.3.1.2.
xload: System load average display for X, see Section 4.3.5.6.
xlsfonts: Server font list displayer for X.
xmms: Audio player for X, see Section 11.2.2.1.
xpdf: PDF viewer, see Section 8.1.2.2.
xterm: Terminal emulator for X.

Y

yast: System administration tool on Novell SuSE Linux.
yum: Update RPM packages, see Section 7.5.3.3.

Z

zapping: A TV viewer for the Gnome environment.
zcat: Compress or expand files.
zgrep: Search possibly compressed files for a regular expression.
zmore: Filter for viewing compressed text.

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