35 SSH Commands (With Examples)

If you are running your own VPS chances are this list of SSH commands could come in handy.

Here’s the deal:

When I first started configuring my server I didn’t know much about …well anything.

So I had to learn a few things about servers: Linux, Ubuntu and especially a few SSH commands. I actually wrote a step by step guide on how to set up a DigitalOcean droplet with ServerPilot and WordPress.  

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If you are on a PC and want to use this list of SSH commands you will need a terminal emulator such as PuTTy to connect to your server.

What Is PuTTy?

Simply put:

PuTTy is an open source SSH client used to connect to a remote server.

It’s basically a terminal emulator for Windows based operating systems.

A terminal emulator? What is that?

To understand this you must first understand how Linux servers work.

Say you have a server set up.

Now:

To connect to your server from your PC you can use PuTTy and type simple SSH commands to perform different basic actions such as creating folders, copying them and so on.

Linux already has a terminal.

So if you are running Linux as your desktop OS you don’t need a ssh client because you can use the already build in terminal.

But if you are on a Windows machine, that’ s where PuTTy comes in handy. It enables you to connect to your Linux server via SSH.

It sounds quite complicated but in reality it really isn’t.

How To Use PuTTy To Login To Your Server

As I previously mentioned PuTTy is used to connect to your Linux server from a Windows based machine.

What you will need:

• A Linux based server
• PuTTy installed on your computer
• The server’s IP address
• Username
• Password

Usually all the information you need is emailed to you by your cloud hosting provider automatically when you create a new server.

Once you have all the necessary information you can proceed connecting to your VPS using PuTTy.

Here’s how:

Download PuTTy and save it on your desktop. You don’t have to install it just click on it and it will run out of the box.

When you first open the program you will see something like this:

Out of all those options we are interested in well…just one and that’s the Host Name field(the IP address).

That’s where you will need to input your own server’s IP address in order to connect to it.

Just enter the IP address making sure the connection type SSH is checked and port is 22.

Hit open.

You will be presented with a black screen like this:

I remember first when I saw this I freaked out but instinctively I knew I had to login first.

Just enter your username and then your password.

To copy paste in PuTTy just right click and it will automatically paste.

Note: Ubuntu does NOT show passwords not even asterisks so don’t worry when you are typing your passwords and nothing shows on the screen.

And tadaaa!

You’ve successfully logged on to your server.

35 Useful SSH Commands

Now that you know how to use a SSH client we can take a look at a few useful ssh command lines and what they do.

I’ve compiled this list of SSH commands for anyone who struggles to managed their Linux servers.

Basic Navigation

 

1.) How to find out where you are

 pwd

Type pwd to see where on the server you are.

For example if I type pwd in PuTTy it returns /root

 

 

2.) Navigate to…

The cd command (also known change directory) is used to navigate into a specified directory on your server.

Such as:

cd /home (moves you into the home folder)

Example:

or

Say I want to navigate to the /etc directory. All I have to do is type cd /etc.

Example:

3.) The same directory

The cd . command does basically nothing. Using this command you will remain in the same directory you were.

4.) Move me up one directory

Remember the previous command? Well I included it for a reason!

Add another dot(stop) to cd . and you will end up with cd .. which will move you up one directory.

5.) Go to the previous directory 

The cd – command is used when you want to go to the previous directory.

6.) Go to Home folder

The cd ~ commands is used when you want to go to the home directory on your server.

7.) Go to root

The cd / command is used when you want to jump to root.

 

List Directories and Contents

 

8.) List files

usage: ls [option] [file]

Using the ls command in a folder will display all it’s content.

Such as: ls /home.

Will return all content of the folder /home.

9.) Show me all files in a directory

10.) Show contents with file size

If you wish to see a directory’s contents with file sizes just type ls -h

11.) How to list sub-directories recursively

The ls -r command is used to list sub-directories recursively.

12.) How to list files by file size

Use this ssh command to list files by size.

13.) List all folders in directory with details

This one is very useful when you want to see more details about certain files.

For example you may want to know file permissions of a directory.

Copying files

 

14.) Copying a file

To copy a file just use the cp ssh command.

Example:

cp filename.php /home/filename.php

15.) Copy a folder with all files

This one is used to copy the entire folder with all it’s contents.

16.) Copy and rename

cp filename.php /home/filename2.php

 

Moving files

 

17.) Moving a file

Example:

mv page.php /home/page.php

18.) Move and rename

19.) Move file up one directory

example: mv index.html/ ..

 

Creating files/folders

 

20.) Create a folder

example: mkdir new-folder

21.) Create a file

Use the touch command to create different files and file extensions (you can later edit them)

Example:

touch index.php

touch index.html

touch robots.txt

 

Compressing/Decompressing files

 

22.) Compressing folders

Example:

zip -r newfolder.zip newfolder

23.) Decompressing folders

Example:

unzip newfolder.zip

24.) Compressing folders using tar -czvf

Example:

tar -czvf wp-content.tar.gz wp-content

25.) Decompressing folders using tar -czvf

Example:

tar -xvf wp-content.tar.gz

 

Delete/Remove files

 

26.) Delete a file

To delete a file on your server just use the rm command.

Example:

rm index.php

27.) Delete all files from a directory

This command is used to delete all contents from a directory.

Example:

rm * foldername

28.) Delete a folder/directory

Use this command to remove directories.

Here’s how: rmdir foldername

 

File permissions

 

29.) Change file permissions

Example:

chmod 775 newfolder

30.) Change permissions of folder and all files inside

This command comes in handy when you want to change file permissions of an entire folder including it’s contents.

 

Miscellaneous

 

31.) Memory usage

Great command to monitor memory usage!

32.) What user am I?

If you don’t know what user your are just use whoami

33.) Show network connections

Displays current networks connections

34.) Monitor CPU, processes and memory

Type to to monitor CPU usage, processes and RAM.

35.) Display sever disk usage

If you want to see how much disk is used on your server just type df -h

What about you?

Are there any SSH commands you would like to share?

Did I forget to include a must-know SSH command?

Just let me know in the comments bellow and I will be more than happy to include it.