Termux Command List - Learn Termux
So you installed Termux on your phone thinking it would be cool to have Linux on Android and now you’re staring at this black screen with a cursor blinking at you. Yeah that’s normal. Termux is basically Linux terminal on your phone which sounds awesome until you realize you have no idea what commands actually do anything useful.
Most Termux tutorials either assume you already know Linux or they show you three basic commands and call it a day. Neither helps when you want to actually do stuff with this thing.
What Even Is Termux
Termux is a terminal app that gives you Linux environment on Android without rooting your phone. You can install programming languages, run servers, use command line tools, basically turn your phone into a tiny Linux computer. Pretty cool except learning command line from scratch on a phone keyboard is kind of torture.
The good news is you don’t need to memorize hundreds of commands to do useful stuff. There are maybe 20-30 commands that handle 90% of what normal people want to do.
Most Common Commands
These are the commands you’ll probably use every single day. Learn these first and you can do most basic stuff.
ls
Lists files and folders in current directory. Your most used command.
cd foldername
Changes to that folder. Use cd .. to go back up.
pwd
Shows where you are right now. Useful when you get lost.
mkdir newfolder
Creates new folder. Basic but you’ll use it constantly.
nano filename.txt
Opens file in text editor. Easiest editor for beginners.
pkg install python
Installs software. Replace python with whatever you want.
pkg update
Updates package list. Run this before installing new stuff.
python script.py
Runs Python script. Works for any programming language.
rm filename
Deletes file. Be careful, no trash can to recover from.
cp oldfile newfile
Copies file. Good for making backups before editing.
Navigation Commands
Moving around and managing files. You’ll use these constantly.
pwd
Shows current directory path.
ls
Lists files and folders in current directory.
ls -l
Shows detailed file info including sizes and dates.
ls -la
Shows all files including hidden ones that start with dots.
ls -lh
Shows file sizes in readable format like KB, MB, GB.
cd foldername
Changes to that folder.
cd ..
Goes up one directory level.
cd ~
Goes to your home directory.
cd /
Goes to root directory of entire system.
cd /sdcard
Goes to phone storage where your photos and downloads live.
cd /sdcard/Download
Goes directly to Downloads folder.
mkdir newfolder
Creates new folder in current directory.
mkdir -p path/to/folder
Creates nested folders even if parent folders don’t exist.
rmdir emptyfolder
Removes empty folder only.
rm filename
Deletes single file permanently.
rm -r foldername
Deletes folder and everything inside it.
rm -rf foldername
Force deletes folder without asking confirmation.
cp file1 file2
Copies file1 to new file called file2.
cp -r folder1 folder2
Copies entire folder and all contents.
mv oldname newname
Renames file or moves it to new location.
mv file.txt /sdcard/
Moves file to phone storage.
Package Management
Installing and managing software in Termux. Always update before installing new stuff.
pkg update
Updates the list of available packages.
pkg upgrade
Updates all installed packages to newest versions.
pkg install python
Installs Python programming language.
pkg install git
Installs Git version control system.
pkg install nano
Installs nano text editor.
pkg install curl
Installs curl for downloading files.
pkg install wget
Installs wget for downloading files.
pkg install nodejs
Installs Node.js JavaScript runtime.
pkg install gcc
Installs GCC compiler for C programs.
pkg install htop
Installs better version of top command.
pkg install tree
Installs tree command for showing folder structure.
pkg search editor
Searches for packages containing “editor”.
pkg list-installed
Shows all currently installed packages.
pkg show python
Shows detailed information about python package.
pkg uninstall python
Removes python package completely.
apt update
Same as pkg update, alternative command.
apt install python
Same as pkg install python.
apt upgrade
Same as pkg upgrade.
File Viewing and Editing
Reading and editing files from command line. Start with nano editor, it’s easiest.
cat filename.txt
Shows entire file content at once.
less filename.txt
Views file with scrolling, press q to quit.
more filename.txt
Similar to less but simpler, space to scroll down.
head filename.txt
Shows first 10 lines of file.
head -n 20 filename.txt
Shows first 20 lines of file.
tail filename.txt
Shows last 10 lines of file.
tail -f logfile.txt
Follows file as new lines are added, great for logs.
tail -n 50 filename.txt
Shows last 50 lines of file.
nano filename.txt
Opens file in nano editor, easiest for beginners.
vim filename.txt
Opens file in vim editor, harder but more powerful.
emacs filename.txt
Opens file in emacs editor, install first with pkg.
touch newfile.txt
Creates empty file or updates timestamp.
file filename.txt
Shows what type of file it is.
stat filename.txt
Shows detailed file information and permissions.
Network and Download
Downloading files and network testing. Curl and wget do basically the same thing.
curl -O https://example.com/file.zip
Downloads file and saves with same name.
curl -o newname.zip https://example.com/file.zip
Downloads file and saves with different name.
curl -L -O https://short.url/file
Downloads following redirects, needed for short URLs.
wget https://example.com/file.zip
Downloads file with wget instead of curl.
wget -O newname.zip https://example.com/file.zip
Downloads and saves with different name.
ping google.com
Tests internet connection to Google.
ping -c 4 google.com
Pings 4 times then stops automatically.
traceroute google.com
Shows route packets take to reach destination.
nslookup google.com
Shows IP address for domain name.
ssh user@server.com
Connects to remote server via SSH.
scp file.txt user@server:/path/
Copies file to remote server.
rsync -av folder/ user@server:/backup/
Syncs folder to remote server efficiently.
Programming Languages
Running code and development tools. Install languages first with pkg install.
python script.py
Runs Python script file.
python3 script.py
Runs Python 3 specifically if you have multiple versions.
python -c "print('Hello World')"
Runs Python code directly from command line.
node script.js
Runs JavaScript file with Node.js.
node -e "console.log('Hello World')"
Runs JavaScript code directly.
gcc program.c -o program
Compiles C source code into executable.
./program
Runs compiled program in current directory.
javac Program.java
Compiles Java source code.
java Program
Runs compiled Java program.
php script.php
Runs PHP script.
ruby script.rb
Runs Ruby script.
go run program.go
Runs Go program.
rustc program.rs
Compiles Rust program.
Git Version Control
Managing code with Git. Essential for any programming work.
git clone https://github.com/user/repo
Downloads entire repository from GitHub.
git status
Shows current changes in working directory.
git add filename.txt
Stages specific file for commit.
git add .
Stages all changes for commit.
git commit -m "commit message"
Commits staged changes with message.
git push
Uploads commits to remote repository.
git pull
Downloads latest changes from remote repository.
git log
Shows commit history.
git diff
Shows changes since last commit.
git branch
Lists all branches.
git checkout branchname
Switches to different branch.
git init
Initializes new Git repository in current folder.
System Information
Checking system resources and running processes. Good for troubleshooting.
ps
Shows currently running processes.
ps aux
Shows all processes with detailed information.
top
Live view of system resources, press q to quit.
htop
Better version of top with colors and mouse support.
df -h
Shows disk space usage in readable format.
du -h foldername
Shows how much space folder uses.
du -sh *
Shows size of everything in current directory.
free -h
Shows memory usage in readable format.
uname -a
Shows system information and kernel version.
whoami
Shows current username.
id
Shows user ID and group information.
date
Shows current date and time.
uptime
Shows how long system has been running.
which python
Shows full path to python executable.
whereis python
Shows all python-related files and locations.
Text Processing
Searching and manipulating text files. Super useful for logs and data.
grep "search term" filename.txt
Finds lines containing specific text.
grep -r "term" *
Searches for text in all files recursively.
grep -i "term" filename.txt
Case-insensitive search ignores upper/lower case.
grep -n "term" filename.txt
Shows line numbers with search results.
grep -v "term" filename.txt
Shows lines that don’t contain the term.
sort filename.txt
Sorts lines alphabetically.
sort -n numbers.txt
Sorts numbers in numerical order.
sort -r filename.txt
Sorts in reverse order.
uniq filename.txt
Removes duplicate consecutive lines.
wc filename.txt
Counts lines, words, and characters.
wc -l filename.txt
Just counts number of lines.
wc -w filename.txt
Just counts number of words.
cut -d',' -f1 file.csv
Extracts first column from CSV file.
awk '{print $1}' filename.txt
Prints first column of space-separated file.
sed 's/old/new/g' filename.txt
Replaces all occurrences of “old” with “new”.
Archive and Compression
Creating and extracting compressed files. Useful for backups and downloads.
tar -xzf archive.tar.gz
Extracts tar.gz compressed file.
tar -czf backup.tar.gz folder/
Creates compressed tar.gz archive of folder.
tar -tf archive.tar.gz
Lists contents of tar.gz file without extracting.
zip -r backup.zip folder/
Creates ZIP archive of folder.
unzip archive.zip
Extracts ZIP file.
unzip -l archive.zip
Lists contents of ZIP file without extracting.
gzip filename.txt
Compresses single file with gzip.
gunzip filename.txt.gz
Decompresses gzip file.
7z x archive.7z
Extracts 7-zip archive if 7z is installed.
Termux-Specific Commands
These only work in Termux because they interact with Android features.
termux-setup-storage
Gives Termux access to phone storage, run this once.
termux-info
Shows Termux version and configuration details.
termux-reload-settings
Reloads Termux configuration without restarting.
termux-wake-lock
Prevents phone from sleeping during long tasks.
termux-wake-unlock
Allows phone to sleep normally again.
termux-battery-status
Shows detailed battery information in JSON format.
termux-camera-info
Shows available cameras and their capabilities.
termux-camera-photo pic.jpg
Takes photo with default camera and saves it.
termux-clipboard-get
Gets current clipboard content.
termux-clipboard-set "text"
Sets clipboard to specific text.
termux-notification --title "Title" --content "Message"
Shows Android notification with custom text.
termux-toast "Hello World"
Shows toast notification at bottom of screen.
termux-vibrate
Makes phone vibrate briefly.
termux-torch on
Turns on camera flashlight.
termux-torch off
Turns off camera flashlight.
termux-wifi-connectioninfo
Shows current WiFi connection details.
File Permissions
Managing file permissions and ownership. Advanced stuff most people don’t need.
chmod +x script.sh
Makes file executable so you can run it.
chmod 755 filename
Sets read/write/execute for owner, read/execute for others.
chmod 644 filename
Sets read/write for owner, read-only for others.
ls -l filename
Shows current file permissions.
chown user:group filename
Changes file owner and group.
ln -s /path/to/file linkname
Creates symbolic link (like shortcut).
readlink linkname
Shows where symbolic link points to.
find . -name "*.txt"
Finds all txt files in current directory and subdirectories.
find . -type f -size +1M
Finds files larger than 1 megabyte.
find . -mtime -1
Finds files modified in last 24 hours.
Process Management
Managing running programs and background tasks.
command &
Runs command in background, returns to prompt immediately.
jobs
Shows background jobs running in current session.
fg
Brings most recent background job to foreground.
bg
Sends stopped job to background.
kill 1234
Kills process with ID number 1234.
killall processname
Kills all processes with that name.
pkill python
Kills all python processes.
nohup command &
Runs command that survives terminal closing.
screen
Creates detachable terminal session.
tmux
Better terminal multiplexer, install first with pkg.
tmux new -s sessionname
Creates new tmux session with specific name.
tmux attach -t sessionname
Attaches to existing tmux session.
Quick Shortcuts and Tips
Essential keyboard shortcuts and time-savers you should know.
history
Shows list of previous commands you ran.
history | grep install
Searches command history for “install”.
!!
Repeats last command exactly.
!123
Runs command number 123 from history.
clear
Clears terminal screen.
exit
Closes current terminal session.
man command
Shows manual page for command if available.
command --help
Shows help information for most commands.
which command
Shows full path where command is installed.
alias ll='ls -la'
Creates shortcut so “ll” runs “ls -la”.
echo "Hello World"
Prints text to screen.
echo $HOME
Shows value of HOME environment variable.
Remember to use tab completion - start typing filename then press tab and it completes automatically. Up arrow scrolls through previous commands so you don’t have to retype everything. These shortcuts save tons of time once you get used to them.