GNU Core Utilities

GNU Core Utilities
GNU Core Utilities
Developer	GNU Project
Stable release	9.12 / 14 September 2026; 40 days ago
Written in	C, shell script
Operating system	Unix-like
Type	Miscellaneous utilities
License	2007, GPL 3.0 or later since version 6.10; 2002, GPL 2.0 or later until version 6.9
Website	www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/
Repository	cgit.git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/coreutils.git ;

The GNU Core Utilities or Coreutils is a collection of GNU software that implements many standard, Unix-based shell commands. The utilities generally provide POSIX compliant interface when the POSIXLY_CORRECT environment variable is set, but otherwise offers a superset to the standard interface. For example, the utilities support long options and options after parameters. This environment variable enables a different functionality in BSD.

Similar collections are available in the FOSS ecosystem, with a slightly different scope and focus (less functionality), or license. For example, BusyBox which is licensed under GPL-2.0-only, Toybox which is licensed under 0BSD and Uutils under MIT License. The Uutils developers acknowledged distributing code copied from GNU Coreutils without complying with its GPL-3.0-or-later license in version 0.12.0 .

Commands

Currently, there are over 100 commands implemented by Coreutils, with the commands listed below. Throughout this article and customary for Unix-based systems, the term file refers to all file system items including regular files and special files such as directories.

File utilities

chcon – Changes file security context (SELinux)
chgrp – Changes file group ownership
chown – Changes file user ownership
chmod – Changes file permissions
cp – Copies files
dd – Copies and converts file data
df – Reports file system free space
dir – Like ls -C -b; by default lists files in columns, sorted vertically
dircolors – Configures colors used for ls output
install – Copies files and sets file attributes
ln – Creates a link to a file
ls – Lists files
mkdir – Creates directories
mkfifo – Creates named pipes (FIFOs)
mknod – Creates block or character special files
mktemp – Creates temporary regular files or directories
mv – Moves and renames files
realpath – Reports the absolute or relative path of a file
rm – Deletes files
rmdir – Deletes empty directories
shred – Overwrites a file to hide its contents and optionally deletes it
sync – Flushes file system buffers
touch – Changes file timestamps, creating files if they do not exist
truncate – Sets the size of a file via truncation or extension
vdir – Like ls -l -b; by default lists files in long format

Text utilities

b2sum – Computes and checks BLAKE2b message digest
base32 – Encodes or decodes base32
base64 – Encodes or decodes base64
basenc – Encodes or decodes various encodings including hexadecimal, base32, base64, and Z85
cat – Concatenates files
cksum – Report or compute the checksum of files
comm – Compares two sorted files line by line
csplit – Splits a file into sections determined by context lines
cut – Removes sections from each line of files
expand – Converts tabs to spaces
fmt – Formats text
fold – Wraps each input line to fit in specified width
head – Outputs the first part of files
join – Joins lines of two files on a common field
md5sum – Computes and checks MD5 message digest
nl – Numbers lines of files
numfmt – Formats numbers
od – Dumps files in octal and other formats
paste – Merges lines of files
ptx – Produces a permuted index of file contents
pr – Paginates or columnates files
sha1sum, sha224sum, sha256sum, sha384sum, sha512sum – Computes and checks SHA-1/SHA-2 message digests
shuf – Generates random permutations
sort – Sorts lines of text files
split – Splits a file into pieces
sum – Checksums and counts the blocks in a file
tac – Concatenates files in reverse order, line by line
tail – Outputs the last part of files
tr – Translates or deletes characters
tsort – Performs a topological sort
unexpand – Converts spaces to tabs
uniq – Removes duplicate lines from a sorted file
wc – Reports the number of bytes, words, and lines in files

Shell utilities

arch – Reports machine hardware name (same as uname -m)
basename – Removes the path prefix from a given pathname
chroot – Changes the root directory
date – Reports or sets the system date and time
dirname – Strips non-directory suffix from file name
du – Shows disk usage on file systems
echo – Outputs text
env – Reports and modifies environment variables
expr – Evaluates expressions
factor – Factors numbers
false – Does nothing but exit with unsuccessful status
groups – Reports the groups of which the user is a member
hostid – Reports the numeric identifier for the current host
id – Reports the real or effective UID and GID
link – Creates a link to a file
logname – Reports the user's login name
nice – Modifies scheduling priority
nohup – Allows a command to continue running after logging out
nproc – Queries the number of (active) processors
pathchk – Checks whether file names are valid or portable
pinky – A lightweight version of finger
printenv – Reports environment variables
printf – Formats text
pwd – Reports the current working directory
readlink – Reports the value of a symbolic link
runcon – Run command with specified security context
seq – Reports a sequence of numbers
sleep – Blocks (delays, waits) for a specified amount of time
stat – Reports information about an inode
stdbuf – Runs a command with custom standard streams configuration
stty – Changes and reports terminal line settings
tee – Sends output to multiple files
test – Evaluates an expression
timeout – Runs a command with a time limit
true – Does nothing but exit with success status
tty – Reports the terminal name
uname – Reports system information
unlink – Removes files via unlink() function
uptime – Reports how long the system has been running
users – Reports the user names of users currently logged into the current host
who – Reports logged-in users
whoami – Reports the effective userid
yes – Outputs a string repeatedly
[ – Synonym for test that enables expressions like [ expression ]

History

In 1970, in the initial version of Unix, a few commands, written in assembly like cp, chmod, etc have been introduced for the first time.

In 1990, David MacKenzie announced GNU fileutils.

In 1991, MacKenzie announced GNU shellutils and GNU textutils. Moreover, Jim Meyering became the maintainer of the packages (known now as Coreutils) and has remained so since.

In September 2002, the GNU Coreutils were created by merging the earlier packages textutils, shellutils, and fileutils, along with some other miscellaneous utilities.

In July 2007, the license of the GNU Coreutils was updated from GPL-2.0-or-later to GPL-3.0-or-later.

Canonical has replaced the standard, C-based Coreutils package with the Rust implementation written by the Uutils Project in their release of Ubuntu 25.10 and 26.04 LTS.

References

↑ Pádraig Brady (14 September 2026). "coreutils-9.12 released [stable]". Retrieved 14 September 2026.
↑ "The GNU Core Utilities Open Source Project on Open Hub: Languages Page". openhub.net. Archived from the original on 28 March 2019. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
↑ "Release 0.12.0". 17 September 2026.
↑ "Initial version of Unix".
↑ MacKenzie, David J. (8 February 1990). "GNU file utilities release 1.0". groups.google.com. Archived from the original on 28 April 2023. Retrieved 24 September 2025.
↑ MacKenzie, David J. (16 July 1991). "GNU shell programming utilities released". groups.google.com. Archived from the original on 28 April 2023. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
↑ MacKenzie, David J. (22 August 1991). "new GNU file and text utilities released". groups.google.com. Archived from the original on 3 December 2024. Retrieved 24 September 2025.
↑ "GNU's Who". gnu.org. Archived from the original on 28 April 2023. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
↑ Meyering, Jim (13 January 2003). "readme-package-renamed-to-coreutils". git.savannah.gnu.org. Archived from the original on 25 December 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
↑ Meyering, Jim (23 July 2007). "copying: Update to Version 3". git.savannah.gnu.org. Archived from the original on 25 December 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
↑ "Ubuntu 26.04 LTS summary". documentation.ubuntu.com. 1 October 2026. Retrieved 7 October 2026.

External links

Official website
"GNU Coreutils". gnu.org. Retrieved 24 September 2025. - Manual
"Readme". git.savannah.gnu.org. Retrieved 24 September 2025.
"The Heirloom Toolchest". heirloom.sourceforge.net. Retrieved 24 September 2025. – An alternative set of utilities
Both, David (24 April 2018). "An introduction to the GNU Core Utilities". opensource.com. Retrieved 24 September 2025.
"Rosetta Stone For *Nix". bhami.com. Retrieved 24 September 2025. – configurable list of equivalent programs for *nix systems.
Rösler, Wolfram (2007). "The Unix Acronym List". roesler-ac.de. Archived from the original on 6 August 2024. Retrieved 24 September 2025. – explains the names of many Unix commands.
"The UNIX System Homepage". unix.org. Retrieved 24 September 2025.

[wikidata-cceb78d34ceddc6140f59dfb85cd125230c2d98c-v20-1] Pádraig Brady (14 September 2026). "coreutils-9.12 released [stable]". Retrieved 14 September 2026.

[2] "The GNU Core Utilities Open Source Project on Open Hub: Languages Page". openhub.net. Archived from the original on 28 March 2019. Retrieved 28 March 2019.

[3] "Release 0.12.0". 17 September 2026.

[4] "Initial version of Unix".

[5] MacKenzie, David J. (8 February 1990). "GNU file utilities release 1.0". groups.google.com. Archived from the original on 28 April 2023. Retrieved 24 September 2025.

[6] MacKenzie, David J. (16 July 1991). "GNU shell programming utilities released". groups.google.com. Archived from the original on 28 April 2023. Retrieved 28 April 2023.

[7] MacKenzie, David J. (22 August 1991). "new GNU file and text utilities released". groups.google.com. Archived from the original on 3 December 2024. Retrieved 24 September 2025.

[8] "GNU's Who". gnu.org. Archived from the original on 28 April 2023. Retrieved 28 April 2023.

[merge-9] Meyering, Jim (13 January 2003). "readme-package-renamed-to-coreutils". git.savannah.gnu.org. Archived from the original on 25 December 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2018.

[10] Meyering, Jim (23 July 2007). "copying: Update to Version 3". git.savannah.gnu.org. Archived from the original on 25 December 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2018.

[11] "Ubuntu 26.04 LTS summary". documentation.ubuntu.com. 1 October 2026. Retrieved 7 October 2026.

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v t e GNU Core Utilities command-line interface programs
File system	chcon chmod chown chgrp cksum cp dd df dir dircolors install ln ls mkdir mkfifo mknod mktemp mv realpath rm rmdir shred sync touch truncate vdir
Text utilities	b2sum base32 base64 cat cksum comm csplit cut expand fmt fold head join md5sum nl numfmt od paste ptx pr sha1sum shuf sort split sum tac tail tr tsort unexpand uniq wc
Shell utilities	arch basename chroot date dirname du echo env expr factor false groups hostid id link logname nice nohup nproc pathchk pinky printenv printf pwd readlink runcon seq sleep stat stdbuf stty tee test timeout true tty uname unlink uptime users who whoami yes

v t e Unix command-line utilities and shell builtins
File system	cat chattr chmod chown chgrp cksum cmp cp dd du df file fuser ln ls mkdir mv pax pwd rm rmdir split tee touch type umask
Processes	at bg crontab fg kill nice ps time
User environment	env exit logname mesg talk tput uname who write
Text processing	awk basename comm csplit cut diff dirname ed ex fold head iconv join m4 more nl paste patch printf read sed sort strings tail tr troff uniq vi wc xargs
Shell builtins	alias cd echo test unset wait
Searching	find grep
Documentation	man
Software development	ar ctags lex make nm strip yacc
Miscellaneous	bc cal dc expr lp od sleep true and false watch
Categories Standard Unix programs Unix SUS2008 utilities List