Cheatsheets / Cross-OS lookup

Cross-OS lookup

Same task, three OSes

50 everyday tasks with the equivalent command on Linux, macOS, and Windows PowerShell. Search or filter by category, then copy the command you need.

Task Linux macOS Windows (PowerShell)
Find what is using a port Networking

`ss` is Linux-only; macOS falls back to `lsof`.

 sudo ss -tulpn | grep :3000 sudo lsof -i :3000 Get-Process -Id (Get-NetTCPConnection -LocalPort 3000).OwningProcess
Kill a process by PID Processes kill -9 1234 kill -9 1234 Stop-Process -Id 1234 -Force
Kill a process by name Processes killall node killall node Stop-Process -Name node -Force
List running processes Processes ps aux ps aux Get-Process
List all environment variables Environment env env Get-ChildItem Env:
Set an env var for the current session Environment export API_KEY=abc123 export API_KEY=abc123 $env:API_KEY = "abc123"
Check disk usage of a directory Disk du -sh dir/ du -sh dir/ (Get-ChildItem dir -Recurse | Measure-Object -Property Length -Sum).Sum / 1GB
Check free disk space Disk df -h df -h Get-Volume
Find files by name Files find . -name "*.log" find . -name "*.log" Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Filter "*.log"
Search text inside files Files grep -rn "TODO" . grep -rn "TODO" . Get-ChildItem -Recurse | Select-String "TODO"
Check your machine's IP address Networking

Legacy fallback everywhere: `ipconfig` (Windows) shows the same info faster for a quick check.

 ip addr show ifconfig Get-NetIPAddress
DNS lookup for a domain Networking

`dig` is not installed by default on Windows; `nslookup` works cross-platform as a fallback.

 dig example.com +short dig example.com +short Resolve-DnsName example.com
List installed services System systemctl list-units --type=service launchctl list Get-Service
Restart a service System sudo systemctl restart nginx brew services restart nginx Restart-Service -Name nginx
Tail a log file live Files tail -f app.log tail -f app.log Get-Content app.log -Wait -Tail 10
Check file permissions Files ls -la file.txt ls -la file.txt Get-Acl file.txt
Change file permissions Files chmod 755 script.sh chmod 755 script.sh icacls script.sh /grant User:F
Archive a folder Files tar -czvf archive.tar.gz dir/ tar -czvf archive.tar.gz dir/ Compress-Archive -Path dir -DestinationPath archive.zip
Extract an archive Files tar -xzvf archive.tar.gz tar -xzvf archive.tar.gz Expand-Archive -Path archive.zip -DestinationPath dest
Download a file from a URL Networking curl -O https://example.com/file.zip curl -O https://example.com/file.zip Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://example.com/file.zip -OutFile file.zip
Check OS version System uname -a sw_vers [Environment]::OSVersion
Check CPU and memory usage live System top top -o cpu Get-Process | Sort-Object CPU -Descending | Select-Object -First 10
Copy a file to a remote server Networking

OpenSSH (and `scp`) ships identically on all three once installed - no PowerShell-specific equivalent needed.

 scp file.txt user@host:/path/ scp file.txt user@host:/path/ scp file.txt user@host:/path/
Test connectivity to a host Networking ping -c 4 example.com ping -c 4 example.com Test-Connection example.com -Count 4
Test if a specific port is reachable Networking nc -zv example.com 443 nc -zv example.com 443 Test-NetConnection example.com -Port 443
List listening ports Networking ss -tulpn lsof -i -P | grep LISTEN Get-NetTCPConnection -State Listen
Trace the network route to a host Networking traceroute example.com traceroute example.com tracert example.com
Copy to the clipboard from the terminal Files

`xclip` is not installed by default on most Linux distros - install it first (`apt install xclip`).

 xclip -selection clipboard < file.txt pbcopy < file.txt Get-Content file.txt | Set-Clipboard
Open the current directory in the file browser Files xdg-open . open . explorer .
Check which shell you are running Environment echo $SHELL echo $SHELL $PSVersionTable.PSEdition
Create a symbolic link Files ln -s target linkname ln -s target linkname New-Item -ItemType SymbolicLink -Path linkname -Target target
Count lines in a file Files wc -l file.txt wc -l file.txt (Get-Content file.txt).Count
Show command history Environment history history Get-History
Find a file's full path Files

BSD `readlink` on macOS lacks `-f`; install GNU coreutils (`brew install coreutils`) for `greadlink -f`, or use `realpath` if already installed.

 realpath file.txt greadlink -f file.txt (Get-Item file.txt).FullName
Check installed package manager version System apt --version brew --version winget --version
Update all system packages System sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade brew update && brew upgrade winget upgrade --all
Check the current working directory Files pwd pwd Get-Location
Rename a file Files mv old.txt new.txt mv old.txt new.txt Rename-Item old.txt new.txt
Create a directory (with parents) Files mkdir -p a/b/c mkdir -p a/b/c New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path a\b\c -Force
Delete a directory and its contents Files rm -rf dir/ rm -rf dir/ Remove-Item dir -Recurse -Force
Show the difference between two files Files diff -u old.txt new.txt diff -u old.txt new.txt Compare-Object (Get-Content old.txt) (Get-Content new.txt)
Check uptime System uptime uptime (Get-CimInstance Win32_OperatingSystem).LastBootUpTime
Flush the DNS cache Networking sudo systemd-resolve --flush-caches sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder ipconfig /flushdns
Check your public IP address Networking curl -4 ifconfig.me curl -4 ifconfig.me Invoke-RestMethod ifconfig.me
Run a command as administrator/root System sudo <command> sudo <command> Start-Process <command> -Verb RunAs
List block devices / disks Disk lsblk diskutil list Get-Disk
Check listening services with their names System systemctl list-units --type=service --state=running launchctl list | grep -v "^-" Get-Service | Where-Object Status -eq Running
View a file one page at a time Files less file.txt less file.txt Get-Content file.txt | Out-Host -Paging
Check current user Environment whoami whoami whoami
Generate an SSH key pair Networking

OpenSSH tooling is identical across all three once installed.

 ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "you@example.com" ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "you@example.com" ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "you@example.com"