All Kali Linux Commands With Their Functions
Mati Aharoni, Devon Kearns and Raphaël Hertzog have developed a new version of linux specifically designed for digital forensic & penetration testing. The development of Kali Linux has been funded by Offensive Security Ltd.
Download This Cheat Sheet To Learn Basic Linux Commands
Kali Linux is a distribution derived from Debian. The distribution comes with 600 penetration-testing programs, including nmap (a port scanner), Wireshark (a packet analyzer), John the Ripper (a password cracker), Aircrack-ng (a software suite for penetration-testing wireless LANs), Burp suite and OWASP ZAP (both web application security scanners) all pre installed. The distribution can be run on a virtual machine or natively if installed on the computer’s hard drive. It can be booted using a CD or a live USB. It is a supported platform of the Metasploit Project’s Metasploit Framework, a tool for developing and executing security exploits.
Kali Linux Commands
Following is a list of all known Kali Linux Commands. We have sequenced it in an alphabetic order for the ease of search.
| Kali Linux commands | Function |
|
A |
|
| Â apropos | Â Search Help manual pages (man -k) |
| Â apt-get | Â Search for and install software packages (Debian) |
| Â aptitude | Â Search for and install software packages (Debian) |
| Â aspell | Â Spell Checker |
| Â awk | Â Find and Replace text, database sort/validate/index |
| B | |
| Â basename | Â Strip directory and suffix from filenames |
| Â bash | Â GNU Bourne-Again Shell |
| Â bc | Â Arbitrary precision calculator language |
| Â bg | Â Send to background |
| Â break | Â Exit from a loop |
| Â builtin | Â Run a shell builtin |
| Â bzip2 | Â Compress or decompress named files |
| C | |
| Â cal | Â Display a calendar |
| Â case | Â Conditionally perform a command |
| Â cat | Â Concatenate and print (display) the content of files |
| Â cd | Â Change Directory |
| Â cfdisk | Â Partition table manipulator for Linux |
| Â chgrp | Â Change group ownership |
| Â chmod | Â Change access permissions |
| Â chown | Â Change file owner and group |
| Â chroot | Â Run a command with a different root directory |
| Â chkconfig | Â System services (runlevel) |
| Â cksum | Â Print CRC checksum and byte counts |
| Â clear | Â Clear terminal screen |
| Â cmp | Â Compare two files |
| Â comm | Â Compare two sorted files line by line |
|  command |  Run a command – ignoring shell functions |
| Â continue | Â Resume the next iteration of a loop |
| Â cp | Â Copy one or more files to another location |
| Â cron | Â Daemon to execute scheduled commands |
| Â crontab | Â Schedule a command to run at a later time |
| Â csplit | Â Split a file into context-determined pieces |
| Â cut | Â Divide a file into several parts |
| D | |
| Â date | Â Display or change the date and time |
| Â dc | Â Desk Calculator |
| Â dd | Â Convert and copy a file, write disk headers, boot records |
| Â ddrescue | Â Data recovery tool |
| Â declare | Â Declare variables and give them attributes |
| Â df | Â Display free disk space |
| Â diff | Â Display the differences between two files |
| Â diff3 | Â Show differences among three files |
| Â dig | Â DNS lookup |
| Â dir | Â Briefly list directory contents |
|  dircolors |  Colour setup for `ls’ |
| Â dirname | Â Convert a full pathname to just a path |
| Â dirs | Â Display list of remembered directories |
| Â dmesg | Â Print kernel & driver messages |
| Â du | Â Estimate file space usage |
| E | |
| Â echo | Â Display message on screen |
| Â egrep | Â Search files for lines that match an extended expression |
| Â eject | Â Eject removable media |
| Â enable | Â Enable and disable builtin shell commands |
| Â env | Â Environment variables |
| Â ethtool | Â Ethernet card settings |
| Â eval | Â Evaluate several commands/arguments |
| Â exec | Â Execute a command |
| Â exit | Â Exit the shell |
| Â expect | Â Automate arbitrary applications accessed over a terminal |
| Â expand | Â Convert tabs to spaces |
| Â export | Â Set an environment variable |
| Â expr | Â Evaluate expressions |
| F | |
| Â false | Â Do nothing, unsuccessfully |
| Â fdformat | Â Low-level format a floppy disk |
| Â fdisk | Â Partition table manipulator for Linux |
| Â fg | Â Send job to foreground |
| Â fgrep | Â Search files for lines that match a fixed string |
| Â file | Â Determine file type |
| Â find | Â Search for files that meet a desired criteria |
| Â fmt | Â Reformat paragraph text |
| Â fold | Â Wrap text to fit a specified width |
| Â for | Â Expand words, and execute commands |
| Â format | Â Format disks or tapes |
| Â free | Â Display memory usage |
| Â fsck | Â File system consistency check and repair |
| Â ftp | Â File Transfer Protocol |
| Â function | Â Define Function Macros |
| Â fuser | Â Identify/kill the process that is accessing a file |
| G | |
| Â gawk | Â Find and Replace text within files |
| Â getopts | Â Parse positional parameters |
| Â grep | Â Search files for lines that match a given pattern |
| Â groupadd | Â Add a user security group |
| Â groupdel | Â Delete a group |
| Â groupmod | Â Modify a group |
| Â groups | Â Print group names a user is in |
| Â gzip | Â Compress or decompress named files |
| H | |
| Â hash | Â Remember the full pathname of a name argument |
| Â head | Â Output the first part of files |
| Â help | Â Display help for a built-in command |
| Â history | Â Command History |
| Â hostname | Â Print or set system name |
| I | |
| Â iconv | Â Convert the character set of a file |
|  id |  Print user and group id’s |
| Â if | Â Conditionally perform a command |
| Â ifconfig | Â Configure a network interface |
| Â ifdown | Â Stop a network interface |
| Â ifup | Â Start a network interface up |
| Â import | Â Capture an X server screen and save the image to file |
| Â install | Â Copy files and set attributes |
| J | |
| Â jobs | Â List active jobs |
| Â join | Â Join lines on a common field |
| K | |
| Â kill | Â Stop a process from running |
| Â killall | Â Kill processes by name |
| L | |
| Â less | Â Display output one screen at a time |
| Â let | Â Perform arithmetic on shell variables |
| Â ln | Â Create a symbolic link to a file |
| Â local | Â Create variables |
| locate | Â Find files |
| Â logname | Â Print current login name |
| Â logout | Â Exit a login shell |
| Â look | Â Display lines beginning with a given string |
| Â lpc | Â Line printer control program |
| Â lpr | Â Off line print |
| Â lprint | Â Print a file |
| Â lprintd | Â Abort a print job |
| Â lprintq | Â List the print queue |
| Â lprm | Â Remove jobs from the print queue |
| Â ls | Â List information about files |
| Â lsof | Â List open files |
| M | |
| Â make | Â Recompile a group of programs |
| Â man | Â Help manual |
| Â mkdir | Â Create new folders |
| Â mkfifo | Â Make FIFOs (named pipes) |
| Â mkisofs | Â Create an hybrid ISO9660/JOLIET/HFS filesystem |
| Â mknod | Â Make block or character special files |
| Â more | Â Display output one screen at a time |
| Â mount | Â Mount a file system |
| Â mtools | Â Manipulate MS-DOS files |
| Â mtr | Â Network diagnostics (traceroute/ping) |
| Â mv | Â Move or rename files or directories |
| Â mmv | Â Mass Move and rename files |
| N | |
| Â netstat | Â Networking information |
| Â nice | Â Set the priority of a command or job |
| Â nl | Â Number lines and write files |
| Â nohup | Â Run a command immune to hangups |
| Â notify-send | Â Send desktop notifications |
| Â nslookup | Â Query Internet name servers interactively |
| O | |
| Â open | Â Open a file in its default application |
| Â op | Â Operator access |
| P | |
| Â passwd | Â Modify a user password |
| Â paste | Â Merge lines of files |
| Â pathchk | Â Check file name portability |
| Â ping | Â Test a network connection |
| Â pkill | Â Stop processes from running |
| Â popd | Â Restore the previous value of the current directory |
| Â pr | Â Prepare files for printing |
| Â printcap | Â Printer capability database |
| Â printenv | Â Print environment variables |
| Â printf | Â Format and print data |
| Â ps | Â Process status |
| Â pushd | Â Save and then change the current directory |
| Â pwd | Â Print Working Directory |
| Q | |
| Â quota | Â Display disk usage and limits |
| Â quotacheck | Â Scan a file system for disk usage |
| Â quotactl | Â Set disk quotas |
| R | |
| Â ram | Â ram disk device |
| Â rcp | Â Copy files between two machines |
| Â read | Â Read a line from standard input |
| Â readarray | Â Read from stdin into an array variable |
| Â readonly | Â Mark variables/functions as readonly |
| Â reboot | Â Reboot the system |
| Â rename | Â Rename files |
| Â renice | Â Alter priority of running processes |
| Â remsync | Â Synchronize remote files via email |
| Â return | Â Exit a shell function |
| Â rev | Â Reverse lines of a file |
| Â rm | Â Remove files |
| Â rmdir | Â Remove folders |
| Â rsync | Â Remote file copy (Synchronize file trees) |
| S | |
| Â screen | Â Multiplex terminal, run remote shells via ssh |
| Â scp | Â Secure copy (remote file copy) |
| Â sdiff | Â Merge two files interactively |
| Â sed | Â Stream Editor |
| Â select | Â Accept keyboard input |
| Â seq | Â Print numeric sequences |
| Â set | Â Manipulate shell variables and functions |
| Â sftp | Â Secure File Transfer Program |
| Â shift | Â Shift positional parameters |
| Â shopt | Â Shell Options |
| Â shutdown | Â Shutdown or restart linux |
| Â sleep | Â Delay for a specified time |
| Â slocate | Â Find files |
| Â sort | Â Sort text files |
| Â source | Â Run commands from a file |
| Â split | Â Split a file into fixed-size pieces |
| Â ssh | Â Secure Shell client (remote login program) |
| Â strace | Â Trace system calls and signals |
| Â su | Â Substitute user identity |
| Â sudo | Â Execute a command as another user |
| Â sum | Â Print a checksum for a file |
| Â suspend | Â Suspend execution of this shell |
| Â symlink | Â Make a new name for a file |
| Â sync | Â Synchronize data on disk with memory |
| T | |
| Â tail | Â Output the last part of file |
| Â tar | Â Tape Archiver |
| Â tee | Â Redirect output to multiple files |
| Â test | Â Evaluate a conditional expression |
| Â time | Â Measure Program running time |
| Â times | Â User and system times |
| Â touch | Â Change file timestamps |
| Â top | Â List processes running on the system |
| Â traceroute | Â Trace Route to Host |
| Â trap | Â Run a command when a signal is set(bourne) |
| Â tr | Â Translate, squeeze, and/or delete characters |
| Â true | Â Do nothing, successfully |
| Â tsort | Â Topological sort |
| Â tty | Â Print filename of terminal on stdin |
| Â type | Â Describe a command |
| U | |
| Â ulimit | Â Limit user resources |
| Â umask | Â Users file creation mask |
| Â umount | Â Unmount a device |
| Â unalias | Â Remove an alias |
| Â uname | Â Print system information |
| Â unexpand | Â Convert spaces to tabs |
| Â uniq | Â Uniquify files |
| Â units | Â Convert units from one scale to another |
| Â unset | Â Remove variable or function names |
| Â unshar | Â Unpack shell archive scripts |
| Â until | Â Execute commands (until error) |
| Â uptime | Â Show uptime |
| Â useradd | Â Create new user account |
| Â usermod | Â Modify user account |
| Â users | Â List users currently logged in |
| Â uuencode | Â Encode a binary file |
| Â uudecode | Â Decode a file created by uuencode |
| V | |
|  v |  Verbosely list directory contents (`ls -l -b’) |
|  vdir |  Verbosely list directory contents (`ls -l -b’) |
| Â vi | Â Text Editor |
| Â vmstat | Â Report virtual memory statistics |
| W | |
| Â wait | Â Wait for a process to complete |
| Â watch | Â Execute/display a program periodically |
| Â wc | Â Print byte, word, and line counts |
|  whereis |  Search the user’s $path, man pages and source files for a program |
|  which |  Search the user’s $path for a program file |
| Â while | Â Execute commands |
| Â who | Â Print all usernames currently logged in |
|  whoami |  Print the current user id and name (`id -un’) |
| Â wget | Â Retrieve web pages or files via HTTP, HTTPS or FTP |
| Â write | Â Send a message to another user |
| X | |
| Â xargs | Â Execute utility, passing constructed argument lists |
|  xdg-open |  Open a file or URL in the user’s preferred application |
| Y | |
| Â yes | Â Print a string until interrupted |
Do mention in the comments below if we have missed any Kali Linux Commands that you may know
Also read :Â 10 most lethal Linux commands you should never execute
