PuppyLinux Reference Card

A short guide to common commands

To be used in cli (no X-Server running) or within a terminal.

Version: 0.01b (2010-04-11)
Created by: aragon

System
fixmenus	update windowmanager-menus
(wm)poweroff	shutdown your system (from within X)
(wm)reboot	reboot your system (from within X)
xwin COMMAND	starts the x-server. COMMAND should be the startcommand of your WM (e.g. startjwm)
User
passwd*	change password
System Info
cat /etc/puppyversion	display puppyversion
cat /etc/windowmanager	display actual windowmanager
date	display the current date and time
cal	display a monthly calendar
uptime	display current uptime
uname -a	display kernel information
uname -r	display kernel version
cat /proc/cpuinfo	display cpu information
dmesg	display kernel (and driver) messages
free	display memory and swap usage
df	display disk usage
du -h /PATH/DIR	display summarized disk usage for /PATH/DIR
env	displays the actual environment
hardinfo -r -f txt > FILE	creates a hardware-report as FILE
probepart -m	display info about partitions
Logfiles
/tmp/bootkernel.log	Kernel-Boot-Log
/tmp/bootsysinit.log	Sysinit-Log
/tmp/xerrs.log	X messages
/var/log/messages	Kernel messages
Files & Directories
ls	directory listing
ls -al	formatted listing with hidden files and verbose information
cd DIR	change directory to childdir DIR
cd /PATH/DIR	change directory to /PATH/DIR
cd ..	one dir up
cd -	change to last directory
cd	change to home
pwd	display current directory
mkdir DIR	create a directory in the actual path
mkdir /PATH/DIR	create a directory in PATH
mkdir -p /PATH/DIR	create a directory in PATH even if not all dirs in PATH exist
rm FILE*	delete FILE
rm -r DIR*	delete DIR
cp FILE1 FILE2	copy FILE1 to FILE2
cp -r DIR1 DIR2	copy DIR1 to DIR2, create DIR2 if it does not exist
mv FILE1 FILE2	rename or move FILE1 to FILE2 if FILE2 is an existing directory, moves FILE1 into directory FILE2
ln -s FILE LINK	create symbolic link LINK to FILE
touch FILE	create FILE
command > FILE	(re-)places output of command in FILE
command >> FILE	appends output of command to FILE
command < FILE	use FILE as input for command
command1 \| command2	use output of command1 as input for command2
cat FILE	display the content of FILE
tac FILE	display the content of FILE from last to first line
head FILE	display the first 10 lines of FILE
tail FILE	display the last 10 lines of FILE
tail -f FILE	display the content of FILE as it grows, starting with the last 10 lines
mp FILE	open FILE with mp text editor
file FILE	gives info about FILE
Process Management
ps	display your active processes
top	display all running processes
kill PID	kill process with id PID*
killall PROCESS	kill all processes named PROCESS*
Searching
grep PATTERN FILES	search for PATTERN in FILES
grep -nR PATTERN DIR	search recursively for PATTERN in files in DIR (output with line-nr.)
command \| grep PATTERN	search for PATTERN in the output of command
which COMMAND	show location of COMMAND in path
Compression
tar cvf file.tar FILES	create a tar containing FILES
tar xvf file.tar	extract a tar
tar cvzf file.tar.gz FILES	create a tar with Gzip compression containing FILES
tar xvzf file.tar.gz	extract a tar with Gzip compression
tar cvjf file.tar.bz2 FILES	create a tar with Bzip2 compression containing FILES
tar xvjf file.tar.bz2	extract a tar with Bzip2 compression
unzip file.zip	extract a zip-file
gzip FILE file.gz	compresses FILE and renames it
gzip -d file.gz	decompresses file.gz back to FILE
Network
wget URLTO/FILE	download FILE to the actual dir
wget -c URLTO/FILE	continue the download of FILE
ifconfig	display info about your network
iwconfig	display info about your wlan
Shortcuts
Ctrl+C	ends the current command
Ctrl+R	search for a recent command
UP / DOWN	navigate the command history
TAB	command-completion for input
TAB+TAB	display possible commands for input
Bootcodes
pfix=ram	do not load a save_file
pfix=fsck	do a filesystem-check for pup_save
pfix=nox	do not start the X-Server
Diverse
export VARIABLE	setup a variable for the current session
echo $VARIABLE	display the actual value of a variable
alias command='newcommand'	newcommand will be executed if command is called
unalias command	Remove an alias
alias -p	displays all actual aliasses
*Use with (extreme) caution

Thanks:
My special thanks go to Barry Kauler for Puppy Linux in general and to Bruce B especially
for 'The Text-User Interface' (http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=44123).