Commands

Coreutils for Windows ships the following commands. Each command supports the standard --help flag for full syntax and options. Descriptions and links go to the upstream documentation:

• Most utilities come from uutils/coreutils.
• find and xargs come from uutils/findutils.
• grep comes from the uutils/grep submodule.

For information on commands that collide with shell built-ins, see Shell conflicts.

Command	Description
arch	Display machine architecture.
b2sum	Print or check BLAKE2b checksums.
base32	Encode or decode data using base32 and print to standard output.
base64	Encode or decode data using base64 and print to standard output.
basename	Print NAME with any leading directory components removed.
basenc	Encode or decode data using one of several base encodings.
cat	Concatenate FILE(s), or standard input, to standard output.
cksum	Print CRC and size for each file.
comm	Compare two sorted files line by line.
cp	Copy SOURCE to DEST, or multiple SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY.
csplit	Split a file into sections determined by context lines.
cut	Print specified byte or field columns from each line of input.
date	Print or set the system date and time.
df	Show information about the file system on which each FILE resides.
dirname	Strip the last component from a file name.
du	Estimate file space usage.
echo	Display a line of text.
env	Set each NAME to VALUE in the environment and run COMMAND.
expr	Print the value of EXPRESSION to standard output.
factor	Print the prime factors of the given NUMBER(s).
false	Make a command always exit with 1.
find	Search for files in a directory hierarchy.
fmt	Reformat paragraphs from input (or standard input) to stdout.
fold	Wrap each input line to fit a specified width.
grep	Print lines that match patterns.
head	Print the first 10 lines of each FILE to standard output.
hostname	Display or set the system's host name.
join	Join two files on a common field.
la	List directory contents, including hidden entries (alias for ls -A).
link	Call the link function to create a link named FILE2 to an existing FILE1.
ln	Make links between files.
ls	List directory contents.
md5sum	Print or check MD5 checksums.
mkdir	Create the given DIRECTORY(ies) if they do not exist.
mktemp	Create a temporary file or directory.
mv	Move SOURCE to DEST, or multiple SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY.
nl	Number lines of files.
nproc	Print the number of cores available to the current process.
numfmt	Convert numbers from or to human-readable strings.
od	Dump files in octal and other formats.
pathchk	Check whether file names are valid or portable.
pr	Paginate or columnate FILE(s) for printing.
printenv	Display the values of the specified environment VARIABLE(s).
printf	Print output based on a format string and arguments.
ptx	Produce a permuted index of file contents.
pwd	Display the full filename of the current working directory.
readlink	Print the value of a symbolic link or canonical file name.
realpath	Print the resolved absolute path.
rm	Remove (unlink) the FILE(s).
rmdir	Remove the DIRECTORY(ies), if they are empty.
seq	Display numbers from FIRST to LAST, in steps of INCREMENT.
sha1sum	Print or check SHA1 checksums.
sha224sum	Print or check SHA224 checksums.
sha256sum	Print or check SHA256 checksums.
sha384sum	Print or check SHA384 checksums.
sha512sum	Print or check SHA512 checksums.
shuf	Shuffle the input by outputting a random permutation of input lines.
sleep	Pause for NUMBER seconds.
sort	Display sorted concatenation of all FILE(s).
split	Create output files containing consecutive or interleaved sections of input.
stat	Display file or file-system status.
sum	Checksum and count the blocks in a file.
tac	Write each file to standard output, last line first.
tail	Print the last 10 lines of each FILE to standard output.
tee	Copy standard input to each FILE, and also to standard output.
test	Check file types and compare values.
touch	Update the access and modification times of each FILE.
tr	Translate or delete characters.
true	Make a command always exit with 0.
truncate	Shrink or extend the size of each file to a specified size.
tsort	Topological sort of the strings in FILE.
unexpand	Convert blanks in each FILE to tabs.
uniq	Report or omit repeated lines.
unlink	Unlink the file at FILE.
uptime	Display the current time, system uptime, user count, and load averages.
wc	Print newline, word, and byte counts for each FILE.
xargs	Build and execute command lines from standard input.
yes	Repeatedly display a line with STRING (or y).

Related content

• Coreutils for Windows overview
• Shell conflicts