Linux Command Line Study Guide: 80 Essential Unix Commands on Flashcards
Master 80 Linux/Unix commands with flashcards: ls, grep, chmod, ps aux, kill -9, tar, rsync, ssh, awk, cron, systemctl, grouped by task with tips to retain them.
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Most people learn the shell by trial and error: they know ls and cd and Google everything else for years. The Linux/Unix Commands deck on Flip It (deck code XV5727, 80 cards) is the shortcut: every card names a command, flag or shell symbol on the front and explains what it does in one plain sentence on the back. Work through it and you'll read a shell script or a tutorial without stopping.
Study this deck: Linux/Unix Commands
1 / 10'ls' command
Tap the card for the answer · swipe right if you knew it, left if not
Sample cards
| Front | Back |
|---|---|
| 'pwd' command | Print Working Directory — displays the absolute path of the current directory |
| 'rm -rf' | Recursively and forcibly removes directories and all their contents without prompting |
| 'tail -f' | Follows a file in real time, displaying new lines as they are appended (log monitoring) |
| 'chmod' command | Changes file or directory permissions (read, write, execute) for owner, group and others |
| 'kill -9' | Sends a SIGKILL signal to forcefully terminate a process immediately |
| 'tar -xzf file.tar.gz' | Extracts a gzipped tarball |
| 'rsync' command | Synchronizes files and directories between locations, only transferring differences |
| 'ln -s' | Creates a symbolic (soft) link, a pointer to another file or directory |
| 'xargs' command | Builds and executes commands from standard input, useful for batch operations |
| '&' symbol | Runs the command in the background, returning control to the shell immediately |
The 80 cards, grouped
- Files and directories: ls, cd, pwd, mkdir, rm, rm -rf, cp, mv, touch, ln, ln -s, find, which, whereis
- Reading and editing text: cat, less, head, tail, tail -f, grep, sed, awk, wc, sort, uniq, diff, tee, xargs, echo
- Permissions and users: chmod, chown, sudo, su, passwd, useradd, userdel, usermod, groupadd, groups
- Processes and system: ps, ps aux, top, kill, kill -9, uname, uname -a, uptime, free, vmstat, lsof, nohup, &
- Disks and archives: df, df -h, du, mount, umount, tar, tar -czf, tar -xzf
- Network and remote: ping, netstat, ifconfig, ip, hostname, ssh, scp, wget, curl
- Shell environment: export, env, alias, unalias, history, man
- Scheduling and services: cron, crontab, systemctl, journalctl
How to actually retain commands
Decode the abbreviation before you memorize the behaviour. Nearly every back side in the deck starts with the expansion — Print Working Directory, Disk Free, Concatenate, Secure Copy, Word Count, List Open Files. Say the expansion out loud when you flip the card; pwd stops being three random letters and becomes a sentence you can't forget. The exceptions (awk, sed, grep, tar) are worth a second of attention precisely because they don't expand nicely.
Learn the pairs and the flag variants together. The deck deliberately includes base command + common flag as separate cards: rm / rm -rf, ps / ps aux, df / df -h, kill / kill -9, tail / tail -f, tar -czf / tar -xzf, ln / ln -s, ifconfig / ip. When one comes up in Flip It, mentally recall its sibling before flipping. The -czf / -xzf pair is the classic one to confuse: c = create, x = extract.
A one-week route
One group per day, two for the larger file and text groups. Keep a terminal open while you review: typing man followed by the card you just flipped turns each definition into a hands-on check, and typing a command once beats reading it ten times. By the end of the week, ps aux | grep and find | xargs read as sentences rather than noise.
Deck code XV5727 — log in at flip-it.app and search for "Linux/Unix Commands" in the library. If you're new to spaced repetition, our practical guide to learning with flashcards explains the routine.
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