Free beginner Linux course

Learn Linux by doing, one task at a time.

Six short lessons, practical command guides, and browser terminal exercises with progress that follows you.

Start free course Find a command

120 command guides15 categories

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First lesson

Getting around

20 min lesson

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Daily terminal challenge

Count the notes

Task: Count the lines in docs/notes.txt.

Hint: wc has a line-count flag.

$wc -l docs/notes.txt

Try today's challenge Open empty playground

Popular Commands

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List directory contents

ls -la

beginnerDirectories

Change the shell's current working directory

cd

beginnerDirectories

grep

Search text using patterns

grep -in "warning" app.log

intermediateText Processing

chmod

Change file and directory permissions

chmod +x script.sh

intermediatePermissions

find

Search a directory tree for files matching criteria

find . -iname "*.conf"

intermediateFiles

Show a snapshot of currently running processes

ps -ef

intermediateProcesses

tar

Archive files into a single .tar file, optionally compressed

tar -czvf backup.tar.gz ./project

intermediateCompression

ssh

Secure encrypted remote login and command execution

ssh user@server.example.com

intermediateNetworking

Browse by Category

FilesCreate, copy, move, and inspect files.14 commands DirectoriesNavigate and manage the filesystem tree.5 commands NetworkingConnect, transfer, and diagnose over the network.20 commands PermissionsControl who can read, write, and execute.2 commands UsersManage user accounts and identities.8 commands GroupsOrganize users into groups and manage membership.6 commands ProcessesInspect, control, and manage running processes.7 commands SystemQuery system information and identity.10 commands DiskMonitor disk usage and storage.4 commands Package ManagementInstall, update, and remove software packages.2 commands ShellShell utilities for running and repeating commands.1 commands Text ProcessingSearch, filter, and transform text.16 commands CompressionArchive and compress files.8 commands MonitoringWatch system performance in real time.4 commands DevelopmentCompile, build, and debug software.13 commands

Learn Linux One Command at a Time

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Featured Command

beginner

ls

List directory contents

Read Guide →

SYNTAX

ls [OPTIONS] [FILE...]

EXAMPLE

ls -la

Command of the Day

ctrace

Historical C program execution tracer (obsolete, superseded by gdb/strace/ltrace)

ctrace -o traced.c program.cPractice this →