cli-app-icon_64.pngList of all commandline applications

Location:/boot/system/bin/
~/config/bin/
~/config/non-packaged/bin/


All commandline applications shipped with Haiku are in /boot/system/bin/. Your own or additionally installed commandline apps will appear in ~/config/bin/ when installed from a .hpkg package. Otherwise you can put them into ~/config/non-packaged/bin/. All these locations are part of the PATH variable and are therefore automatically found.
Here's a list of all commandline applications that are shipped with Haiku. Each with only a short description of what it does, for more detailed information on its usage execute the command with the parameter --help.


Index: A – E :: F – J :: K – O :: P – S :: T – Z


CortexAddOnHost Starts service to monitor audio and video media add-ons in use.
FirstBootPrompt Language and keymap setup.
[ Returns true/false after comparing items.

indexA - E

addattr Writes an attribute to a file, taking the type into account and converting the values accordingly. (Haiku specific)
alert Shows a message box. (Haiku specific)
arp Manipulates the system ARP cache.
awk See gawk.
base64 Base64 encode or decode to standard output.
basename Strips directory and optionally suffix from a /path/to/filename string.
bash Bourne-again shell.
bc An arbitrary precision calculator language.
beep Rings a bell.
bfsinfo Analyses the filesystem.
bunzip2 See bzip2.
bzip2 File compressor.
c++ C++-Compiler.
cat Concatenates files and prints to standard output.
catattr Prints out the contents of an attribute of a file. (Haiku specific)
cc C-Compiler.
checkfs Checks and repairs the file system. (Haiku specific)
checkitout Checks out sources simply with their repository's URL.
chgrp Changes group ownership of files.
chmod Changes permissions of files.
chop Splits a file into smaller files.
chown Changes the owner of files.
chroot Runs a command within a specified root directory.
cksum Prints out CRC checksum and byte count of files.
clear Clears the terminal window.
clipboard Manipulates the system clipboard.
cmp Compares files byte by byte.
collectcatkeys Collects translatable strings to create catkeys.
comm Compares sorted files line by line.
consoled Console daemon.
copyattr Copies all or a subset of attributes from one or more files to another or new file. (Haiku specific)
cp Copies files and directories.
csplit Split a file into pieces separated by a specified pattern.
cut Prints out sections from each line of a file.
date Displays or sets the current time and date.
dc Desk calculator language.
dd Copies raw data, converting and formatting according operands.
desklink Installs items in Deskbar. (Haiku specific)
df Reports free and used space of mounted volumes.
diff Compares files line by line.
diff3 Compares three files line by line.
dircolors Color setup for ls.
dirname Strips the filename from a /path/to/filename string.
diskimage Registers a file as disk device that can then be mounted. (Haiku specific)
dpms Sets the display power management.
draggers Shows/sets the dragger state of Replicants.
driveinfo Shows hardware information.
dstcheck Shows a message box used when switching to/from daylight saving time.
du Summarizes disk usage of each file, recursively for directories.
dumpcatalog Shows the contents of catalog files.
echo Displays a line of text.
egrep See grep.
eject Ejects removable media.
env Runs a program in a modified environment.
error Prints clear text error messages for given error numbers.
expand Converts tabs to spaces.
expr Prints the value of an expression.

F - J

factor Prints the prime factors of integer numbers.
false Does nothing, indicates "unsuccessful" and returns the value "1".
fdinfo Shows info about the used file descriptors in the system.
ffm Sets focus follows mouse.
fgrep See grep.
filepanel Displays a load/save file panel. (Haiku specific)
find Searches for files in a directory hierarchy.
finddir Finds special directories defined by the system.
findpaths Prints all paths for system defined directory constants.
fmt Reformats the paragraphs of a file.
fold Wraps input lines of a file.
fortune Prints a random, hopefully interesting, adage.
fstrim Send a TRIM command to an SSD drive.
ftpd FTP daemon.
funzip Extracts the first item of an archive to standard output.
fwcontrol FireWire control program.
gawk Pattern scanning and processing language.
getarch Shows the environment's compiler version.
grep Search for a pattern.
groups Prints group memberships for each username.
gunzip See gzip.
gzexe De/Compresses executables.
gzip De/Compresses files.
hd Hexdump.
head Prints the first lines of a file.
hey A small tool for scripting GUI apps.
hostname Prints or sets the hostname of the system.
id Prints user and group information.
ifconfig Configures a network interface.
install Copies files to a destination without disrupting the running system.
install-wifi-firmwares.sh Installs firmware for a few very old wireless network cards:
Intel ipw2100, ipw2200/2225/2915 | Broadcom 43xx | Marvell 88W8335
installsound Installs a new sound event in the Sounds preferences panel.
iroster Lists input devices.
isvolume Gets information about a mounted volume.
join For each pair of input lines with identical join fields, write a line to standard output.

indexK - O

kernel_debugger Enters the kernel debugger.
keymap Loads or saves a keymap.
keystore Manages keyrings and passwords for the keystore_server.
kill Sends a signal to quit a process.
launch_roster Controls the launch_daemon, e.g. stop and restart services. (Haiku specific)
less Views a file.
lessecho Echos its arguments and expands metacharacters, such as * and ? in filenames.
lesskey Specifies key binding for less.
link Creates a link to a file.
linkcatkeys Creates catalogs from catkeys.
listarea Lists area info for all currently running teams.
listattr Lists the attributes of a file. (Haiku specific)
listdev Lists all hardware devices.
listimage Lists image info for all currently running teams.
listport Lists all open ports in the system organized by team.
listres Lists resources of files.
listsem Lists the semaphores allocated by the specified team.
listusb Lists USB devices.
ln Creates a link to a file.
locale Shows the set preferred language, its LC_CTYPE and the preferred formatting.
locate Locates a file.
logger Sends a message to the system log.
login Starts a session on the system.
logname Prints the name of the current user.
ls Lists directory content.
lsindex Displays the indexed attributes on the current volume/partition. (Haiku specific)
mail2mbox Converts BeOS e-mail files to Unix mailbox files.
make GNU make utility.
makebootable Makes the specified BFS partitions/devices bootable by writing boot code into the first two sectors.
mbox2mail Converts Unix mailbox files to BeOS e-mail files.
md5sum Prints or checks MD5 checksums.
media_client "media_client play" plays back audio files.
message Prints a flattened BMessage file.
mimeset Sets MIME type of a file.
mkdepend Makefile dependency generator.
mkdir Creates a directory.
mkdos Initializes FAT partitions.
mkfifo Creates named pipes.
mkfs Creates a file system.
mkindex Creates a new index for an attribute. (Haiku specific)
mktemp Safely creates a temporary file or directory.
modifiers Prints currently (un)pressed modifier keys.
more See less.
mount Mounts a file system.
mount_nfs Mounts a NFS partition.
mountvolume Mounts a volume by name.
mv Moves/renames a file.
nano The default text editor in the Terminal, a clone of 'Pico'.
netstat Prints network connections, routing tables, interface statistics, masquerade connections and multicast memberships.
nl Prints each file with line numbers added.
nohup Runs a command ignoring hangup signals.
nproc Prints the number of available processing units.
od Writes an unambiguous representation of a file.
open Launches an application/document from the shell. (Haiku specific)

indexP - S

package Creates, inspects, or extracts a Haiku package.
package_repo Creates or inspects a Haiku package repository file.
passwd Changes the user password.
paste Prints lines consisting of the sequentially corresponding lines from each file, separated by tabs.
patch Applies a diff file to an original.
pathchk Diagnoses invalid or unportable file names.
pc Programmer's calculator.
ping Sends ICMP-echo-request to network host.
pkgman Manages packages and package repositories.
pr Paginates or columnates files for printing.
printenv Prints the value of an environment variable.
printf Formats and prints data.
prio Changes priority of a process.
profile Profiles threads.
ps Lists running processes.
ptx Outputs a permuted index, including context, of the words in the input files.
pwd Prints current directory.
query A shell utility emulating Tracker's "Find by formula" functionality. (Haiku specific)
quit Quits an application.
ramdisk Creates a ramdisk. (Haiku specific)
rc Resource compiler.
readlink Prints the path to the destination of a symbolic link.
recover A tool that tries to recover files from a corrupted BFS volume (see its documentation for a bit more info).
reindex Puts attributes of existing files into newly created indexes. (Haiku specific)
release Releases a semaphore.
renice Alters the priority of a running process.
rm Removes files and directories.
rmattr Removes an attribute from a file. (Haiku specific)
rmdir Removes directories.
rmindex Removes the index for an attribute. (Haiku specific)
roster Prints information about running teams.
route Lists and manipulates network routes.
safemode Checks if the system is running in safemode.
screen_blanker Starts the screen blanker.
screenmode Show/sets the screen mode. (Haiku specific)
sdiff Shows or merges differences of two files side-by-side.
seq Prints a sequence of numbers.
setarch Sets the environment to a specific compiler version.
setdecor Shows/sets the decorator.
settype Sets the MIME type, signature and preferred application of a file.
setversion Shows the version of a file.
setvolume Sets the system sound volume. (Haiku specific)
sftp File transfer program.
sh See bash.
sha1sum Prints or checks SHA1 checksums.
shar Creates shell archives.
shred Overwrites a file repeatedly.
shuf Prints a random permutation of the input lines.
shutdown Shuts down the computer.
sleep Pauses for a specified number of seconds.
sort Prints a sorted concatenation of all files.
spamdbm Classifies e-mail messages as spam or genuine.
split Outputs fixed-size pieces of input files to files with prefixes.
stat Displays file or file system status.
strace Traces the syscalls of a thread or a team.
stty Shows/sets terminal characteristics.
su Changes the effective user id and group.
sum Prints checksum and block counts for each file.
sync Forces changed blocks to disk, updates the superblock.
sysinfo Shows system info.

indexT - Z

tac Concatenates and prints files, last line first.
tail Prints the last ten lines of a file.
tcpdump Dumps traffic of a network.
tcptester [deprecated]
tee Writes or appends data from standard input to a file.
telnet User interface to the telnet protocol.
telnetd Telnet daemon.
test Returns true/false after comparing items.
timeout Starts a command and kills it if it's still running after a specified number of seconds.
top Displays running threads and CPU usage.
touch Changes a file's timestamp.
tput Initializes a terminal or query terminfo database.
tr Translates, squeezes and/or deletes characters from standard input.
traceroute Prints the route packets take through a network.
translate Uses DataTranslators to convert file formats.
trash Sends files to trash or restores them.
true Does nothing, indicates "success" and returns the value "0".
truncate Shrinks or extends the size of a file.
tsort Does a topological sorting.
tty Prints the file name of the terminal connected to standard input.
uname Prints out system information.
unchop Recreates a file previously split with chop.
unexpand Converts spaces to tabs.
uniq Filters adjacent matching lines from input, writing to output.
unlink Calls the unlink function to remove the specified file.
unmount Unmounts a volume.
unrar Expands a rar archive.
unshar Expands a shar archive.
untrash See trash.
unzip Expands a zip archive.
unzipsfx Used to make existing zip archives self-extracting.
updatedb Updates a localization database.
uptime Prints date and time, as well as the time elapsed since the system was started.
urlwrapper Wraps URL MIME types around command line or other apps that don't handle them directly.
useradd Creates a new user.
uudecode Decodes a uuencoded file.
uuencode Uuencodes a file so it can be mailed to a remote system.
vdir Lists information about files.
version Returns the version of a file.
vmstat Prints information about the virtual memory system.
waitfor Waits until a certain thread appears. (Haiku specific)
watch Executes a program periodically.
wc Prints the number of paragraphs, words and characters (bytes) of a file.
wget Tool for downloading via HTTP, HTTPS or FTP.
which Locates a command.
whoami Prints user name associated with the current effective user ID.
xargs Builds and executes command lines from standard input.
xres Lists and manipulates resources.
yes Prints out a string repeatedly until killed.
zcat See gzip.
zcmp See zdiff.
zdiff Compares compressed files.
zforce Forces a '.gz' extension on gzip files.
zgrep Scan through possibly compressed files for a regular expression.
zip Adds or replaces items in a zip archive.
zipcloak Encrypts all unencrypted items in a zip archive.
zipgrep Scans the given zip items for a string or pattern.
zipinfo See unzip.
zipnote Prints the comments in a zip archive.
zipsplit Splits a zip archive into smaller pieces.
zmore Like more but operates on the uncompressed contents of any compressed file.
znew Recompresses .Z files into .gz (gzip) archives.