BusyBox - The Swiss Army Knife of Embedded Linux
busybox <applet> [arguments...] # or
<applet> [arguments...] # if symlinked
BusyBox combines tiny versions of many common UNIX utilities into a single small executable. It provides minimalist replacements for most of the utilities you usually find in GNU coreutils, util-linux, etc. The utilities in BusyBox generally have fewer options than their full-featured GNU cousins; however, the options that are included provide the expected functionality and behave very much like their GNU counterparts.
BusyBox is a multi-call binary. A multi-call binary is an executable program that performs the same job as more than one utility program. That means there is just a single BusyBox binary, but that single binary acts like a large number of utilities. This allows BusyBox to be smaller since all the built-in utility programs (we call them applets) can share code for many common operations.
You can also invoke BusyBox by issuing a command as an argument on the command line. For example, entering
/bin/busybox ls
will also cause BusyBox to behave as 'ls'.
Of course, adding '/bin/busybox' into every command would be painful. So most people will invoke BusyBox using links to the BusyBox binary.
For example, entering
ln -s /bin/busybox ls
./ls
will cause BusyBox to behave as 'ls' (if the 'ls' command has been compiled into BusyBox). Generally speaking, you should never need to make all these links yourself, as the BusyBox build system will do this for you when you run the 'make install' command.
If you invoke BusyBox with no arguments, it will provide you with a list of the applets that have been compiled into your BusyBox binary.
Most BusyBox applets support the --help argument to provide a terse runtime description of their behavior. If the CONFIG_FEATURE_VERBOSE_USAGE option has been enabled, more detailed usage information will also be available.
Currently available applets include:
[, [[, ar, arch, ascii, ash, awk, base32, base64, basename, bash,
bc, bunzip2, busybox, bzcat, bzip2, cal, cat, cdrop, chattr, chmod,
cksum, clear, cmp, comm, cp, cpio, crc32, cut, date, dc, dd, df,
diff, dirname, dos2unix, dpkg, dpkg-deb, drop, du, echo, ed, egrep,
env, expand, expr, factor, false, fgrep, find, fold, free, fsync,
ftpget, ftpput, getopt, grep, groups, gunzip, gzip, hd, head,
hexdump, httpd, iconv, id, inotifyd, install, ipcalc, jn, kill,
killall, less, link, ln, logname, ls, lsattr, lzcat, lzma, lzop,
lzopcat, make, man, md5sum, mkdir, mktemp, mv, nc, nl, nproc, od,
paste, patch, pdpmake, pdrop, pgrep, pidof, pipe_progress, pkill,
printenv, printf, ps, pwd, readlink, realpath, reset, rev, rm,
rmdir, rpm, rpm2cpio, sed, seq, sh, sha1sum, sha256sum, sha3sum,
sha512sum, shred, shuf, sleep, sort, split, ssl_client, stat,
strings, su, sum, sync, tac, tail, tar, tee, test, time, timeout,
touch, tr, true, truncate, ts, tsort, ttysize, uname, uncompress,
unexpand, uniq, unix2dos, unlink, unlzma, unlzop, unxz, unzip,
uptime, usleep, uudecode, uuencode, vi, watch, wc, wget, which,
whoami, whois, xargs, xxd, xz, xzcat, yes, zcat
ar x|p|t|r [-ov] ARCHIVE [FILE]...
Extract or list FILEs from an ar archive, or create it
x Extract
p Extract to stdout
t List
r Create
-o Restore mtime
-v Verbose
arch
Print system architecture
ash [-il] [-|+Cabefmnuvx] [-|+o OPT]... [-c 'SCRIPT' [ARG0 ARGS] | FILE ARGS | -s ARGS]
Unix shell interpreter
awk [OPTIONS] [AWK_PROGRAM] [FILE]...
-v VAR=VAL Set variable
-F SEP Use SEP as field separator
-f FILE Read program from FILE
-e AWK_PROGRAM
base32 [-d] [-w COL] [FILE]
Base32 encode or decode FILE to standard output
-d Decode data
-w COL Wrap lines at COL (default 76, 0 disables)
base64 [-d] [-w COL] [FILE]
Base64 encode or decode FILE to standard output
-d Decode data
-w COL Wrap lines at COL (default 76, 0 disables)
basename FILE [SUFFIX] | -a FILE... | -s SUFFIX FILE...
Strip directory path and SUFFIX from FILE
-a All arguments are FILEs
-s SUFFIX Remove SUFFIX (implies -a)
bash [-il] [-|+Cabefmnuvx] [-|+o OPT]... [-c 'SCRIPT' [ARG0 ARGS] | FILE ARGS | -s ARGS]
Unix shell interpreter
bc [-sqlw] [FILE]...
Arbitrary precision calculator
-q Quiet
-l Load standard library
-s Be POSIX compatible
-w Warn if extensions are used
$BC_LINE_LENGTH changes output width
bunzip2 [-cfk] [FILE]...
Decompress FILEs (or stdin)
-c Write to stdout
-f Force
-k Keep input files
-t Test integrity
bzcat [FILE]...
Decompress to stdout
bzip2 [-cfkdt123456789] [FILE]...
Compress FILEs (or stdin) with bzip2 algorithm
-1..9 Compression level
-d Decompress
-c Write to stdout
-f Force
-k Keep input files
-t Test integrity
cal [-jmy] [[MONTH] YEAR]
Display a calendar
-j Use julian dates
-m Week starts on Monday
-y Display the entire year
cat [-nbvteA] [FILE]...
Print FILEs to stdout
-n Number output lines
-b Number nonempty lines
-v Show nonprinting characters as ^x or M-x
-t ...and tabs as ^I
-e ...and end lines with $
-A Same as -vte
cdrop [COMMAND [ARG...] | -c CMD_STRING [ARG...]]
Drop elevated privileges and run a command. If no command is provided run cmd.exe.
chattr [-R] [-+rhsatn] FILE...
Change file attributes
-R Recurse
-,+ Remove/add attributes
r Read only
h Hidden
s System
a Archive
t Temporary
n Not indexed
chmod [-Rcvf] MODE[,MODE]... FILE...
MODE is octal number (bit pattern sstrwxrwxrwx) or [ugoa]{+|-|=}[rwxXst]
-R Recurse
-c List changed files
-v Verbose
-f Hide errors
cksum FILE...
Calculate CRC32 checksum of FILEs
clear
Clear screen
cmp [-ls] [-n NUM] FILE1 [FILE2 [SKIP1 [SKIP2]]]
Compare FILE1 with FILE2 (or stdin)
-l Write the byte numbers (decimal) and values (octal)
for all differing bytes
-s Quiet
-n NUM Compare at most NUM bytes
comm [-123] FILE1 FILE2
Compare FILE1 with FILE2
-1 Suppress lines unique to FILE1
-2 Suppress lines unique to FILE2
-3 Suppress lines common to both files
cp [-arPLHpfinlsTu] SOURCE DEST or: cp [-arPLHpfinlsu] SOURCE... { -t DIRECTORY | DIRECTORY }
Copy SOURCEs to DEST
-a Same as -dpR
-R,-r Recurse
-d,-P Preserve symlinks (default if -R)
-L Follow all symlinks
-H Follow symlinks on command line
-p Preserve file attributes if possible
-f Overwrite
-i Prompt before overwrite
-n Don't overwrite
-l,-s Create (sym)links
-T Refuse to copy if DEST is a directory
-t DIR Copy all SOURCEs into DIR
-u Copy only newer files
cpio [-dmvu] [-F FILE] [-R USER[:GRP]] [-H newc] [-tio] [EXTR_FILE]...
Extract (-i) or list (-t) files from a cpio archive on stdin, or take file list from stdin and create an archive (-o)
Main operation mode:
-t List
-i Extract EXTR_FILEs (or all)
-o Create (requires -H newc)
Options:
-H newc Archive format
-d Make leading directories
-m Restore mtime
-v Verbose
-u Overwrite
-F FILE Input (-t,-i,-p) or output (-o) file
-R USER[:GRP] Set owner of created files
-L Dereference symlinks
-0 NUL terminated input
--ignore-devno
--renumber-inodes
crc32 FILE...
Calculate CRC32 checksum of FILEs
cut [OPTIONS] [FILE]...
Print selected fields from FILEs to stdout
-b LIST Output only bytes from LIST
-c LIST Output only characters from LIST
-d SEP Field delimiter for input (default -f TAB, -F run of whitespace)
-O SEP Field delimeter for output (default = -d for -f, one space for -F)
-D Don't sort/collate sections or match -fF lines without delimeter
-f LIST Print only these fields (-d is single char)
-F LIST Print only these fields (-d is regex)
-s Output only lines containing delimiter
-n Ignored
date [OPTIONS] [+FMT] [[-s] TIME]
Display time (using +FMT), or set time
-u Work in UTC (don't convert to local time)
[-s] TIME Set time to TIME
-d TIME Display TIME, not 'now'
-D FMT FMT (strptime format) for -s/-d TIME conversion
-r FILE Display last modification time of FILE
-R Output RFC-2822 date
-I[SPEC] Output ISO-8601 date
SPEC=date (default), hours, minutes, seconds or ns
Recognized TIME formats:
@seconds_since_1970
hh:mm[:ss]
[YYYY.]MM.DD-hh:mm[:ss]
YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm[:ss]
[[[[[YY]YY]MM]DD]hh]mm[.ss]
'date TIME' form accepts MMDDhhmm[[YY]YY][.ss] instead
dc [-x] [-eSCRIPT]... [-fFILE]... [FILE]...
Tiny RPN calculator. Operations: Arithmetic: + - * / % ^ ~ - divide with remainder | - modular exponentiation v - square root p - print top of the stack without popping f - print entire stack k - pop the value and set precision i - pop the value and set input radix o - pop the value and set output radix Examples: dc -e'2 2 + p' -> 4, dc -e'8 8 * 2 2 + / p' -> 16
dd [if=FILE] [of=FILE] [ibs=N obs=N/bs=N] [count=N] [skip=N] [seek=N] [conv=notrunc|noerror|sync|fsync] [iflag=skip_bytes|count_bytes|fullblock] [oflag=seek_bytes|append]
Copy a file with converting and formatting
if=FILE Read from FILE instead of stdin
of=FILE Write to FILE instead of stdout
bs=N Read and write N bytes at a time
ibs=N Read N bytes at a time
obs=N Write N bytes at a time
count=N Copy only N input blocks
skip=N Skip N input blocks
seek=N Skip N output blocks
conv=notrunc Don't truncate output file
conv=noerror Continue after read errors
conv=sync Pad blocks with zeros
conv=fsync Physically write data out before finishing
conv=swab Swap every pair of bytes
iflag=skip_bytes skip=N is in bytes
iflag=count_bytes count=N is in bytes
oflag=seek_bytes seek=N is in bytes
iflag=fullblock Read full blocks
oflag=append Open output in append mode
status=noxfer Suppress rate output
status=none Suppress all output
if=/dev/zero and if=/dev/urandom are supported N may be suffixed by c (1), w (2), b (512), kB (1000), k (1024), MB, M, GB, G
df [-PkmhT] [-t TYPE] [FILESYSTEM]...
Print filesystem usage statistics
-P POSIX output format
-k 1024-byte blocks (default)
-m 1M-byte blocks
-h Human readable (e.g. 1K 243M 2G)
-T Print filesystem type
-t TYPE Print only mounts of this type
diff [-abBdiNqrTstw] [-L LABEL] [-S FILE] [-U LINES] FILE1 FILE2
Compare files line by line and output the differences between them. This implementation supports unified diffs only.
-a Treat all files as text
-b Ignore changes in the amount of whitespace
-B Ignore changes whose lines are all blank
-d Try hard to find a smaller set of changes
-i Ignore case differences
-L Use LABEL instead of the filename in the unified header
-N Treat absent files as empty
-q Output only whether files differ
-r Recurse
-S Start with FILE when comparing directories
-T Make tabs line up by prefixing a tab when necessary
-s Report when two files are the same
-t Expand tabs to spaces in output
-U Output LINES lines of context
-w Ignore all whitespace
--binary Treat input as binary, not text
dirname FILENAME
Strip non-directory suffix from FILENAME
dos2unix [-ud] [FILE]
Convert FILE in-place from DOS to Unix format. When no file is given, use stdin/stdout.
-u dos2unix
-d unix2dos
dpkg [-ilCPru] [-F OPT] PACKAGE
Install, remove and manage Debian packages
-i,--install Install the package
-l,--list List of installed packages
--configure Configure an unpackaged package
-P,--purge Purge all files of a package
-r,--remove Remove all but the configuration files for a package
--unpack Unpack a package, but don't configure it
--force-depends Ignore dependency problems
--force-confnew Overwrite existing config files when installing
--force-confold Keep old config files when installing
dpkg-deb [-cefxX] FILE [DIR]
Perform actions on Debian packages (.deb)
-c List files
-f Print control fields
-e Extract control files to DIR (default: ./DEBIAN)
-x Extract files to DIR (no default)
-X Verbose extract
drop [COMMAND [ARG...] | -c CMD_STRING [ARG...]]
Drop elevated privileges and run a command. If no command is provided run the BusyBox shell.
du [-aHLdclsxhmk] [FILE]...
Summarize disk space used for FILEs (or directories)
-a Show file sizes too
-b Apparent size (including holes)
-L Follow all symlinks
-H Follow symlinks on command line
-d N Limit output to directories (and files with -a) of depth < N
-c Show grand total
-l Count sizes many times if hard linked
-s Display only a total for each argument
-x Skip directories on different filesystems
-h Sizes in human readable format (e.g., 1K 243M 2G)
-m Sizes in megabytes
-k Sizes in kilobytes (default)
echo [-neE] [ARG]...
Print ARGs to stdout
-n No trailing newline
-e Interpret backslash escapes (\t=tab etc)
-E Don't interpret backslash escapes (default)
ed [-p PROMPT] [-s] [FILE]
env [-i0] [-u NAME]... [-] [NAME=VALUE]... [PROG ARGS]
Print current environment or run PROG after setting up environment
-, -i Start with empty environment
-0 NUL terminated output
-u NAME Remove variable from environment
expand [-i] [-t N] [FILE]...
Convert tabs to spaces, writing to stdout
-i Don't convert tabs after non blanks
-t Tabstops every N chars
expr EXPRESSION
Print the value of EXPRESSION
EXPRESSION may be:
ARG1 | ARG2 ARG1 if it is neither null nor 0, otherwise ARG2
ARG1 & ARG2 ARG1 if neither argument is null or 0, otherwise 0
ARG1 < ARG2 1 if ARG1 is less than ARG2, else 0. Similarly:
ARG1 <= ARG2
ARG1 = ARG2
ARG1 != ARG2
ARG1 >= ARG2
ARG1 > ARG2
ARG1 + ARG2 Sum of ARG1 and ARG2. Similarly:
ARG1 - ARG2
ARG1 * ARG2
ARG1 / ARG2
ARG1 % ARG2
STRING : REGEXP Anchored pattern match of REGEXP in STRING
match STRING REGEXP Same as STRING : REGEXP
substr STRING POS LEN Substring of STRING, POS counts from 1
index STRING CHARS Index in STRING where any CHARS is found, or 0
length STRING Length of STRING
quote TOKEN Interpret TOKEN as a string, even if
it is a keyword like 'match' or an
operator like '/'
(EXPRESSION) Value of EXPRESSION
Beware that many operators need to be escaped or quoted for shells. Comparisons are arithmetic if both ARGs are numbers, else lexicographical. Pattern matches return the string matched between \( and \) or null; if \( and \) are not used, they return the number of characters matched or 0.
factor [NUMBER]...
Print prime factors
find [-HL] [PATH]... [OPTIONS] [ACTIONS]
Search for files and perform actions on them. First failed action stops processing of current file. Defaults: PATH is current directory, action is '-print'
-L,-follow Follow symlinks
-H ...on command line only
-xdev Don't descend directories on other filesystems
-maxdepth N Descend at most N levels. -maxdepth 0 applies
actions to command line arguments only
-mindepth N Don't act on first N levels
-depth Act on directory *after* traversing it
Actions:
( ACTIONS ) Group actions for -o / -a
! ACT Invert ACT's success/failure
ACT1 [-a] ACT2 If ACT1 fails, stop, else do ACT2
ACT1 -o ACT2 If ACT1 succeeds, stop, else do ACT2
Note: -a has higher priority than -o
-name PATTERN Match file name (w/o directory name) to PATTERN
-iname PATTERN Case insensitive -name
-path PATTERN Match path to PATTERN
-ipath PATTERN Case insensitive -path
-regex PATTERN Match path to regex PATTERN
-type X File type is X (one of: f,d,l,b,c,s,p)
-executable File is executable
-perm MASK At least one mask bit (+MASK), all bits (-MASK),
or exactly MASK bits are set in file's mode
-mtime DAYS mtime is greater than (+N), less than (-N),
or exactly N days in the past
-atime DAYS atime +N/-N/N days in the past
-ctime DAYS ctime +N/-N/N days in the past
-mmin MINS mtime is greater than (+N), less than (-N),
or exactly N minutes in the past
-amin MINS atime +N/-N/N minutes in the past
-cmin MINS ctime +N/-N/N minutes in the past
-newer FILE mtime is more recent than FILE's
-inum N File has inode number N
-samefile FILE File is same as FILE
-size N[bck] File size is N (c:bytes,k:kbytes,b:512 bytes(def.))
+/-N: file size is bigger/smaller than N
-links N Number of links is greater than (+N), less than (-N),
or exactly N
-empty Match empty file/directory
-prune If current file is directory, don't descend into it
If none of the following actions is specified, -print is assumed
-print Print file name
-print0 Print file name, NUL terminated
-exec CMD ARG ; Run CMD with all instances of {} replaced by
file name. Fails if CMD exits with nonzero
-exec CMD ARG + Run CMD with {} replaced by list of file names
-ok CMD ARG ; Prompt and run CMD with {} replaced
-delete Delete current file/directory. Turns on -depth option
-quit Exit
fold [-bs] [-w WIDTH] [FILE]...
Wrap input lines in FILEs (or stdin), writing to stdout
-b Count bytes rather than columns
-s Break at spaces
-w Use WIDTH columns instead of 80
free [-bkmgh]
Display free and used memory
fsync [-d] FILE...
Write all buffered blocks in FILEs to disk
-d Avoid syncing metadata
ftpget [OPTIONS] HOST [LOCAL_FILE] REMOTE_FILE
Download a file via FTP
-c Continue previous transfer
-v Verbose
-u USER Username
-p PASS Password
-P PORT
ftpput [OPTIONS] HOST [REMOTE_FILE] LOCAL_FILE
Upload a file to a FTP server
-v Verbose
-u USER Username
-p PASS Password
-P PORT
getopt [OPTIONS] [--] OPTSTRING PARAMS
-a Allow long options starting with single -
-l LOPT[,...] Long options to recognize
-n PROGNAME The name under which errors are reported
-o OPTSTRING Short options to recognize
-q No error messages on unrecognized options
-Q No normal output
-s SHELL Set shell quoting conventions
-T Version test (exits with 4)
-u Don't quote output
Example:
O=`getopt -l bb: -- ab:c:: "$@"` || exit 1 eval set -- "$O" while true; do case "$1" in -a) echo A; shift;; -b|--bb) echo "B:'$2'"; shift 2;; -c) case "$2" in "") echo C; shift 2;; *) echo "C:'$2'"; shift 2;; esac;; --) shift; break;; *) echo Error; exit 1;; esac done
grep [-HhnlLoqvsrRiwFE] [-m N] [-A|B|C N] { PATTERN | -e PATTERN... | -f FILE... } [FILE]...
Search for PATTERN in FILEs (or stdin)
-H Add 'filename:' prefix
-h Do not add 'filename:' prefix
-n Add 'line_no:' prefix
-l Show only names of files that match
-L Show only names of files that don't match
-c Show only count of matching lines
-o Show only the matching part of line
-q Quiet. Return 0 if PATTERN is found, 1 otherwise
-v Select non-matching lines
-s Suppress open and read errors
-r Recurse
-R Recurse and dereference symlinks
-i Ignore case
-w Match whole words only
-x Match whole lines only
-F PATTERN is a literal (not regexp)
-E PATTERN is an extended regexp
-m N Match up to N times per file
-A N Print N lines of trailing context
-B N Print N lines of leading context
-C N Same as '-A N -B N'
-e PTRN Pattern to match
-f FILE Read pattern from file
groups [USER]
Print the groups USER is in
gunzip [-cfkt] [FILE]...
Decompress FILEs (or stdin)
-c Write to stdout
-f Force
-k Keep input files
-t Test integrity
gzip [-cfkdt123456789] [FILE]...
Compress FILEs (or stdin)
-1..9 Compression level
-d Decompress
-c Write to stdout
-f Force
-k Keep input files
-t Test integrity
hd FILE...
hd is an alias for hexdump -C
head [OPTIONS] [FILE]...
Print first 10 lines of FILEs (or stdin). With more than one FILE, precede each with a filename header.
-n N[bkm] Print first N lines
-n -N[bkm] Print all except N last lines
-c [-]N[bkm] Print first N bytes
(b:*512 k:*1024 m:*1024^2)
-q Never print headers
-v Always print headers
hexdump [-bcdoxCv] [-e FMT] [-f FMT_FILE] [-n LEN] [-s OFS] [FILE]...
Display FILEs (or stdin) in a user specified format
-b 1-byte octal display
-c 1-byte character display
-d 2-byte decimal display
-o 2-byte octal display
-x 2-byte hex display
-C hex+ASCII 16 bytes per line
-v Show all (no dup folding)
-e FORMAT_STR Example: '16/1 "%02x|""\n"'
-f FORMAT_FILE
-n LENGTH Show only first LENGTH bytes
-s OFFSET Skip OFFSET bytes
httpd [-fv[v]] [-c CONFFILE] [-p [IP:]PORT] [-r REALM] [-h HOME] or httpd -d/-e STRING
Listen for incoming HTTP requests
-f Run in foreground
-v[v] Verbose
-p [IP:]PORT Bind to IP:PORT (default *:80)
-r REALM Authentication Realm for Basic Authentication
-h HOME Home directory (default .)
-c FILE Configuration file (default {/etc,HOME}/httpd.conf)
-e STRING HTML encode STRING
-d STRING URL decode STRING
iconv [-lc] [-o outfile] [-f from-enc] [-t to-enc] [FILE]...
Convert text between character encodings
-l List all known character encodings
-c Silently discard characters that cannot be converted
-o Use outfile for output
-f Use from-enc for input characters
-t Use to-enc for output characters
id [-ugGnr] [USER]
Print information about USER or the current user
-u User ID
-g Group ID
-G Supplementary group IDs
-n Print names instead of numbers
-r Print real ID instead of effective ID
inotifyd PROG FILE1[:MASK]...
Run PROG on filesystem changes. When a filesystem event matching MASK occurs on FILEn, PROG ACTUAL_EVENTS FILEn [SUBFILE] is run. If PROG is -, events are sent to stdout. Events:
c File is modified
x File can't be watched anymore
y Subfile is moved into dir
m Subfile is moved out of dir
n Subfile is created
d Subfile is deleted
inotifyd waits for PROG to exit. When x event happens for all FILEs, inotifyd exits.
install [-cdDsp] [-o USER] [-g GRP] [-m MODE] [-t DIR] [SOURCE]... DEST
Copy files and set attributes
-c Just copy (default)
-d Create directories
-D Create leading target directories
-s Strip symbol table
-p Preserve date
-o USER Set ownership
-g GRP Set group ownership
-m MODE Set permissions
-t DIR Install to DIR
ipcalc [-bnmphs] ADDRESS[/PREFIX] [NETMASK]
Calculate and display network settings from IP address
-b Broadcast address
-n Network address
-m Default netmask for IP
-p Prefix for IP/NETMASK
-h Resolved host name
-s No error messages
jn DIR JUNC
Create directory junction JUNC to DIR
kill [-l] [-SIG] PID...
Send a signal (default: TERM) to given PIDs
-l List all signal names and numbers
killall [-lq] [-SIG] PROCESS_NAME...
Send a signal (default: TERM) to given processes
-l List all signal names and numbers
-q Don't complain if no processes were killed
less [-EFIMmNSRh~] [FILE]...
View FILE (or stdin) one screenful at a time
-E Quit once the end of a file is reached
-F Quit if entire file fits on first screen
-I Ignore case in all searches
-M,-m Display status line with line numbers
and percentage through the file
-N Prefix line number to each line
-S Truncate long lines
-R Remove color escape codes in input
-~ Suppress ~s displayed past EOF
link FILE LINK
Create hard LINK to FILE
ln [-sfnbtv] [-S SUF] TARGET... LINK|DIR
Create a link LINK or DIR/TARGET to the specified TARGET(s)
-s Make symlinks instead of hardlinks
-f Remove existing destinations
-n Don't dereference symlinks - treat like normal file
-b Make a backup of the target (if exists) before link operation
-S SUF Use suffix instead of ~ when making backup files
-T Treat LINK as a file, not DIR
-v Verbose
logname
Print the name of the current user
ls [-1AaCxdLHRFplinshrSXvctu] [-w WIDTH] [FILE]...
List directory contents
-1 One column output
-a Include names starting with . and hidden files
-A Like -a, but exclude . and ..
-aa,-AA Like -a,-A but omit hidden system files
-x List by lines
-d List directory names, not contents
-L Follow symlinks
-H Follow symlinks on command line
-R Recurse
-p Append / to directory names
-F Append indicator (one of */=@|) to names
-l Long format
-i List inode numbers
-n List numeric UIDs and GIDs instead of names
-s List allocated blocks
-lc List ctime
-lu List atime
--full-time List full date/time
-h Human readable sizes (1K 243M 2G)
--group-directories-first
-S Sort by size
-X Sort by extension
-v Sort by version
-t Sort by mtime
-tc Sort by ctime
-tu Sort by atime
-r Reverse sort order
-w N Format N columns wide
--color[={always,never,auto}]
lsattr [-Radl] [FILE]...
List file attributes
-R Recurse
-a Include names starting with .
-d List directory names, not contents
-l List long flag names
Attributes:
j Junction
l Symbolic link
A App exec link
R Reparse point
o Offline
e Encrypted
c Compressed
S Sparse
r Read only
h Hidden
s System
a Archive
t Temporary
n Not indexed
lzcat [FILE]...
Decompress to stdout
lzma -d [-cfk] [FILE]...
Decompress FILEs (or stdin)
-d Decompress
-c Write to stdout
-f Force
-k Keep input files
-t Test integrity
lzop [-cfUvd123456789CF] [FILE]...
-1..9 Compression level
-d Decompress
-c Write to stdout
-f Force
-U Delete input files
-v Verbose
-F Don't store or verify checksum
-C Also write checksum of compressed block
lzopcat [-vF] [FILE]...
-v Verbose
-F Don't verify checksum
make [--posix] [-C DIR] [-f FILE] [-j NUM] [-x PRAG] [-eiknpqrsSt] [MACRO[::]=VAL]... [TARGET]...
Maintain files based on their dependencies
--posix Enforce POSIX mode
-C DIR Change to DIR
-f FILE Makefile
-j NUM Jobs to run in parallel (not implemented)
-x PRAG Make POSIX mode less strict
-e Environment variables override macros in makefiles
-i Ignore exit status
-k Continue on error
-n Dry run
-p Print macros and targets
-q Query target; exit status 1 if not up to date
-r Don't use built-in rules
-s Make silently
-S Stop on error
-t Touch files instead of making them
man [-aw] [SECTION] MANPAGE[.SECTION]...
Display manual page
-a Display all pages
-w Show page locations
$COLUMNS overrides output width
md5sum [-c[sw]] [FILE]...
Print or check MD5 checksums
-c Check sums against list in FILEs
-s Don't output anything, status code shows success
-w Warn about improperly formatted checksum lines
mkdir [-m MODE] [-p] DIRECTORY...
Create DIRECTORY
-m MODE Mode
-p No error if exists; make parent directories as needed
mktemp [-dt] [-p DIR] [TEMPLATE]
Create a temporary file with name based on TEMPLATE and print its name. TEMPLATE must end with XXXXXX (e.g. [/dir/]nameXXXXXX). Without TEMPLATE, -t tmp.XXXXXX is assumed.
-d Make directory, not file
-q Fail silently on errors
-t Prepend base directory name to TEMPLATE
-p DIR Use DIR as a base directory (implies -t)
-u Do not create anything; print a name
Base directory is: -p DIR, else $TMPDIR, else /tmp
mv [-finT] SOURCE DEST or: mv [-fin] SOURCE... { -t DIRECTORY | DIRECTORY }
Rename SOURCE to DEST, or move SOURCEs to DIRECTORY
-f Don't prompt before overwriting
-i Interactive, prompt before overwrite
-n Don't overwrite an existing file
-T Refuse to move if DEST is a directory
-t DIR Move all SOURCEs into DIR
nc [-l] [-p PORT] [IPADDR PORT]
Open a pipe to IP:PORT
-l Listen mode, for inbound connects
-p PORT Local port
nl [OPTIONS] [FILE]...
Write FILEs to standard output with line numbers added
-b STYLE Which lines to number - a: all, t: nonempty, n: none
-i N Line number increment
-s STRING Use STRING as line number separator
-v N Start from N
-w N Width of line numbers
nproc [--all] [--ignore=N]
Print number of available CPUs
--all Number of installed CPUs
--ignore=N Exclude N CPUs
od [-abcdfhilovxs] [-t TYPE] [-A RADIX] [-N SIZE] [-j SKIP] [-S MINSTR] [-w WIDTH] [FILE]...
Print FILEs (or stdin) unambiguously, as octal bytes by default
paste [-d LIST] [-s] [FILE]...
Paste lines from each input file, separated with tab
-d LIST Use delimiters from LIST, not tab
-s Serial: one file at a time
patch [-RNE] [-p N] [-i DIFF] [ORIGFILE [PATCHFILE]]
-p N Strip N leading components from file names
-i DIFF Read DIFF instead of stdin
-R Reverse patch
-N Ignore already applied patches
-E Remove output files if they become empty
--dry-run Don't actually change files
pdpmake [--posix] [-C DIR] [-f FILE] [-j NUM] [-x PRAG] [-eiknpqrsSt] [MACRO[::]=VAL]... [TARGET]...
Maintain files based on their dependencies
--posix Enforce POSIX mode
-C DIR Change to DIR
-f FILE Makefile
-j NUM Jobs to run in parallel (not implemented)
-x PRAG Make POSIX mode less strict
-e Environment variables override macros in makefiles
-i Ignore exit status
-k Continue on error
-n Dry run
-p Print macros and targets
-q Query target; exit status 1 if not up to date
-r Don't use built-in rules
-s Make silently
-S Stop on error
-t Touch files instead of making them
pdrop [COMMAND [ARG...] | -c CMD_STRING [ARG...]]
Drop elevated privileges and run a command. If no command is provided run PowerShell.
pgrep [-lvx] [-P PPID|PATTERN]
Display process(es) selected by regex PATTERN
-l Show command name too
-v Negate the match
-x Match whole name (not substring)
-P Match parent process ID
pidof [-s] [-o PID] [NAME]...
List PIDs of all processes with names that match NAMEs
-s Show only one PID
-o PID Omit given pid
Use %PPID to omit pid of pidof's parent
pipe_progress
Display a dot to indicate pipe activity
pkill [-l|-SIGNAL] [-xve] [-P PPID|PATTERN]
Send signal to processes selected by regex PATTERN
-l List all signals
-x Match whole name (not substring)
-P PPID Match parent process ID
-v Negate the match
-e Display name and PID of the process being killed
printenv [VARIABLE]...
Print environment VARIABLEs. If no VARIABLE specified, print all.
printf FORMAT [ARG]...
Format and print ARG(s) according to FORMAT (a-la C printf)
ps [-o COL1,COL2=HEADER]
Show list of processes
-o COL1,COL2=HEADER Select columns for display
pwd
Print the full filename of the current working directory
readlink [-fnv] FILE
Display the value of a symlink
-n Don't add newline
-f Canonicalize by following all symlinks
-v Verbose
realpath FILE...
Print absolute pathnames of FILEs
reset
Reset terminal (ESC codes) and termios (signals, buffering, echo)
rev [FILE]...
Reverse lines of FILE
rm [-irf] FILE...
Remove (unlink) FILEs
-i Always prompt before removing
-f Never prompt
-R,-r Recurse
rmdir [-p] DIRECTORY...
Remove DIRECTORY if it is empty
-p Include parents
--ignore-fail-on-non-empty
rpm -i PACKAGE.rpm; rpm -qp[ildc] PACKAGE.rpm
Manipulate RPM packages
Commands:
-i Install package
-qp Query package
-qpi Show information
-qpl List contents
-qpd List documents
-qpc List config files
rpm2cpio PACKAGE.rpm
Output a cpio archive of the rpm file
sed [-i[SFX]] [-nrE] [-f FILE]... [-e CMD]... [FILE]... or: sed [-i[SFX]] [-nrE] CMD [FILE]...
-e CMD Add CMD to sed commands to be executed
-f FILE Add FILE contents to sed commands to be executed
-i[SFX] Edit files in-place (otherwise write to stdout)
Optionally back files up, appending SFX
-n Suppress automatic printing of pattern space
-r,-E Use extended regex syntax
-b Keep CR/LF (Windows-only)
If no -e or -f, the first non-option argument is the sed command string. Remaining arguments are input files (stdin if none).
seq [-w] [-s SEP] [FIRST [INC]] LAST
Print numbers from FIRST to LAST, in steps of INC. FIRST, INC default to 1.
-w Pad with leading zeros
-s SEP String separator
sh [-il] [-|+Cabefmnuvx] [-|+o OPT]... [-c 'SCRIPT' [ARG0 ARGS] | FILE ARGS | -s ARGS]
Unix shell interpreter
sha1sum [-c[sw]] [FILE]...
Print or check SHA1 checksums
-c Check sums against list in FILEs
-s Don't output anything, status code shows success
-w Warn about improperly formatted checksum lines
sha256sum [-c[sw]] [FILE]...
Print or check SHA256 checksums
-c Check sums against list in FILEs
-s Don't output anything, status code shows success
-w Warn about improperly formatted checksum lines
sha3sum [-c[sw]] [-a BITS] [FILE]...
Print or check SHA3 checksums
-c Check sums against list in FILEs
-s Don't output anything, status code shows success
-w Warn about improperly formatted checksum lines
-a BITS 224 (default), 256, 384, 512
sha512sum [-c[sw]] [FILE]...
Print or check SHA512 checksums
-c Check sums against list in FILEs
-s Don't output anything, status code shows success
-w Warn about improperly formatted checksum lines
shred [-fuz] [-n N] [-s SIZE] FILE...
Overwrite/delete FILEs
-f Chmod to ensure writability
-s SIZE Size to write
-n N Overwrite N times (default 3)
-z Final overwrite with zeros
-u Remove file
shuf [-n NUM] [-o FILE] [-z] [FILE | -e [ARG...] | -i L-H]
Randomly permute lines
-n NUM Output at most NUM lines
-o FILE Write to FILE, not standard output
-z NUL terminated output
-e Treat ARGs as lines
-i L-H Treat numbers L-H as lines
sleep [N]...
Pause for a time equal to the total of the args given, where each arg can have an optional suffix of (s)econds, (m)inutes, (h)ours, or (d)ays
sort [-nrughMcszbdfiokt] [-o FILE] [-k START[.OFS][OPTS][,END[.OFS][OPTS]] [-t CHAR] [FILE]...
Sort lines of text
-o FILE Output to FILE
-c Check whether input is sorted
-b Ignore leading blanks
-f Ignore case
-i Ignore unprintable characters
-d Dictionary order (blank or alphanumeric only)
-n Sort numbers
-g General numerical sort
-h Sort human readable numbers (2K 1G)
-M Sort month
-V Sort version
-t CHAR Field separator
-k N[,M] Sort by Nth field
-r Reverse sort order
-s Stable (don't sort ties alphabetically)
-u Suppress duplicate lines
-z NUL terminated input and output
split [OPTIONS] [INPUT [PREFIX]]
-b N[k|m] Split by N (kilo|mega)bytes
-l N Split by N lines
-a N Use N letters as suffix
ssl_client [-e] -h handle [-n SNI]
stat [-ltf] [-c FMT] FILE...
Display file (default) or filesystem status
-c FMT Use the specified format
-f Display filesystem status
-L Follow links
-t Terse display
FMT sequences for files:
%a Access rights in octal
%A Access rights in human readable form
%b Number of blocks allocated (see %B)
%B Size in bytes of each block reported by %b
%d Device number in decimal
%D Device number in hex
%f Raw mode in hex
%F File type
%g Group ID
%G Group name
%h Number of hard links
%i Inode number
%n File name
%N File name, with -> TARGET if symlink
%o I/O block size
%s Total size in bytes
%t Major device type in hex
%T Minor device type in hex
%u User ID
%U User name
%x Time of last access
%X Time of last access as seconds since Epoch
%y Time of last modification
%Y Time of last modification as seconds since Epoch
%z Time of last change
%Z Time of last change as seconds since Epoch
FMT sequences for file systems:
%a Free blocks available to non-superuser
%b Total data blocks
%c Total file nodes
%d Free file nodes
%f Free blocks
%i File System ID in hex
%l Maximum length of filenames
%n File name
%s Block size (for faster transfer)
%S Fundamental block size (for block counts)
%t Type in hex
%T Type in human readable form
strings [-fo] [-t o|d|x] [-n LEN] [FILE]...
Display printable strings in a binary file
-f Precede strings with filenames
-o Precede strings with octal offsets
-t o|d|x Precede strings with offsets in base 8/10/16
-n LEN At least LEN characters form a string (default 4)
su [-NW] [root] or: su [-NW] -c CMD_STRING [[--] root [ARG0 [ARG...]]] or: su [-NW] [--] root [arbitrary sh arguments]
Run shell with elevated privileges
-c CMD Command to pass to 'sh -c'
-N Don't close console when shell exits
-W Wait for shell exit code
sum [-rs] [FILE]...
Checksum and count the blocks in a file
-r Use BSD sum algorithm (1K blocks)
-s Use System V sum algorithm (512byte blocks)
sync
Write all buffered blocks to disk
tac [FILE]...
Concatenate FILEs and print them in reverse
tail [OPTIONS] [FILE]...
Print last 10 lines of FILEs (or stdin) to. With more than one FILE, precede each with a filename header.
-c [+]N[bkm] Print last N bytes
-n N[bkm] Print last N lines
-n +N[bkm] Start on Nth line and print the rest
(b:*512 k:*1024 m:*1024^2)
-q Never print headers
-v Always print headers
-f Print data as file grows
-F Same as -f, but keep retrying
-s SECONDS Wait SECONDS between reads with -f
tar c|x|t [-ZzJjahmvokO] [-f TARFILE] [-C DIR] [-T FILE] [-X FILE] [LONGOPT]... [FILE]...
Create, extract, or list files from a tar file
c Create
x Extract
t List
-f FILE Name of TARFILE ('-' for stdin/out)
-C DIR Change to DIR before operation
-v Verbose
-O Extract to stdout
-m Don't restore mtime
-o Don't restore user:group
-k Don't replace existing files
-Z (De)compress using compress
-z (De)compress using gzip
-J (De)compress using xz
-j (De)compress using bzip2
--lzma (De)compress using lzma
-a (De)compress based on extension
-h Follow symlinks
-T FILE File with names to include
-X FILE File with glob patterns to exclude
--exclude PATTERN Glob pattern to exclude
--overwrite Replace existing files
--strip-components NUM NUM of leading components to strip
--no-recursion Don't descend in directories
--numeric-owner Use numeric user:group
--no-same-permissions Don't restore access permissions
tee [-ai] [FILE]...
Copy stdin to each FILE, and also to stdout
-a Append to the given FILEs, don't overwrite
-i Ignore interrupt signals (SIGINT)
time [-pa] [-o FILE] PROG ARGS
Run PROG, display resource usage when it exits
-p POSIX output format
-o FILE Write result to FILE
-a Append (else overwrite)
timeout [-s SIG] [-k KILL_SECS] SECS PROG ARGS
Run PROG. Send SIG to it if it is not gone in SECS seconds. Default SIG: TERM. If it still exists in KILL_SECS seconds, send KILL.
touch [-cham] [-d DATE] [-t DATE] [-r FILE] FILE...
Update mtime of FILEs
-c Don't create files
-h Don't follow links
-a Change only atime
-m Change only mtime
-d DT Date/time to use
-t DT Date/time to use
-r FILE Use FILE's date/time
tr [-cds] STRING1 [STRING2]
Translate, squeeze, or delete characters from stdin, writing to stdout
-c Take complement of STRING1
-d Delete input characters coded STRING1
-s Squeeze multiple output characters of STRING2 into one character
truncate [-c] -s SIZE FILE...
Truncate FILEs to SIZE
-c Do not create files
-s SIZE
ts [-is] [STRFTIME]
Pipe stdin to stdout, add timestamp to each line
-s Time since start
-i Time since previous line
tsort [FILE]
Topological sort
ttysize [w] [h]
Print dimensions of stdin tty, or 80x24
uname [-amnrspvio]
Print system information
-a Print all
-m Machine (hardware) type
-n Hostname
-r Kernel release
-s Kernel name (default)
-p Processor type
-v Kernel version
-i Hardware platform
-o OS name
uncompress [-cf] [FILE]...
Decompress FILEs (or stdin)
-c Write to stdout
-f Overwrite
unexpand [-fa][-t N] [FILE]...
Convert spaces to tabs, writing to stdout
-a Convert all blanks
-f Convert only leading blanks
-t N Tabstops every N chars
uniq [-cduiz] [-f,s,w N] [FILE [OUTFILE]]
Discard duplicate lines
-c Prefix lines by the number of occurrences
-d Only print duplicate lines
-u Only print unique lines
-i Ignore case
-z NUL terminated output
-f N Skip first N fields
-s N Skip first N chars (after any skipped fields)
-w N Compare N characters in line
unix2dos [-ud] [FILE]
Convert FILE in-place from Unix to DOS format. When no file is given, use stdin/stdout.
-u dos2unix
-d unix2dos
unlink FILE
Delete FILE by calling unlink()
unlzma [-cfk] [FILE]...
Decompress FILEs (or stdin)
-c Write to stdout
-f Force
-k Keep input files
-t Test integrity
unlzop [-cfUvF] [FILE]...
-c Write to stdout
-f Force
-U Delete input files
-t Test integrity
-v Verbose
-F Don't verify checksum
unxz [-cfk] [FILE]...
Decompress FILEs (or stdin)
-c Write to stdout
-f Force
-k Keep input files
-t Test integrity
unzip [-lnojpqK] FILE[.zip] [FILE]... [-x FILE]... [-d DIR]
Extract FILEs from ZIP archive
-l List contents (with -q for short form)
-n Never overwrite files (default: ask)
-o Overwrite
-j Do not restore paths
-p Write to stdout
-t Test
-q Quiet
-K Do not clear SUID bit
-x FILE Exclude FILEs
-d DIR Extract into DIR
uptime
Display the time since the last boot
usleep N
Pause for N microseconds
uudecode [-o OUTFILE] [INFILE]
Uudecode a file Finds OUTFILE in uuencoded source unless -o is given
uuencode [-m] [FILE] STORED_FILENAME
Uuencode FILE (or stdin) to stdout
-m Use base64 encoding per RFC1521
vi [-b] [-c CMD] [-R] [-H] [FILE]...
Edit FILE
-b Edit file in binary mode
-c CMD Initial command to run ($EXINIT and ~/.exrc also available)
-R Read-only
-H List available features
watch [-n SEC] [-t] PROG ARGS
Run PROG periodically
-n SEC Period (default 2)
-t Don't print header
wc [-clwL] [FILE]...
Count lines, words, and bytes for FILEs (or stdin)
-c Count bytes
-l Count newlines
-w Count words
-L Print longest line length
wget [-cqS] [--spider] [-O FILE] [-o LOGFILE] [--header STR] [--post-data STR | --post-file FILE] [-Y on/off] [-P DIR] [-U AGENT] URL...
Retrieve files via HTTP or FTP
--spider Only check URL existence: $? is 0 if exists
--header STR Add STR (of form 'header: value') to headers
--post-data STR Send STR using POST method
--post-file FILE Send FILE using POST method
-c Continue retrieval of aborted transfer
-q Quiet
-P DIR Save to DIR (default .)
-S Show server response
-O FILE Save to FILE ('-' for stdout)
-o LOGFILE Log messages to FILE
-U STR Use STR for User-Agent header
-Y on/off Use proxy
which [-a] COMMAND...
Locate COMMAND
-a Show all matches
whoami
Print the user name associated with the current effective user id
whois [-i] [-h SERVER] [-p PORT] NAME...
Query WHOIS info about NAME
-i Show redirect results too
-h,-p Server to query
xargs [OPTIONS] [PROG ARGS]
Run PROG on every item given by stdin
-0 NUL terminated input
-a FILE Read from FILE instead of stdin
-r Don't run command if input is empty
-t Print the command on stderr before execution
-p Ask user whether to run each command
-E STR,-e[STR] STR stops input processing
-I STR Replace STR within PROG ARGS with input line
-n N Pass no more than N args to PROG
-s N Pass command line of no more than N bytes
-P N Run up to N PROGs in parallel
-x Exit if size is exceeded
xxd [-pri] [-g N] [-c N] [-l LEN] [-s OFS] [-o OFS] [FILE]
Hex dump FILE (or stdin)
-g N Bytes per group
-c N Bytes per line
-p Show only hex bytes, assumes -c30
-i C include file style
-l LENGTH Show only first LENGTH bytes
-s OFFSET Skip OFFSET bytes
-o OFFSET Add OFFSET to displayed offset
-r Reverse (with -p, assumes no offsets in input)
xz -d [-cfk] [FILE]...
Decompress FILEs (or stdin)
-d Decompress
-c Write to stdout
-f Force
-k Keep input files
-t Test integrity
xzcat [FILE]...
Decompress to stdout
yes [STRING]
Repeatedly print a line with STRING, or 'y'
zcat [FILE]...
Decompress to stdout