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GNU Core Utilities

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The GNU Core Utilities or coreutils is a collection of GNU software that implements many standard, Unix-based shell commands. The utilities generally provide POSIX compliant interface when the POSIXLY_CORRECT environment variable is set, but otherwise offers a superset to the standard interface. For example, the utilities support long options and options after parameters. This environment variable enables a different functionality in BSD.

Similar collections are available in the FOSS ecosystem, with a slightly different scope and focus (less functionality), or license. For example, BusyBox which is licensed under GPL-2.0-only, and Toybox which is licensed under 0BSD.

Contents

• Commands

• File utilities

• Text utilities

• Shell utilities

• History

• See also

• References

• External links

Commands

The commands implemented by coreutils are listed below. Throughout this article and customary for Unix-based systems, the term file refers to all file system items including regular files and special files such as directories.

File utilities

• chcon – Changes file security context (SELinux)

• chgrp – Changes file group ownership

• chown – Changes file user ownership

• chmod – Changes file permissions

• cp – Copies files

• dd – Copies and converts file data

• df – Reports file system free space

• dir – Like ls -C -b; by default lists files in columns, sorted vertically

• dircolors – Configures colors used for ls output

• install – Copies files and sets file attributes

• ln – Creates a link to a file

• ls – Lists files

• mkdir – Creates directories

• mkfifo – Creates named pipes (FIFOs)

• mknod – Creates block or character special files

• mktemp – Creates temporary regular files or directories

• mv – Moves and renames files

• realpath – Reports the absolute or relative path of a file

• rm – Deletes files

• rmdir – Deletes empty directories

• shred – Overwrites a file to hide its contents and optionally deletes it

• sync – Flushes file system buffers

• touch – Changes file timestamps; creating files if they do not exist

• truncate – Sets the size of a file via truncation or extension

• vdir – Like ls -l -b; by default lists files in long format

Text utilities

• b2sum – Computes and checks BLAKE2b message digest

• base32 – Encodes or decodes base32

• base64 – Encodes or decodes base64

• basenc – Encodes or decodes various encodings including hexadecimal, base32, base64, and Z85

• cat – Concatenates files

• cksum – Report or compute the checksum of files

• comm – Compares two sorted files line by line

• csplit – Splits a file into sections determined by context lines

• cut – Removes sections from each line of files

• expand – Converts tabs to spaces

• fmt – Formats text

• fold – Wraps each input line to fit in specified width

• head – Outputs the first part of files

• join – Joins lines of two files on a common field

• md5sum – Computes and checks MD5 message digest

• nl – Numbers lines of files

• numfmt – Formats numbers

• od – Dumps files in octal and other formats

• paste – Merges lines of files

• ptx – Produces a permuted index of file contents

• pr – Paginates or columnates files

• sha1sum, sha224sum, sha256sum, sha384sum, sha512sum – Computes and checks SHA-1/SHA-2 message digests

• shuf – Generates random permutations

• sort – Sorts lines of text files

• split – Splits a file into pieces

• sum – Checksums and counts the blocks in a file

• tac – Concatenates files in reverse order; line by line

• tail – Outputs the last part of files

• tr – Translates or deletes characters

• tsort – Performs a topological sort

• unexpand – Converts spaces to tabs

• uniq – Removes duplicate lines from a sorted file

• wc – Reports the number of bytes, words, and lines in files

Shell utilities

• arch – Reports machine hardware name; same as uname -m

• basename – Removes the path prefix from a given pathname

• chroot – Changes the root directory

• date – Reports or sets the system date and time

• dirname – Strips non-directory suffix from file name

• du – Shows disk usage on file systems

• echo – Outputs text

• env – Reports and modifies environment variables

• expr – Evaluates expressions

• factor – Factors numbers

• false – Does nothing but exit with unsuccessful status

• groups – Reports the groups of which the user is a member

• hostid – Reports the numeric identifier for the current host

• id – Reports the real or effective UID and GID

• link – Creates a link to a file

• logname – Reports the user's login name

• nice – Modifies scheduling priority

• nohup – Allows a command to continue running after logging out

• nproc – Queries the number of (active) processors

• pathchk – Checks whether file names are valid or portable

• pinky – A lightweight version of finger

• printenv – Reports environment variables

• printf – Formats text

• pwd – Reports the current working directory

• readlink – Reports the value of a symbolic link

• runcon – Run command with specified security context

• seq – Reports a sequence of numbers

• sleep – Blocks (delays, waits) for a specified amount of time

• stat – Reports information about an inode

• stdbuf – Runs a command with custom standard streams configuration

• stty – Changes and reports terminal line settings

• tee – Sends output to multiple files

• test – Evaluates an expression

• timeout – Runs a command with a time limit

• true – Does nothing but exit with success status

• tty – Reports the terminal name

• uname – Reports system information

• unlink – Removes files via unlink() function

• uptime – Reports how long the system has been running

• users – Reports the user names of users currently logged into the current host

• who – Reports logged-in users

• whoami – Reports the effective userid

• yes – Outputs a string repeatedly

• [ – Synonym for test that enables expressions like [ expression ]

History

In 1990, David MacKenzie announced GNU fileutils.cite-ref-3[3]

In 1991, MacKenzie announced GNU shellutils and GNU textutils.cite-ref-4[4]cite-ref-5[5] Moreover, Jim Meyering became the maintainer of the packages (known now as coreutils) and has remained so since.cite-ref-6[6]

In September 2002, the GNU coreutils were created by merging the earlier packages textutils, shellutils, and fileutils, along with some other miscellaneous utilities.cite-ref-merge-7-0[7]

In July 2007, the license of the GNU coreutils was updated from GPL-2.0-or-later to GPL-3.0-or-later.cite-ref-8[8]