Basic Commands

Quick Linux shell commands. Deep refs: netstat (ss/netstat/ps) ยท Linux Tools


๐Ÿ“Œ Processes โ€” ps

ps                         # Your shell's processes
ps aux                     # All processes (user, PID, CPU, command)
ps -ef                     # Full format listing
ps aux | grep apache
ps aux --forest            # Process tree

Pair with netstat โ€” find listener PID with ss -nltp, then ps aux | grep PID.

Port already in use on Kali? โ†’ Port in Use - kill listener

Symlinks / privesc โ†’ ln - symlinks

Script first line โ†’ Shebangs

Preview file start โ†’ head (head -n 200 file.txt)


๐Ÿ“Œ Navigation & files

ls -la
cd /path
pwd
fg                         # Foreground a background job

๐Ÿ“Œ Archives โ€” tar

Full zip/7z/unzip/zipinfo reference โ†’ Archives - unzip 7z zip ยท apt/deb/download โ†’ Install Download and Run

tar -xvf file.tar                    # Extract .tar โ†’ **[[tar]]**
tar -xzvf file.tar.gz                # Extract .tar.gz (gzip โ€” note -z)
tar -xjvf file.tar.bz2               # Extract .tar.bz2 (bzip2 โ€” note -j)
tar -tzf file.tar.gz                 # List contents without extract
FlagMeaning
-xExtract
-vVerbose
-fFile
-zgzip
-jbzip2