BusyBox can be customized to provide a subset of over two hundred utilities. It can provide most of the utilities specified in the
Single Unix Specification (SUS) plus many others that a user would expect to see on a Linux system. BusyBox uses the
Almquist shell, also known as A Shell, ash and sh. An alternative for customization is the smaller 'hush' shell. "Msh" and "lash" used to be available. As it is a complete bootstrap system, it will further replace the
init daemon and
udev (or the latter-day
systemd) using itself to be called as
init on startup and
mdev at hotplug time. The BusyBox website provides a full list of the utilities implemented. Sharing of the common code, along with routines written with size-optimization in mind, can make a BusyBox system use much less storage space than a system built with the corresponding full versions of the utilities replaced by BusyBox.
Commands The official BusyBox documentation lists an overview of the available commands and their command-line options. • acpid • adduser • adjtimex •
ash •
ar •
arp — The Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) •
arping — Send ARP REQUEST to a neighbour host • ash •
basename — Return non-directory portion of a pathname removing suffix. •
bc — calculator program • beep •
blkid — Print type, label and UUID of filesystem on a block device or image. • brctl •
bunzip2 — Decompress bzip2 files. •
bzcat — Decompress bzip2 files to stdout. •
bzip2 — Create bzip2 compressed files. •
cal — Print a calendar. •
cat — Print content of one or more files to stdout. • catv • chat •
chattr — Change file attributes on a Linux file system. •
chgrp — Change group of one or more files. •
chmod — Change mode of listed files. •
chown — Change owner of one or more files. • chpasswd • chpst •
chroot — Run command within a new root directory. • chrt • chvt •
cksum — For each file, output crc32 checksum value, length and name of file. •
clear — Clear the screen. •
cmp — Compare the contents of two files. •
comm — Select or reject lines common to two files. •
cp — Copy files. •
cpio — Copy files into and out of a "newc" format cpio archive. • crond • crontab • cryptpw •
cut — Print selected parts of lines from each FILE to standard output. •
date — Set/get the current date/time. •
dc — desk calculator •
dd — Copy a file with converting and formatting. • deallocvt • delgroup • deluser • depmod • devmem •
df — Print filesystem usage statistics. • dhcprelay •
diff — Compare two files. •
dirname — Show directory portion of path. • dnsd • dnsdomainname •
dos2unix — Convert newline format from dos "\r\n" to unix "\n". • dpkg •
du — Show disk usage, space consumed by files and directories. • dumpkmap • dumpleases •
echo — Display a specified line of text. • ed • eject •
env — Set the environment for command invocation, or list environment variables. • envdir • envuidgid •
expand — Expand tabs to spaces according to tabstops. • expr • fakeidentd • false • fbset • fbsplash • fdflush • fdformat • fdisk • find • findfs • flash_lock • flash_unlock • fold • free • freeramdisk • fsck.minix • fsck • fsync • ftpd • ftpget • ftpput • fuser • getopt •
getty •
grep — Search for PATTERN in each FILE or standard input. • gunzip — Compressed file expansion. • gzip — File compression. • hd • hdparm • head • hexdump • hostid • hostname • httpd —
HTTP server daemon • hush • hwclock • id • ifconfig • ifdown • ifenslave • ifplugd • ifup • inetd • inotifyd • insmod • install • ionice • ip • ipaddr • ipcalc • ipcrm • ipcs • iplink • iproute • iprule • iptunnel • kbd_mode •
kill — Send a signal to a process. • killall • klogd • last • length • less • linux32 • linux64 • linuxrc •
ln — Create a link named LINK_NAME or DIRECTORY to the specified TARGET. • loadfont • loadkmap • logger • login — Begin a new session on the system • logname • logread • losetup • lpd • lpq • lpr • ls — List of files or folders • lsattr • lsmod • lzmacat • lzop • lzopcat • makemime • man • md5sum • mdev — akin to udev • mesg • microcom • mkdir — Create a folder • mkdosfs • mkfifo • mkfs.minix • mkfs.vfat • mknod • mkpasswd • mkswap • mktemp • modprobe •
more — View FILE or standard input one screen-full at a time •
mount — Mount file systems • mountpoint • mt •
mv — move file • nameif •
nc — networking Swiss army knife. • netstat — Display networking information. • nice • nmeter • nohup • nslookup • ntpc • ntpsync • nvram • od • openvt • passwd • patch • pgrep • pidof — List PIDs of all processes with names that match NAMEs • ping6 •
ping — Send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets to network hosts • pipe_progress • pivot_root • pkill • popmaildir • printenv • printf •
ps — Report process status • pscan • pwd — Print working directory • raidautorun • rdate • rdev • readlink • readprofile • reformime • renice • reset • resize •
rm — Erase file • rmdir — Remove directory • rmmod • route • rpm • rstats — Copyright of BusyBox •
rx •
script • scriptreplay • sed — Text stream editor • sendmail • seq • setarch • setconsole • setfont • sh • sha1sum — Compute and check SHA-1 message digest • sha256sum — Compute and check SHA-256 message digest • sha512sum • showkey • slattach •
sleep — Suspend program execution for a specified time • softlimit • sort • split •
stat •
strings • stty — Change and print terminal line settings •
su — Execute commands with privileges of another user account •
sum — Checksum and count blocks in a file •
sv • switch_root •
sync — Write all buffered file system blocks to disk •
tac — Concatenate and print files in reverse line order •
tail — Output last of file •
tar •
tee — Send output to multiple files •
test — Built-in evaluation •
time •
top •
touch — Update the last-modified date on the given FILE[s] •
tr — Translate or delete characters •
true •
tty • udhcpc — Small DHCP client • umount — Unmount file systems •
uname — Display system information • uptime — Tell how long the system has been running. • uudecode • uuencode • usleep — Pause for N [microseconds] • vconfig — VLAN (802.1q) configuration program • vlock — Virtual Console lock program •
vi — (visual) Edit FILE • volname — Return volume name •
watch — Execute a program periodically •
watchdog — Software watchdog daemon •
wc — Word, line, and byte or character count •
which — Shows the full path of (shell) commands •
who — Display who is on the system •
whoami — Print effective userid • xargs — Construct argument lists and invoke utility •
yes — to print a string repetitively •
zcat — Uncompress to stdout == Examples ==