I want to start using the terminal more often, but I don't know what are the different commands available to me. Is there a way to list all the different commands that I can make use of?
7 Answers
First Method
NB: Thanks to @Rmano. This method doesn't work with zsh
shell.
A simple command:
ls ${PATH//:/ }
This will list all commands in your $PATH
environment variable.
To store the result in a file you can redirect the output to a file.
ls ${PATH//:/ } > mycommands.txt
Note that this will return an error if any directory names in your $PATH
contain spaces. In that case, use this instead:
while read -d ':' dir; do echo "$dir"; done <<<$PATH
Second Method
Also you can use:
compgen -c | sort -u > commands && less commands
Third Method
Another method is a double Tab click.
Fourth Method
Another method using find
command:
find {,/usr}/{,s}bin -printf '%f\n\0'
-
Notice that the first command works in
bash
but not inzsh
, which has word split disabled by default. refining-linux.org/archives/38/…– RmanoMar 10, 2014 at 22:54
If you are using bash, which is the default shell in all official Ubuntu flavors, run compgen -c
to see the available commands including aliases.
-
-
1Even the commands for gui-based programs are included. So if you do
compgen -c | grep thunar
and you have the Thunar file manager installed, you'll see commands related to Thunar as well.– user25656Jan 10, 2014 at 14:00 -
1
-
2
-
1@vasa1: Could this answer be more general? I mean it only provides the solution for bash, but as Braiam noted it doesn't work for zsh... If possible could you please expand the answer to cater to a larger audience - obviously only if you know the answer :-)– AdityaJan 29, 2014 at 10:37
Open terminal Ctrl + Alt + t and run this command:
whatis `compgen -c` | more
This will list all commands and a simple description of each command.
If you want to save the list you can redirect the result into an output file
whatis `compgen -c` > listOfCommands.txt
So why I used whatis command. The command
man whatis
gives:
Each manual page has a short description available within it.
whatis searches the manual page names and displays the manual page descrip‐ tions of any name matched.
so in easy words whatis
give a general. description of each command
-
+1 for additional info. whatis `compgen -c` | sort > listOfCommands.txt will help go get in sort list. Mar 25, 2014 at 7:44
-
Another useful command:
apropos <keyword>
searches all commands and their short description and displays the results– AlosoDec 19, 2017 at 16:17
Open up a terminal and press the Tab key twice.
-
2
-
@LorenzoAncora why is it not standard? Does not all Ubuntu have the autocompletion with double Tab as standard behaviour? Mar 10, 2014 at 15:29
-
3Default != standard: in a future maybe we'll have a console that does not support that mechanism, because it's not standard; more, the TAB standard may serve a different function. A standard procedure is listing the content of 'bin', because is part of the official FHS standard and any Linux/Unix system has that directory. The correct functionality (and the ability of the community to help the users) of Ubuntu is ensured by the respect of the standards. Mar 10, 2014 at 16:13
-
Ok, thanks for the explanation :) I thought that the standard behaviout of the double Tab on Ubuntu was to list the content of PATH :) Mar 10, 2014 at 16:22
-
@LorenzoAncora Listing the contents of any one directory will not show anywhere close to all executable commands. Listing the contents of all PATH directories will not show shell builtins with no corresponding executable (such as
cd
). Pressing Tab twice overcomes both these severe limitations. If someone had asked how to show all commands on an arbitrary GNU/Linux system, one might argue that Tab completion is not an adequate solution. Of course anything might change in Ubuntu in the future but the likelihood of tab completion in the default interactive shell going away is minuscule. Mar 10, 2014 at 17:30
A list of command depends greatly on what you have installed, but there are cheats to list all commands. The following works on most bourne-like shells:
- Press Tab twice.
Use
find
to find all executables:find / -perm +x
List all the files in the binaries directories (could be incomplete):
ls /bin /sbin /usr/bin /usr/sbin /usr/local/bin /usr/local/sbin
Open a terminal window (GNOME terminal is OK, also a configured xTerm).
Your options are:
By pressing the TAB key ("-><-") twice, you'll complete any command in the console and, if the line is empty, you'll get the number and the names of all available commands. Please note that it may require some time and may list semi-administrative utilities. NOTE: this isn't a standard, for a "cross-shell" way see the other options.
Use
man -k NAME
to search for a command (or part of it) andman COMMAND
to obtain the manual for that command. Not al commands have a system manual; reading the man before using any administrative utility is always a good idea; trust me.Use Midnight Commander (
mc
) to have a nice console (curses) GUI to manage the system and the file system. You may have to install it from your package manager. Don't worry; it is safe and extremely common software.
NOTE: It's made for when you have confusion or difficulty in using the file system.Use
ls /bin | more
to know all exential administrative executables;ls /sbin | more
for common administrative executables.Use
ls /usr/sbin | more
to know all user executables;ls /usr/sbin | more
will give a very huge list of user executables and libraries.
NOTE: If the output frommore
exceeds one page (screenful), you'll have to scroll py pressing "Page Up" and "Page Down" or spacebar.
You can useCOMMAND | grep TEXT
to filter the output.
If you have more questions comment under here and don't forget to check the tick next to the answer if I helped you.
Have a nice experience.
-
Usually, most executables are in
/usr/bin
, which you haven't mentioned here. Also there's/sbin
, which contains executables often used for system administration, such asusermod
andifconfig
. And many systems have other binary directories as well, like/usr/games
and/usr/local/bin
. See Filesystem hierarchy standard andman 7 hier
. You might want to expand this to mention important directories for executables besides/bin
and/usr/sbin
. Mar 10, 2014 at 17:27
This is a bit old, but can be still relevant
http://fosswire.com/post/2008/04/ubuntu-cheat-sheet/
And information on using the Ubuntu terminal
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UsingTheTerminal
the above page has more links at the end which will help you finding more commands for Ubuntu.