GNU Core Utilities

GNU Core Utilities

Developer(s)	GNU Project
Stable release	8.14  (October 12, 2011; 39 days ago (2011-10-12))[1] [+/−]
Written in	C
Operating system	Unix-like
Type	Miscellaneous Utilities
License	GNU GPL
Website	http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/

The GNU Core Utilities or coreutils is a package of GNU software containing many of the basic tools, such as cat, ls, and rm, needed for Unix-like operating systems. It is a combination of a number of earlier packages, including textutils, shellutils, and fileutils, along with some other miscellaneous utilities.

GNU coreutils capabilities

The GNU core utilities support long options as parameters to the commands, as well as (unless the POSIXLY_CORRECT environment variable is set) the relaxed convention allowing options even after the regular arguments. Note that this environment variable enables a different functionality in BSD.

Programs included in coreutils

The list spans the programs from coreutils 7.0.

File Utilities
chcon	Change file security context (SELinux)
chgrp	Changes file group ownership
chown	Changes file ownership
chmod	Changes the permissions of a file or directory
cp	Copies a file or directory
dd	Copies and converts a file
df	Shows disk free space on filesystems
dir	Is exactly like "ls -C -b". (Files are by default listed in columns and sorted vertically.)
dircolors	Setup color for ls
install	Copies files and set attributes
ln	Creates a link to a file
ls	Lists the files in a directory
mkdir	Creates a directory
mkfifo	Makes named pipes (FIFOs)
mknod	Makes block or character special files
mktemp	Create a temporary file or directory
mv	Moves files or rename files
rm	Removes (deletes) files
rmdir	Removes empty directories
shred	Overwrites a file to hide its contents, and optionally delete it
sync	Flushes file system buffers
touch	Changes file timestamps
truncate	Shrink or extend the size of a file to the specifed size
vdir	Is exactly like "ls -l -b". (Files are by default listed in long format.)
Text utilities
base64	base64 encode/decode data and print to standard output
cat	Concatenates and prints files on the standard output
cksum	Checksums and count the bytes in a file
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	Simple optimal text formatter
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
od	Dumps files in octal and other formats
paste	Merges lines of files
ptx	Produces a permuted index of file contents
pr	Converts text files for printing
sha1sum, sha224sum, sha256sum, sha384sum, sha512sum	Computes and checks SHA-1, SHA-224/256/384/512 message digest
shuf	generate random permutations
sort	sort lines of text files
split	split a file into pieces
sum	Checksums and counts the blocks in a file
tac	Concatenates and prints files in reverse
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	Prints the number of bytes, words, and lines in files
Shell utilities
arch	print machine hardware name (same as uname -m)
basename	Removes the path prefix from a given pathname
chroot	Changes the root directory
date	Prints/sets the system date and time
dirname	Strips non-directory suffix from file name
du	Shows disk usage on file systems
echo	Displays a specified line of text
env	Displays and modifies environment variables
expr	Evaluates expressions
factor	Factors numbers
false	Does nothing, but exits unsuccessfully
groups	Prints the groups of which the user is a member
hostid	Prints the numeric identifier for the current host
id	Prints real/effective UID and GID
link	Creates a link to a file
logname	Print the user's login name
nice	Modifies scheduling priority
nohup	Allows a command to continue running after logging out
pathchk	Checks whether file names are valid or portable
pinky	A lightweight version of finger
printenv	Prints environment variables
printf	Formats and prints data
pwd	Prints the current working directory
readlink	Displays value of a symbolic link
runcon	Run command with specified security context
seq	Prints a sequence of numbers
sleep	Delays for a specified amount of time
stat	Returns useful data about an inode
stty	Changes and prints terminal line settings
su	Run a shell or command with substitute user and group IDs
tee	Sends output to multiple files
test	Evaluates an expression
timeout	Run a command with a time limit
true	Does nothing, but exits successfully
tty	Prints terminal name
uname	Prints system information
unlink	Removes the specified file using the unlink function
uptime	Tell how long the system has been running
users	Prints the user names of users currently logged in to the current host
who	Prints a list of all users currently logged in.
whoami	Prints the effective userid
yes	Prints a string repeatedly
Other Utilities
[	A synonym for test, this program permits expressions like [ expression ].
System Utilities

See also

Free software portal

• List of Unix programs
• BusyBox, a coreutils-like package for embedded Linux
• GNU Binary Utilities

References

1. ^ Meyering, Jim (2011-10-12). "[coreutils-announce] coreutils-8.14 released [stable]". coreutils-announce mailing list. http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/coreutils-announce/2011-10/msg00000.html. Retrieved 2011-10-31. 

External links

• GNU coreutils homepage
• The coreutils FAQ
• The coreutils manual
• Top Ten Cool Coreutils Commands
• Alternative set of utilities with unicode support
• GNU cp mod that adds a progress bar