GNU Coreutils is a package of essential utilities used in
Unix-like operating systems. It provides a set of basic command-line tools that perform common tasks related to file manipulation, text processing, and system operations. Coreutils is a central part of the GNU operating system, x, and many of its tools are commonly found in Linux shells in line with
POSIX standards.
Some of the key utilities included in GNU Coreutils are:
basename – Strip directory and suffix from filenames
builtin - avoid using duplicate-named script or aliases, runs the "native" shell command directly.
cat – Concatenate and display file contents
chgrp – Change group ownership of files
chmod – Change file permissions
chown – Change file owner and group
cksum – Print CRC checksum and byte counts
comm – Compare two sorted files line by line
cp – Copy files and directories
csplit – Split a file into sections determined by context
cut – Remove sections from each line of a file
date – Display or set the system date and time
dd – Convert and copy files
df – Show disk space usage
dir – List directory contents (brief format)
dircolors – Setup color definitions for `ls`
dirname – Strip the non-directory part of a file name
du – Estimate file and directory space usage
echo – Display a line of text
env – Show or modify the environment
expand – Convert tabs to spaces
expr – Evaluate expressions
factor – Print prime factors of numbers
false – Return a non-zero exit code
fmt – Reformat paragraph text
fold – Wrap long lines
groups – Show groups a user belongs to
head – Output the first lines of a file
hostid – Print numeric identifier for the host
id – Show user and group IDs
install – Copy files and set attributes
join – Join lines of two files on a common field
link – Create a hard link
ln – Create links (hard or symbolic)
logname – Print the current login name
ls – List directory contents
md5sum – Compute MD5 message digest
mkdir – Create directories
mkfifo – Create named pipes (FIFOs)
mknod – Create block or character special files
mktemp – Create temporary files
mv – Move or rename files
nice – Run a command with modified scheduling priority
nl – Number lines of files
nohup – Run a command immune to hangups
nproc – Print number of processing units available
numfmt – Format numbers
od – Display file contents in octal and other formats
paste – Merge lines of files
pathchk – Check file name portability
pinky – Lightweight `finger` command
pr – Paginate or columnate files for printing
printenv – Print environment variables
printf – Format and print data
ptx – Produce permuted indexes
pwd – Print the current working directory
readlink – Resolve symbolic links
realpath – Print the resolved absolute path
rm – Remove files or directories
rmdir – Remove empty directories
runcon – Run a command with specified security context
seq – Generate sequences of numbers
sha1sum – Compute SHA-1 message digest
sha224sum – Compute SHA-224 message digest
sha256sum – Compute SHA-256 message digest
sha384sum – Compute SHA-384 message digest
sha512sum – Compute SHA-512 message digest
shred – Overwrite files to hide contents
shuf – Shuffle lines randomly
sleep – Delay for a specified time
sort – Sort lines of text files
split – Split files into pieces
stat – Display file status
stdbuf – Modify buffering of standard streams
stty – Change and print terminal settings
sum – Print checksum and block counts
sync – Flush file system buffers
tac – Display files in reverse
tail – Output the last lines of a file
tee – Redirect output to multiple locations
test – Evaluate conditional expressions
timeout – Run a command with a time limit
touch – Change file timestamps or create new files
tr – Translate or delete characters
true – Return a successful exit code
truncate – Shrink or extend file size
tsort – Perform topological sort
tty – Print terminal name
uname – Print system information
unexpand – Convert spaces to tabs
uniq – Report or omit repeated lines
unlink – Delete a single file
uptime – Show how long the system has been running
users – Show currently logged-in users
vdir – List directory contents (verbose format)
wc – Print newline, word, and byte counts
who – Show who is logged in
whoami – Show the current user ID
yes – Output a string repeatedly
Most of these commands have been around a long time, since early UNIX days and have become indispensable to systems administrators and home users alike. Using these with pipes allows one to build quite complex and powerful commands, especilaly in conjunction with the textutils and shellutils package commands.