🐧 Linux Command Handbook

A practical, in-depth Linux command reference — built one command at a time, with real-world examples, edge cases, and interview-ready explanations.

This isn't a copy-paste cheat sheet. Every finished page covers what a command actually is, how it works internally, its full syntax, dozens of real examples, the edge cases that trip people up, and the kind of questions you'd get asked about it in an interview.

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🚧 Project Status — This is a living project

This handbook is continuously growing. New command pages are added regularly, and every existing page can be expanded or corrected over time — nothing here is ever "final." If a command you're looking for isn't documented yet, it's most likely already scaffolded and waiting to be written next.

⭐ Star or watch this repo to follow new additions, and feel free to suggest or request a command via an issue.

Current progress: 12 of 52 command pages fully completed (~23%).

Category	Progress	Status
🔎 Search	2 / 2	✅ Complete
👤 User Management	3 / 3	✅ Complete
📝 Text Processing	3 / 9	🚧 In progress
🧭 Navigation	2 / 6	🚧 In progress
💽 Disk	1 / 4	🚧 In progress
📦 Archives	1 / 2	🚧 In progress
📁 Files	0 / 6	⏳ Planned
🌐 Networking	0 / 6	⏳ Planned
🔐 Permissions	0 / 3	⏳ Planned
⚙️ Processes	0 / 5	⏳ Planned
🛠️ System	0 / 6	⏳ Planned

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📖 What's inside every command page

Each command lives in its own folder under commands/<category>/<command>/ and follows the same four-file format:

File	Purpose
README.md	The complete reference — what it is, how it works, full syntax, options, related commands
examples.md	Real-world, copy-pasteable usage examples
edge-cases.md	Gotchas, quirks, and situations that don't behave the way you'd expect
interview-questions.md	Common questions asked about this command, with answers

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✅ Completed guides — browse now

Command	Category	Description
cd	Navigation	Change the current directory
ls	Navigation	List directory contents
grep	Search	Search text using patterns
find	Search	Search for files in a directory hierarchy
awk	Text Processing	Pattern scanning and text processing language
cat	Text Processing	Concatenate and display file contents
less / more	Text Processing	Page through file contents
mount	Disk	Mount filesystems
tar	Archives	Archive and compress files
passwd	User	Change a user's password
useradd	User	Create a new user account
who / w	User	Show who is logged in

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⏳ Coming soon

These commands are already scaffolded and queued for full write-ups:

• Files: cp, mv, rm, mkdir, touch, ln
• Navigation: pwd, man, alias
• Networking: ssh, scp, curl, wget, ping, netstat
• Permissions: chmod, chown, sudo
• Processes: ps, top, htop, kill, systemctl
• Disk: df, du, lsblk
• Archives: unzip / zip
• System: uname, uptime, env, history, cron / crontab
• Text Processing: sed, sort, wc, tee, diff, pip

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🗂️ Repository structure

linux-command-handbook/
├── README.md
├── LICENSE
└── commands/
    ├── navigation/
    │   └── <command>/
    │       ├── README.md
    │       ├── examples.md
    │       ├── edge-cases.md
    │       └── interview-questions.md
    ├── files/
    ├── text-processing/
    ├── search/
    ├── networking/
    ├── permissions/
    ├── processes/
    ├── disk/
    ├── archives/
    ├── system/
    └── user/

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🤝 Contributing

Contributions are very welcome — this project grows faster with more hands on it. To add or improve a command page:

1. Pick a command from the Coming soon list above (or propose a new one via an issue).
2. Use one of the completed pages (e.g. awk or find) as a template for depth and structure.
3. Fill in all four files: README.md, examples.md, edge-cases.md, interview-questions.md.
4. Open a pull request — even partial or draft contributions are appreciated.

Found a typo, a broken example, or an outdated explanation? Open an issue or PR — keeping existing pages accurate matters as much as adding new ones.

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🎯 Goals

• Learn Linux commands through practical, real-world examples
• Understand the edge cases that documentation usually skips
• Build a reference solid enough for daily use
• Prepare for technical interviews with command-specific Q&A

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📜 License

This work is licensed under CC BY 4.0 — see LICENSE for details. You're free to share and adapt the content, even commercially, as long as you give appropriate credit.