List of Unix programs

Table of contents

1 Common utilities

2 Desktops/Graphical User Interfaces

3 Multimedia

10 Filesystem Utilities

11 Desktop Publishing

12 Conversion

Common utilities

admin[?]
alias - Alias one command to another, e.g. long commands to shorter ones
anacron[?] - Periodic command scheduler
anubis - Outgoing mail processor
apt - Advanced front-end for dpkg
ar - Maintain, modify, and extract from, archives
asa
at - Single-time command scheduler
awk - A pattern scanning and processing language
basename - Returns the final component of a path
bash - Bourne Again SHell, the most common shell on *nix systems
batch[?]
bc - Calculator program
bg[?]
break[?] - End a loop
bzip2 - Block-sorting file compressor
c99[?]
cal - Displays a calender
cat - Concatenate files to standard output
cd - Change the current working directory
cflow[?]
chgrp[?] - Change the group of a file or directory
chmod - Change the permissions of a file or directory
chown[?] - Change the owner of a file or directory
cksum[?] - Print the CRC checksum and bytecount of a file
cmp[?] - Compare two files byte for byte
colon
comm - Sort two files and compare them line for line
command
compress
continue[?] - Skip the current iteration of a loop
cp[?] - Copy a file or directory to another location
crontab - Crontab file editor
csplit[?] - Split a file into sections determined by context lines
ctags[?]
cut[?] - Remove sections from each line of a file or standard input
cxref[?]
daemonic[?] - Interface to daemon init scripts
date - Print or set the system date and/or time
dd[?] - Copy and convert a file
debconf[?] - Package configuration management system
delta
df[?] - Report filesystem disk space
diff - Compare two files line by line
dirname[?] - Strip non-directory suffixes from a path
dot[?]
dpkg - The Debian package manager
du[?] - Estimate space used on a filesystem
echo - Print to standard output
ed - Traditional Unix text editor
env[?] - Run a program with modified environment variables
eval[?]
ex - Text editor, now often a symbolic link to vim
exec[?]
exit[?] - Cause the currently running shell script to exit
expand[?]
export[?] - Set environment variables for use for the entire duration of the session, unless changed
expr[?]
false - Do nothing and fail
fc[?]
fg[?]
file - Determine the type of a file
find[?] - Search for files through a directory hierarchy
fink - The Fink package manager
fold[?] - Wrap each input line to fit within the given width
fort77[?] - Fortran 77 compiler
fuser[?] - Identify processes by files or sockets
galeon - Light-weight GNOME web browser
gencat[?]
get[?]
getconf[?]
getopts[?]
gettext[?] - Message localization support
grep - Print lines matching a pattern
gzip - The gzip file compressor
hash
head - Output the first parts of a file
iconv[?] - Convert the encoding of the specified files
id - Print real/effective UIDs/GIDs
ipcrm[?] - Remove a message queue, semaphore set or shared memory id
ipcs[?] - Provide information on IPC facilities
jobs[?]
join[?] - Join lines of two files on a common field
kill[?] - Terminate a process
lex - Lexical scanner generator
libiconv[?] - Character set conversion library
link
links - Console based web browser
ln[?] - Link one file/directory to another
locale[?] - Get locale specific information
localedef[?] - Compile locale definitions
logger[?] - Make entries in the system log
logname[?] - Print user's login name
lp[?]
ls - List directory conents
lynx - Console based web browser
m4 - Macro language
mailx[?] - Email sending utility
make - Used to determine which parts of a package need recompiling
man - Manual browser
maxima - Symbol manipulation program
mesg[?] - Control write access to your terminal
mkdir - Make a directory
mkfifo[?] - Make a named pipe
more - Pager
mozilla - Graphical cross platform web browser
mv[?] - Move/rename a file or directory
ncurses - Full-screen ascii drawing library
newgrp[?] - Log in to a new group
nice - Alter priorities for processes
nl[?] - Number the lines of a file
nm - List symbols from object files
nohup[?] - Run a command with immunity to hangups outputting to non-tty
od - Dump files in various formats, e.g. octal
openssl[?] - Secure Sockets Layer and general crypto library
passwd[?] - User and group entries for daemons
paste - Merge lines of files
patch - Change files based on a patch file
pathchk[?] - Check the validity/portability of filenames
pax
pinepgp[?] - Filters which enables pine to use signed/encrypted email
pr[?] - Convert text files for printing
printf[?] - Format and print data
prs[?]
ps[?] - Report process status
pwd - Print the current working directory
qalter[?]
qdel[?]
qhold[?]
qmove[?]
qmsg[?]
qrerun[?]
qrls[?]
qselect[?]
qsig[?]
qstat[?]
qsub[?]
read - Read from a channel
readonly[?]
renice[?] - Alter the priorities of an already running process
return[?] - Return a value
rm - Delete a file or directory
rmdel[?]
rmdir[?] - Delete a directory
sact[?]
samba - SMB and CIFS client and server for UNIX
sccs[?]
sed - Stream editor
set - Read and write variables
sh - Standard Unix shell, usually a symbolic link to bash
sha-pm[?] - Perl interface to the NIST Secure Hash Algorithm
shift[?]
sleep - Delay for specified time
sort - Sort lines of text files
split - Split a file into pieces
strings[?] - Print strings of printable characters found in a file
strip[?] - Discard symbols from object files
stty[?] - Change and print terminal line settings
su[?] - Start a new process (defaults to shell) as a different user (defaults to root)
tabs[?]
tail - Output the tail end of files
talk - Talk to another logged-in user
tar - GNU tar - tape archiver
tee[?] - Read from standard input, write to standard output and files
test - Test an expression
time - Time a command
times[?]
touch - Create a new file or update its modification time
tput[?] - Initialize a terminal/query terminfo database
tr[?] - Translate/delete characters
trap
true - Excel at doing nothing
tsort[?] - Perform a topilogical sort
tty[?] - Print filename of terminal connected to standard input
type
ulimit[?] - Get and set user limits
umask[?] - Set file creation mask
unalias[?] - Remove an alias
uname - Print assorted system statistics
uncompress[?]
unexpand[?]
unget[?]
uniq
unlink[?]
unset[?]
uucp[?]
uudecode[?]
uuencode[?]
uustat[?]
uux[?]
uw-imapd-ssl[?] - Remote mail folder access server
val[?]
vi - Text editor
vtun[?] - Virtual Tunnels over TCP/IP
w3m - Pager/text-based WWW browser
wait[?]
wc[?] - Word/line/byte count
wget[?] - Automatic web site retreiver
what[?]
who
write[?]
xargs[?]
yacc
yafc[?] - Enhanced ftp client, supporting ssh2 (sftp)
zcat[?]
zssh[?] - Program for transferring files using SSH

Desktops/Graphical User Interfaces

Blackbox, and its variants (including Fluxbox and Waimea)
CDE, Sun's GUI for Solaris
GNOME
KDE, the K Desktop Environment
Mac OS X, Apple's NeXT-based GUI interface for a BSD kernel
X Window System