DEV Community

Cover image for 50 GNU Commands X 50 PowerShell Commands
Marcos Oliveira
Marcos Oliveira

Posted on

50 GNU Commands X 50 PowerShell Commands

#cli #gnu #powershell

🐂 🆚 ✴️ Everyday terminal commands used in GNU and their PowerShell equivalents.

In the world of task automation, mastering the command line is an essential skill. Whether using traditional GNU commands or navigating the Windows ecosystem with the powerful PowerShell, knowing the right tools can transform your productivity.

In this post, we’ll compare 50 GNU commands with their PowerShell equivalents.

💻 01. Delete a Directory Recursively

🐂 GNU 

rm -rf /home/$USER/folder
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Remove-Item -Path "C:\folder" -Recurse -Force
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 02. Get the Name of a Running Process

🐂 GNU 

ps aux | grep apache2 # httpd
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

systemd: systemctl status apache2

✴️ PowerShell 

Get-Service | Where-Object { $_.DisplayName -like "*Apache*" }
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 03. Stop a Service 

sudo kill -9 $(pidof apache2) # httpd
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

systemd: sudo systemctl stop apache2

✴️ PowerShell 

Stop-Service -Name "Apache2.4"
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 04. Remove an Environment Variable

🐂 GNU 

unset VARIABLE_NAME
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell C:\App\bin 

# Get the current value of the system Path environment variable  
$envPath = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path", [EnvironmentVariableTarget]::Machine)  

# Split paths into an array  
$paths = $envPath -split ';'  

# Filter to remove the unwanted path  
$newPaths = $paths | Where-Object { $_ -ne "C:\App\bin" }  

# Rebuild the Path environment variable (without the unwanted path)  
$newPathString = ($newPaths -join ';').TrimEnd(';')  

# Update the system environment variable  
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", $newPathString, [EnvironmentVariableTarget]::Machine)
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 05. Check if a Command Exists

🐂 GNU 

which mycommand
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Get-Command mycommand
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 06. Create a Folder/Directory

🐂 GNU 

mkdir my-project
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

New-Item -ItemType Directory "MyProject"
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 07. Create a Folder/Directory Recursively

🐂 GNU 

mkdir -p my-project/folder/new
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

New-Item -Path "C:/MyProject/folder/new" -ItemType Directory
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 08. Move a Folder/Directory

🐂 GNU 

mv folder new/path/
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 PowerShell 

Move-Item -Path "folder" -Destination "C:\new\path\"
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 09. Enter a Folder/Directory

🐂 GNU 

cd folder/
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Set-Location folder
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 10. Copy Files and Directories

🐂 GNU 

cp file path/to/dest  
cp -r folder/ path/to/dest
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Copy-Item file path\to\dest  
Copy-Item folder\ -Recurse -Destination path\to\dest
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 11. Get the Home Directory and/or Username

🐂 GNU 

$HOME  
# echo $HOME  

$USER  
# echo $USER
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

$env:USERPROFILE  
# Write-Host $env:USERPROFILE  

$env:USERNAME  
# Write-Host $env:USERNAME
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 12. List Files and Directories

🐂 GNU 

ls -la
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Get-ChildItem -Force
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 13. Display Text File Content

🐂 GNU 

cat file.txt
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Get-Content file.txt
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 14. Search for Text Inside Files

🐂 GNU 

grep "term" file.txt
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Select-String -Pattern "term" -Path file.txt
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 15. Show Disk Usage

🐂 GNU 

df -h
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Get-PSDrive -PSProvider FileSystem
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 16. Check Memory Usage

🐂 GNU 

free -h
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Get-CimInstance Win32_OperatingSystem | Select-Object TotalVisibleMemorySize,FreePhysicalMemory
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 17. Display Environment Variables

🐂 GNU 

printenv
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Get-ChildItem Env:
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 18. Rename File/Directory

🐂 GNU 

mv oldname newname
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Rename-Item -Path oldname -NewName newname
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 19. Run Command as Administrator/Root

🐂 GNU 

sudo command
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell (run shell as admin) 

Start-Process powershell -Verb runAs
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 20. Check Network/Interfaces

🐂 GNU 

ip addr show
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Get-NetIPAddress
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 21. Create an Environment Variable

Example for Terlang: C:\Program Files\Terlang\bin (Windows) and ${HOME}/.local/terlang/bin/ (GNU)

🐂 GNU 

export PATH="${PATH}:${HOME}/.local/terlang/bin/"
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

[System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", $env:Path + ";C:\Program Files\Terlang\bin", [System.EnvironmentVariableTarget]::Machine)
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 22. Display Last Lines of a File (tail)

🐂 GNU 

tail -n 20 file.log
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Get-Content file.log -Tail 20
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 23. Monitor Processes in Real-Time (top)

🐂 GNU 

top
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Get-Process | Sort-Object CPU -Descending | Select-Object -First 10
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

(not real-time, but shows a snapshot of top CPU-consuming processes)

💻 24. Find and Kill a Process by Name

🐂 GNU 

pkill -f process
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Get-Process -Name process | Stop-Process -Force
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 25. Monitor File Changes (tail -f)

🐂 GNU 

tail -f file.log
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Get-Content file.log -Wait
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 26. Compress Files (tar gzip)

🐂 GNU 

tar -czvf archive.tar.gz folder/
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Compress-Archive -Path folder\* -DestinationPath archive.zip
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 27. Extract Zip File

🐂 GNU 

unzip archive.zip
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Expand-Archive -Path archive.zip -DestinationPath destination\
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 28. View Specific Environment Variables

🐂 GNU 

echo $VARIABLE
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

$env:VARIABLE
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 29. Set Environment Variable for Current Session

🐂 GNU 

export VARIABLE=value
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

$env:VARIABLE="value"
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 30. Display System Information (kernel, OS)

🐂 GNU 

uname -a
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Get-CimInstance Win32_OperatingSystem | Select-Object Caption, Version, OSArchitecture
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 31. Check Current Date and Time

🐂 GNU 

date
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Get-Date
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 32. Show Logged-In Users

🐂 GNU 

who
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

query user
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 33. Check Open TCP Ports and Associated Processes

🐂 GNU 

sudo netstat -tulpn
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Get-NetTCPConnection | Select-Object LocalAddress,LocalPort,OwningProcess
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 34. Search for Files by Name

🐂 GNU 

find /path -name "file.txt"
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Get-ChildItem -Path C:\path -Recurse -Filter "file.txt"
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 35. Schedule a Task (cron / Task Scheduler)

🐂 GNU 

crontab -e
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

# Simple example to create a scheduled task via PowerShell  
$action = New-ScheduledTaskAction -Execute "notepad.exe"  
$trigger = New-ScheduledTaskTrigger -At 9am -Daily  
Register-ScheduledTask -TaskName "OpenNotepad" -Action $action -Trigger $trigger
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 36. Clear Screen

🐂 GNU 

clear
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Clear-Host
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 37. Show System Variables (with name and value)

🐂 GNU 

env
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Get-ChildItem Env:
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 38. Compare Files Line by Line

🐂 GNU 

diff file1 file2
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Compare-Object (Get-Content file1) (Get-Content file2)
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 39. Run Local Script (bash / PowerShell)

🐂 GNU 

./script.sh
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

.\script.ps1
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 40. Stop Command Execution (Ctrl + C)

🐂 GNU 

Ctrl + C
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Ctrl + C
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 41. Get Command History for Current Session

🐂 GNU 

history
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Get-History
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 42. Get File with Command History

🐂 GNU 

cat ~/.bash_history
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Get-Content (Get-PSReadlineOption).HistorySavePath
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 43. Search Text in Command History

🐂 GNU 

history | grep term
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Get-History | Where-Object CommandLine -Match "term"
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 44. Display Variables Defined in Current Session

🐂 GNU 

set
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Get-Variable
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 45. Define Local Variable (shell/session)

🐂 GNU 

VARIABLE=value
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

$VARIABLE = "value"
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 46. Limit Command Output (pager)

🐂 GNU 

command | less
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

command | Out-Host -Paging
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 47. Define Alias (command shortcut)

🐂 GNU 

alias ll='ls -la'
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Set-Alias ll Get-ChildItem
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 48. Remove Alias

🐂 GNU 

unalias ll
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Remove-Item Alias:ll
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 49. Show CPU Information

🐂 GNU 

lscpu
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

Get-CimInstance Win32_Processor | Select-Object Name,NumberOfCores,NumberOfLogicalProcessors
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

💻 50. Open Text Editor in Terminal

🐂 GNU 

vim file.txt
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✴️ PowerShell 

notepad file.txt
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

🍖 Bonus:

Download a File:

  • GNU: 
wget https://url.com/file.zip  
# Or: wget https://url.com/file.zip -O newname.zip
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode
  • PowerShell: 
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://url.com/file.zip" -OutFile "file.zip"
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

👓 See Also:

🔗 7 PowerShell Usage Examples

🔗 Discover 7 GNU Tools That Power the Command Line

🔗 10 Tips for GNU GCC Flags and Parameters

🔗 Customize Your PowerShell Like a Pro

Top comments (0)