Common SSH commands at Hostinger

After connecting to your account via SSH, you will require to use commands to perform all the desired actions. Check the topics below for the most commonly used ones – you can also bookmark this page to have an SSH cheat-sheet at hand.

Manage location

pwd (print working directory) – show the full path of the directory in which you currently are:

pwd

cd (change directory) – move from one folder to another:

cd directory_name

cd directory_name – go to this subfolder of the current folder
cd .. – go one directory up

ls (list) – show the list of all files and folders in the current directory:

ls

ls -a – include hidden files (which begin with a dot)

Manage files and folders

cp (copy) – you can copy both files and folders:

cp copy_what copy_where

NOTE

To copy to a higher directory, insert the full path, starting from home see How to Copy Files or Folders Using SSH

mv (move) – same as cp, you may move both files and folders:

mv move_what move_where

mkdir (make directory) – create a new empty directory:

mkdir folder_name

touch – create a new empty file:

touch file_name

rmdir (remove a directory) – delete the folder:

rmdir folder_name

rm (remove) – delete a file; you can mention several files at a time:

rm file_name

NOTE

rm -r – deletes folders, their subfolders, and their content. See How to Delete Files or Folders Using SSH

grep – find a specific text inside files:

grep -inrl 'text'

find – find files with a specific name:

find . -type f -name 'name*.php'

Check file and folder ownership

See how to check the files and folders ownership using SSH.

Manage archives

Create an archive

Create an archive of specific files:

ZIP: zip new-archive-name.zip filename1.php filename2.php filename3.php
TAR: tar -cvf new-archive-name.tar filename1.php filename2.php filename3.php
TAR.GZ: tar -zcf new-archive-name.tar.gz filename1.php filename2.php filename3.php

Instead of new-archive-name, type the name of the future archive and, after that, specify the exact files that should be included.

Create an archive of the whole folder:

ZIP: zip -r archive.zip DirectoryName
TAR: tar -cvf archive.tar DirectoryName
TAR.GZ: tar -zcf archive.tar.gz DirectoryName

Unpack an archive

ZIP: unzip archive.zip
TAR: tar -xvf archive.tar
TAR.GZ: tar -zxvf archive.tar.gz

See how to create archives with SSH for more detail.

Manage databases

Import database file.sql to the database_username database:

mysql -u database_username -p database_name < file.sql

NOTE

For this command, you should be in the folder where the file.sql is located. See How to Import a Database Over SSH

Export of database_username database to the file.sql file:

mysqldump -u database_username -p database_name > file.sql

NOTES

For this command, you don’t need to create a file beforehand. See How to Export a Database Over SSH
For both commands, in the next step, you should insert the database password

Check inodes and disk usage per directory

Show the inodes number for every subdirectory of the current folder:

find . -printf "%hn" | cut -d/ -f-2 | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn

Show the disk usage per each subdirectory and file of the current folder:

du -shc * | sort -rh

NOTE

See How to Check Inodes and Disk Usage per Folder Using SSH
It can also be done in the file manager

Access your website’s root directory

See how to open the website’s root directory via SSH.

Manage WordPress websites

Purge WordPress cache

wp cache flush
wp litespeed-purge all

Replace WordPress core files

rm -rf wp-includes
rm -rf wp-admin
wp core download --skip-content --force

Or:

backup=WP_`date +%s` && mkdir $backup && mv wp-admin $backup && mv wp-includes $backup && mv *.php $backup && wget https://wordpress.org/latest.zip && unzip latest.zip && rm -rf wordpress/wp-content && mv wordpress/* . && cp -rv $backup/wp-config.php .

Troubleshooting

If you run into errors while using SSH, see how to solve the most common errors in SSH at Hostinger.

Additional resource

Basic SSH Commands That You Should Know About