The small set that covers most tasks.
MOVING AND LOOKING
pwd shows where you are ls -la lists files with detail, including hidden ones cd changes directory cat displays a file, less pages through a long one tail -f follows a log as it is written
FILES
cp copies, mv moves or renames, rm deletes mkdir creates a directory find locates files by name grep searches inside files
rm has no undo. Be deliberate, particularly with -r.
ARCHIVES
tar creates and extracts archives unzip extracts zip files, zip creates them
Extracting an archive on the server is far faster than uploading files individually.
DISK
du -sh shows the size of a directory df -h shows filesystem usage
PERMISSIONS
chmod changes permissions, chown ownership where permitted
WHAT DOES NOT WORK ON SHARED HOSTING
sudo, package installation, and anything requiring root. Those commands exist but will refuse.
