What version of Linux do I have? Find out at command line

Command to find of what version of Linux am I running?

1. lsb_release -a – Best command to print Linux version
2. hostnamectl – See Linux name and version
3. cat /etc/*release – Show Linux version and distro info
4. uname -a : Display system information

What version of Linux do I have? Find out at command line

Open the terminal application and type the following command to see Linux version:
hostnamectl

Look for “Operating System” in above screen shot. One can use the grep command or egrep command as follows:
hostnamectl | grep "Operating System"
hostnamectl | egrep "(System|Kernel)"
Sample outputs:

  Operating System: CentOS Linux 7 (Core)
            Kernel: Linux 3.10.0-862.14.4.el7.x86_64

Here is another output from my RHEL server/vm running at cloud data center:
$ hostnamectl
Sample outputs:

   Static hostname: rhel7-nixcraft
         Icon name: computer-vm
           Chassis: vm
        Machine ID: bfce903b80a54432b8b992b24603144d
           Boot ID: 97227bae46f8413a946110683f9d5ed1
    Virtualization: kvm
  Operating System: Red Hat Enterprise Linux
       CPE OS Name: cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7.5:GA:server
            Kernel: Linux 3.10.0-862.14.4.el7.x86_64
      Architecture: x86-64

Command to find version of Linux

Another option that works is to issue the lsb_release command:
lsb_release -a

The command indicates that I am using “SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3” release 12.3. Here is another output from my Debian server:

No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID:	Debian
Description:	Debian GNU/Linux 9.6 (stretch)
Release:	9.6
Codename:	stretch

What’s the version of my OS?

If above command not working try the following cat command:
$ cat /etc/*release
Here is output from my Fedora Linux box:

Fedora release 28 (Twenty Eight)
NAME=Fedora
VERSION="28 (Twenty Eight)"
ID=fedora
VERSION_ID=28
PLATFORM_ID="platform:f28"
PRETTY_NAME="Fedora 28 (Twenty Eight)"
ANSI_COLOR="0;34"
CPE_NAME="cpe:/o:fedoraproject:fedora:28"
HOME_URL="https://fedoraproject.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicating_and_getting_help"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugzilla.redhat.com/"
REDHAT_BUGZILLA_PRODUCT="Fedora"
REDHAT_BUGZILLA_PRODUCT_VERSION=28
REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT="Fedora"
REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT_VERSION=28
PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Legal:PrivacyPolicy"
Fedora release 28 (Twenty Eight)
Fedora release 28 (Twenty Eight)

Find Linux Kernel version command

Simply type the following cat command or uname command:
$ uname
$ uname -mrs
$ uname -a
$ cat /proc/version

A note about GUI method

Go to your Linux system settings and and click on details. You will see info as follows:

Checking your Ubuntu Version using GUI

Conclusion

You just learn various command to get information about your Linux disro.