List of Linux acronyms and their details

About a week ago, I discussed with my friend some Linux topics.

At the time, he told me that he didn’t find a proper resource to find information about Linux command acronyms.

I did a little research, but I didn’t find what I wanted about this topic.

So I decided to write an article about it.

It may help others who are looking for this information. We have added a very small number of acronyms at this time.

But I can say for sure, over the period of time, we will load a dozen of abbreviations. So I urge you to stay on this page.

Also, if you would like to contribute to this article I would request you to update the information about acronyms in the comment section.

We are very happy to update this on your behalf.

Linux Package Manager:

CommandsDescription
yumYellowdog Updater, Modified
dnfDandified yum
rpmRed Hat Package Manager
aptAdvanced Package Tool
dpkgDebian Package
YaSTYet another Setup Tool

File Transfer Commands:

CommandDescription
cpcopy
scpSecure Copy
rsyncRemote Sync
psshParallel Secure SHell
dshDistributed Shell or Dancer’s Shell
ftpfile transfer protocol
sftpsecure file transfer protocol
ddData Duplicator
mvmove

Linux Filesystem Commands:

CommandDescription
fdiskfixed disk or format disk
PartedPARTition and EDitor
cfdiskcurses fdisk
dfDisk free
duDisk usage
fsckfile system consistency check
fstabfile system table
UUIDUniversally Unique IDentifier of a partition
mkfsmake filesystem
RAIDRedundant Array of Independent Disks or Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks.
udevuserspace /dev
ASMAutomatic Storage Management
NFSNetwork file system
lsblkList block devices
fsFilesystem
SANstorage area network
scsiSmall computer standard interface
LVMlogical volume management

Linux Text Processing:

CommandDescription
vivisual
vimvi improved
awkAho, Weinberger, Kernighan (names of program authors)
emacsediting macros
fgrepfixed-string grep
egrepextended grep
grepglobal regular expression print
rmremove
umaskuser’s (file creation) mask
sedstream editor
wcword count
xargsextended arguments
nlnumber lines
catConcatenates

Linux File and Directory Management:

CommandDescription
mkdirmake directory
rmdirRemove directories, if they are empty
tartape archive
chownChange Owner
chmodChange Mode
chgrpChange Group
pwdPrint working directory
cd/chdirChange directory
inodeindex node
lslist
sbinsystem binaries or superuser binaries
setfaclset file access control lists
getfaclget file access control lists
chconchange context (SELinux)

Linux User Management:

CommandDescription
ididentity
umaskuser mask
susubstitute user or Switch User or superuser
sudosubstitute user or super user or switch user
GIDgroup identification
UIDuser identification
SUIDset user ID
SGIDset group ID
ulimituser’s limit
utmptemporary file with user information

Linux Process Management:

CommandDescription
PIDprocess identification number
PPIDParent Process identification number
psprocess status
fgforeground
bgbackground
lsoflist of open files
fuserfile user

Linux Network Commands:

CommandDescription
nmapNetwork Mapper
ssSocket Statistics
netstatNetwork Statistics
digDomain information groper
IPInternet protocol
TCPTransmission control protocol
sshsecure shell
telnetterminal over network
rloginremote login
rexecremote execution
NICNetwork interface card
NTPNetwork time protocol
telnetTerminal over network
DHCPDynamic host configuration protocol
LANLocal area network
MACMedia access control
MTUMaximum transmission unit
SNMPSimple network management protocol
VPNVirtual private network
WANWide area network
WAPWireless access point/Wireless application protocol

Linux Hardware Information:

CommandsDescription
lsusbList USB devices
lspciList all PCI devices
lsscsiList Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) devices
vmVirtual memory
dmidecodeDesktop Management Interface Decode
lshwList Hardware
hwinfoHardware Information
wwnWorld Wide Name
wwidWorld Wide Identifier
devdevices
unameUnix name

Type of Linux Shells and Information:

CommandDescription
shBourne shell
bashGNU Bourne-Again Shell
kshKorn shell
cshC shell
FishFriendly interactive shell
chshChange shell
rshremote shell

Linux General Command:

CommandMeaning
sarSystem Activity Report
bcbasic calculator
calcalendar
manmanual
nslookupname server lookup
digDomain Information Groper

Linux General Acronym:

AcronymMeaning
GRUBGRand Unified Bootloader
DNSDomain Name Service or Domain Name System
FQDNFully qualified domain names
DEDesktop Environment
GUIGraphical User Interface
CLICommand Line Interface
UIUser Interface
LILOLinux Loader
SELINUXSecurity Enhanced Linux
SSLSecure Sockets Layer
LAMPLinux, Apache, MySQL, PHP
LAMPPLinux, Apache, MySQL, PHP and PERL
httpHypertext Transfer Protocol
httpsHypertext Transfer Protocol Secure
PHPHypertext Pre-processor
initinitialization
BSDBerkeley Software Distribution (originally Berkeley Source Distribution)
CDROMcompact disc read-only memory
CUPScommon UNIX printing system
CPUcentral processing unit
RAMRandom access memory
daemondisk and execution monitor*
FOSSfree open source software
FSFFree Software Foundation
GCCGNU Compiler Collection (originally GNU C Compiler)
GIMPGNU Image Manipulation Program
GNOMEGNU Network Object Model Environment
KDEK Desktop Environment
HFShierarchical file system
I/Oinput/output
ACLAccess Control List
JVMJava virtual machine
LFSLinux From Scratch
MBRmaster boot record
PAMpluggable authentication modules
GPGGNU Privacy Guard
RDBMSrelational database management system
RHCERed Hat Certified Engineer
SMTPsimple mail transfer protocol
SMBserver message block
TTYteletype terminal
PTYpseudo-teletype
XX Window System
tmptemporary
xdmX display manager
#!Shebang

Wrapping Up

In this guide, we have included possible Linux acronyms and their meaning for your reference purpose and we hope it will be very useful.

If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to comment below.

About Magesh Maruthamuthu

Love to play with all Linux distribution

View all posts by Magesh Maruthamuthu

5 Comments on “List of Linux acronyms and their details”

  1. THANK YOU so much for this! I am new to Linux, and I am trying to teach myself more about using the command line. I can tell it is a faster, more powerful alternative to “point and click” with the mouse, for many tasks.

    Having all these commands in a well-organized fashion is a big help to me. Thank you. ( :

  2. DE stands for Desktop Environment,
    and I remember GUI stands for Graphical User Interface and UI stands for User Interface.

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