Top 20 Linux Commands Every Developer Must Know in 2025

Mastering the Linux command line is essential for developers working in modern environments. Whether you are managing servers, writing scripts, or debugging applications, these 20 commands form the foundation of effective Linux usage. Learn these well and you will navigate any Linux system with confidence.

1. grep – Search Text Patterns

# Search for pattern in files
grep "error" logfile.txt
grep -r "TODO" ./src/
grep -i "warning" --include="*.log" /var/log/

2. find – Locate Files

# Find files by name
find . -name "*.py"
find /home -type f -mtime -7
find . -size +100M

3. sed – Stream Editor

# Replace text in files
sed -i 's/old/new/g' file.txt
sed -n '10,20p' file.txt  # Print lines 10-20

4. awk – Text Processing

# Extract columns
awk '{print $1, $3}' file.txt
awk -F: '{print $1}' /etc/passwd

5. curl – Transfer Data

# API requests
curl https://api.example.com/data
curl -X POST -d '{"key":"value"}' -H "Content-Type: application/json" url

6. ps and top – Process Management

ps aux | grep python
top -u username
htop  # Interactive version

7. tar – Archive Files

tar -czvf archive.tar.gz directory/
tar -xzvf archive.tar.gz

8. chmod and chown – Permissions

chmod 755 script.sh
chmod +x script.sh
chown user:group file

9. rsync – Sync Files

rsync -avz source/ destination/
rsync -avz -e ssh local/ user@server:/remote/

10. ssh and scp – Remote Access

ssh user@server
scp file.txt user@server:/path/
ssh -L 8080:localhost:80 user@server  # Port forward

11-15. Essential Utilities

# 11. head/tail - View file parts
head -20 file.txt
tail -f /var/log/syslog

# 12. wc - Count lines, words
wc -l file.txt

# 13. sort and uniq
sort file.txt | uniq -c

# 14. xargs - Build commands
find . -name "*.tmp" | xargs rm

# 15. tee - Write to file and stdout
command | tee output.log

16-20. Advanced Commands

# 16. jq - JSON processing
curl api.example.com | jq '.data[]'

# 17. netstat/ss - Network connections
ss -tuln

# 18. df and du - Disk usage
df -h
du -sh */

# 19. lsof - List open files
lsof -i :8080

# 20. watch - Repeat commands
watch -n 1 "kubectl get pods"

Conclusion

These commands form the toolkit every developer needs for effective Linux work. Practice combining them with pipes and redirects to build powerful one-liners for your daily tasks.