Where can I find a list of UNIX / LINUX commands

This page was created due to a query submitted to Ask.com on 2006-Sep-27.
Ask.com refered the user to some old documention I wrote; but file was 404'd because I renamed the file extension. While the commands are still accurate, it doesnt list ALL commands.

So here's some information on how to get an almost full listing. I say "almost full" because each UNIX-style operating system throws their executable binaries in different locations. Mind you, there are A LOT of executables and the what you see below will not match what is on your computer.

Open up your favorite terminal window:

Using 'man -k <keyword>'

If there's something specific that you are searching for, you can use man -k <keyword> to locate a command.

			man -k files

			Intro           Intro (7)       - introduction to special files
			a.out           a.out (4)       - Executable and Linking Format (ELF) files
			cat             cat (1)         - concatenate and display files
			cmp             cmp (1)         - compare two files
			compress        compress (1)    - compress, uncompress files or display expanded files
			cp              cp (1)          - copy files
			df              df (1m)         - displays number of free disk blocks and files
			diff            diff (1)        - compare two files
			fd              fd (4)          - file descriptor files
			find            find (1)        - find files
			gunzip          gzip (1)        - compress or expand files
			gzip            gzip (1)        - compress or expand files
			head            head (1)        - display first few lines of files
			ln              ln (1)          - make hard or symbolic links to files
			ln              ln (1b)         - make hard or symbolic links to files
			mv              mv (1)          - move files
			project         project (3ext)  - access project files from Perl
			sdiff           sdiff (1)       - print differences between two files side-by-side
			sendfile        sendfile (3ext) - send files over sockets or copy files to files
			sort            sort (1)        - sort, merge, or sequence check text files
			sticky          sticky (5)      - mark files for special treatment
			tar             tar (1)         - create tape archives and add or extract files
			uncompress      compress (1)    - compress, uncompress files or display expanded files
			unzip           unzip (1)       - list, test and extract compressed files in a ZIP archive 
			zip             zip (1)         - package and compress (archive) files

The valid commands you want to pay attention to (listed in the LEFT column), are the one whose MIDDLE column contains a (1

ie: cat, cmp, compress, cp , df, diff, find, gunzip, gzip, head, ln, mv, sdiff, sort, tar, compress, unzip and zip.

The other commands are for programming lanuages (PERL, C, etc) and the like. They may not be executable.

Additional information for a particular command can be found by forgoing the '-k' flag: man kill

Using 'ls' to list files
- Most binaries reside underneath /bin, /sbin, /usr/bin, /usr/sbin, /usr/local/bin, /usr/local/sbin
  You can use ls to gather a listing of all files underneath these directories:
```
				ls /bin /sbin /usr/bin /usr/sbin /usr/local/bin /usr/local/sbin | less
			
```
  I highly recommand that you pipe ( | ) the output to less so that the commands dont fly pass you.
  Additionally you can save the list to a file for later use:
```
				ls /bin /sbin /usr/bin /usr/sbin /usr/local/bin /usr/local/sbin > ~/commands.txt

				less ~/commands.txt
			
```
  The ~/ represents your HOME directory. It's a directory specific to each user.

Using <character(s)>Control-D

Recent versions of bash support the Control-D trick, as does all(?) versions of tcsh. Assuming your default login shell is one or other you can enter a few characters follow by Control-D. A generated list of executables will appear:

		m

		m4               make_unicodemap  mc68010          metadevadm       mib2mof          mknod            mountall
		m64config        makebdf          mc68020          metahs           mipagentconfig   mkpasswd         mp
		m68k             makedbm          mc68030          metaimport       mipagentstat     mkstr            mp_1251
		mach             makedepend       mc68040          metainit         mixerctl         modinfo          mpss.so.1
		mail             makedev          mconnect         metaoffline      mkdevalloc       modload          mpstat
		mail.local       makeinfo         mcs              metaonline       mkdevmaps        modunload        msgfmt
		mailcompat       makekey          md5              metaparam        mkdir            mofcomp          msgid
		mailp            makemap          md5sum           metarecover      mkdirhier        mofreg           mt
		mailq            makemap.8.12.11  mdb              metarename       mkfifo           mogrify          multixterm
		mailstat         makemap.8.13.3   mdmonitord       metareplace      mkfile           montage          mv
		mailstats        makepsres        medstat          metaroot         mkfontdir        montbl           mvdir
		mailx            makeuuid         mesg             metaset          mkfs             more             
		make             makewhatis       metaclear        metastat         mkisofs          more.help        
		make_printerdef  man              metadb           metasync         mkmsgs           motd             
		make_smbcodepage mc68000          metadetach       metattach        mknetid          mount

		log

		log        logadm     logger     login      logins     logname    logout     logresolve

NOTES: Control-D is an invisible character. It should not display itself.

Becareful not to use Control-D by itself. On some computers, this will kill your terminal window and/or log you off of the computer.

And last but not least, find. This should be able to list ALL commands (provided that you are a super-user [read: root].)
```
			find / -type f -perm -1
		
```
This will search the ENTIRE computer for executable files. You should redirect the output to either a pipe or to a file.
```
			find / -type f -perm -1 | less

			find / -type f -perm -1 > ~/commands2.txt
		
```