Coreutils (GNU Core Utilities) is a package of essential utilities for basic file, shell, and text manipulation tasks in Unix-like operating systems, including Linux. It contains the core command-line tools needed for fundamental operations. Coreutils is a combination of three previously separate packages:
ls, cp, mv, rm, mkdir, etc.)cat, echo, sort, cut, etc.)basename, test, sleep, true, false, etc.)File Management:
cp — Copy files and directories.mv — Move or rename files and directories.rm — Remove files or directories.ln — Create hard and symbolic links.File Viewing:
cat — Concatenate and display files.ls — List directory contents.head — Output the first part of files.tail — Output the last part of files.File Permissions and Ownership:
chmod — Change file modes or Access Control Lists.chown — Change file owner and group.Text Processing:
sort — Sort lines of text files.cut — Remove sections from each line of files.tr — Translate or delete characters.uniq — Report or omit repeated lines.File Information:
du — Estimate file space usage.df — Report file system disk space usage.stat — Display file or file system status.System Information:
uname — Print system information.uptime — Tell how long the system has been running.Others:
echo — Display a line of text.sleep — Delay for a specified amount of time.date — Display or set the system date and time.These utilities are fundamental in Linux/Unix-based systems and are used in shell scripting, system administration, and general user interaction with the operating system. Coreutils provides a consistent interface and behavior across different Linux distributions, contributing to its widespread usage.