Windows vs Linux commands cheat sheet

This is a cheat sheet that highlights most commonly used commands in Windows and Linux. There are key differences between Windows and Linux commands that you should be aware like:

Linux Commands:

ls - Lists the files and directories in the current directory
cd - Changes the current directory
cp - Copies one or more files to another location
rm - Deletes one or more files
mv - Moves one or more files to another location
mkdir - Creates a new directory
rmdir - Deletes an empty directory

Windows Commands:

dir - Lists the files and directories in the current directory
cd - Changes the current directory
copy - Copies one or more files to another location
del - Deletes one or more files
move - Moves one or more files to another location
mkdir - Creates a new directory
rmdir - Deletes an empty directory

An exhaustive list of all Linux and Windows with example can be found below:

Linux vs Windows cheat sheet

This is a great resource which can be used as a guide or a reference for begginners or advanced Linux and Windows users:

		Windows			Linux
Type	Description	Command	Example	Result	Command	Example	Result
General	Logoff	shutdown	shutdown -l		reboot	reboot
	Restart	shutdown	shutdown -r		logout	logout
	Shutdown	shutdown	shutdown -s		poweroff	poweroff
	Show user	echo %USERNAME%	echo %USERNAME%	user	echo	echo $USER	user
	Install application				apt-get yum	sudo apt-get install ${package} yum install ${package}
	Remove application				apt-get yum	apt-get remove ${package} yum remove ${package}
	Zip/unzip current folder	zip unzip	zip -r file.zip folder zip file.zip file unzip -l file.zip		unzip	sudo apt-get install zip unzip zip -r files.zip folder zip files.zip file1 file2 file3 unzip /path/to/file.zip
	Connect ssh	You need putty client	plink [email protected] -P 33		ssh	ssh [email protected] -p 33
	List mounted devices	net use	net use		findmnt	findmnt -lo source,target,fstype,label,options -t ext4
	Mount Remote	net use	net use \\Server\ShareFolder		mount	mount 192.168.1.1:/home /mnt/nfs/home
	Show network info	ipconfig	ipconfig /all	Windows IP Configuration Host Name DNS Suffix Search List Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection: Physical Address IPv4 Address Subnet Mask	ifconfig	ifconfig	eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr inet addr: Bcast: Mask: inet6 addr: eth1 Link encap:Local Hwaddr
	Execute script		test.cmd		./	./test.sh
	History	`F7`	`F7`	0: dir 1: cd .. 2: quser	history	history	1 ls 2 cd .. 3 pwd
	Go to previous command	`↑` or `F8`	`F8` or `↑`		`↑`	`↑`
	Search for commands				`CTRL`+`R`	`CTRL`+`R` and type the command
	Clears screen	cls	cls		clear	clear
	Closes shell prompt	exit			exit	exit
	Displays or sets date	date			date	date
	Displays command help	command /?	dir /?		info	man command
	Displays command help 2	help command	help dir		man	info command
	Autocompletion	`TAB`	`TAB`		`TAB`	`TAB`
	Uptime and logged user	quser	C:\Users\user\Desktop>quser	USERNAME;SESSIONNAME;ID; STATE;IDLE;TIME;LOGON;TIME >user;console;1;Active;none; 4/5/2016;8:48 AM	uptime	uptime	06:18:56 up 75 days, 17:31, 1 user, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
Files & Folders	Show current folder	cd	cd	C:\Users\user	pwd	pwd	/home/user
	Show current folder 2	chdir	chdir	C:\Users\user	echo	echo $PWD	/home/user
	Create file	copy NUL file1.txt			touch	touch file.txt
	Create file	echo. 2>file2.txt			cat	cat > myfile.txt
	Renames a file	ren	ren file1.txt file2.txt		mv	mv tfileold.txt filenew.txt
	Copies files	copy	copy file1.txt C:/foldercopy		cp	cp file.txt /home/foldercopy
	Moves files	move	move file1.txt C:/newfolder		mv	mv file.txt /home/newfolder
	Lists files	dir			ls	ls
	Collect file names	dir	dir "C:\" >FilesC.txt /b /o	file1 file2	find	find /home -name '*'	/home/file1 /home/file2
	Deletes files	del	del deleteme.txt		rm	rm deleteme.txt
	Deletes folder	rmdir	rmdir /S deleteme		rm -r	rm -r deleteme
	"Echoes" output to the screen	echo			echo	echo this message
	Delete file content	type break	type nul > file.txt break>file.txt		cat	> file.txt cat /dev/null > file.txt
	Compares the contents of files	fc	fc file1.txt file2.txt	Comparing files file1.txt and file2.txt *** file1.txt 1 * file2.txt 2 ***	diff	diff file1.txt file2.txt
	Finds a string of text in a file	find	find "test" 123.txt	---------- 123.TXT test	grep	grep test file1.txt	test line
	Displays help	command /?	dir /?		info	man command
	Displays help 2	help command	help dir		man	info command
	Creates a folder	mkdir	mkdir newfolder		mkdir	mkdir directory
	View file content	more	more file1.txt		less	less file1.txt
	View file content 2	type	type file1.txt		tail	tail -n 15 file1.txt
	Edit file	edit	edit file1.txt		vi nano gedit	vi file.txt nano file.txt gedit file.txt
	Changes directories with a specified path (absolute path)	cd	cd C:/		cd	cd /directory/directory
	Go one folder	cd	cd ..		cd	cd ..
	Search for a file	dir	dir /s test	07/31/2010 02:30 AM 301 test.png 1 File(s) 301 bytes	find	find / -name 'test'	/home/test.txt /home/file2.png
	Search for text files	dir	dir /b/s *.txt		find	find / -name '*.txt'
	Change files extension to lower	ren	ren .TXT .txt		mv	for i in $( ls *.TXT ); do echo $i; mv $i ${i%%.TXT}.txt; done
	Check files permissions				ls	ls -l /home/user	"-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 53 Mar 23 2015 /home/user"
	Change Permissions				chmod	chmod 755 file
	Changing ownership				chown	chown user file
	Changing group ownership				chgrp	chgrp group file
Other	Displays the date	date	date /T	Wed 07/05/2017	date	date '+%d %W %Y' date '+%D'	05 27 2017 05/27/2017
	Displays the time	time	time /T	1:27 PM	date	date '+%X'	12:18:22 PM
	Shows amount of RAM in use	wmic	wmic OS get FreePhysicalMemory /Value		free	free
	Show disk space	wmic	wmic logicaldisk get size,freespace,caption		dh	dh -f
	Show processes	tasklist	tasklist		top	top
Services	Stop execution	`CTRL`+`C`	`CTRL`+`C`		`CTRL`+`C`	`CTRL`+`C`
	Start service	net	net start [serviceName]		service	sudo service [serviceName] start
	Stop service	net	net stop [serviceName]		service	sudo service [serviceName] stop
	Start service 2	sc	sc start [serviceName]		systemctl	sudo systemctl start [serviceName]
	Stop service 2	sc	sc stop [serviceName]		systemctl	sudo systemctl stop [serviceName]
Variables	Display all variables	set	set	USERNAME=user USERPROFILE=C:\Users\user windir=C:\Windows	printenv	printenv	HOME=/home/user LOGNAME=user
	Display variable	echo	echo %USERNAME%	user	echo	echo $HOME	/home/user
	Display variable 2	set	set USERNAME	USERNAME=user	printenv	printenv \| grep	HOME=/home/user
	Set variable	set	set MYVAR=VALUE		export	export MYVAR=/path/to/var
	Set variable permanent	setx	setx MYVAR VALUE		change profile	vi ~/.bash_proflle export MYVAR=/path/to/var