The Android Debug Bridge (adb) provides a Unix shell that you can use to run a variety of commands on an emulator or connected device.
ADB Shell Commands
Issuing Shell Commands
You can use the shell command to issue commands, with or without entering the adb remote shell on the emulator/device. To issue a single command without entering a remote shell, use the shell command like this:
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adb [-d|-e|-s <serialnumber>] shell adb shell</serialnumber> |
List of all attached device
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devices adb devices |
Download a specified file from an device to your computer
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pull adb pull |
Upload a specified file from your computer to an device
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push adb push |
List directory contents
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ls adb shell ls |
Change directory
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cd adb shell cd |
Remove files or directories
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rm adb shell rm |
Make directories
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mkdir adb shell mkdir |
Create empty file
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touch adb shell touch |
Current working directory location
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pwd adb shell pwd |
Copy files and directories
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cp adb shell cp |
Move or rename files
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mv adb shell mv |
Starts (restarts) an emulator/device instance
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start adb shell start |
Stops execution of an emulator/device instance
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stop adb shell stop |
Prints kernel debugging messages to the screen
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dmesg adb shell dmesg |
Show/manipulate routing, devices, policy routing and tunnels
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ip adb shell ip |
Network statistics
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netstat adb shell netstat |
Network connection tool
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netcfg adb shell netcfg |
Test the connection and latency between two network connection
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ping adb shell ping |
Using activity manager (am)
Activity manager (am) tool to perform various system actions, such as start an activity, force-stop a process, broadcast an intent, modify the device screen properties, and more. While in a shell, the syntax is:
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am <command /> adb shell am |
Available activity manager commands:
Start an Activity specified by
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start [options] <intent> adb shell am start</intent> |
Start the Service specified by
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startservice [options] <intent> adb shell am startservice</intent> |
Kill all processes associated with
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kill [options] <package> adb shell am kill</package> |
Using package manager (pm)
Within an adb shell, you can issue commands with the package manager (pm) tool to perform actions and queries on application packages installed on the device. While in a shell, the syntax is:
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pm <command /> adb shell pm |
Available activity manager commands:
Prints all packages, optionally only those whose package name contains the text in
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list packages [options] <filter> adb shell pm list packages</filter> |
Prints all known permission groups
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list permission-groups adb shell pm list permission-groups |
Prints all known permissions, optionally only those in
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list permissions [options] <group> adb shell pm list permissions </group> |
Prints all features of the system
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list features adb shell pm list features |
Prints all users on the system
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list users adb shell pm list users |
Installs a package (specified by
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install [options] <path> adb shell pm install </path> |
Taking a device screenshot
The screencap command is a shell utility for taking a screenshot of a device display. While in a shell, the syntax is:
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screencap <filename> adb shell screencap </filename> |
Recording a device screen
The screenrecord command is a shell utility for recording the display of devices running Android 4.4 (API level 19) and higher. The utility records screen activity to an MPEG-4 file.
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screenrecord [options] <filename> adb shell screenrecord </filename> |
List of all the available shell programs
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ls /system/bin adb shell ls /system/bin |
More commands
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ATFWD-daemon PktRspTest StoreKeybox adb am app_process app_process32 applypatch appops appwidget atrace auditd bcc blkid bmgr bootanimation brctl btnvtool bu bugreport cat chargemon chcon chmod chown clatd clear clearpad_fwloader clmcheck cmp cnd content cp crda credmgrd ctrlaltdel curl dalvikvm dalvikvm32 date dd debuggerd dex2oat df dhcpcd diag_callback_client diag_klog diag_mdlog diag_socket_log diag_uart_log display_color_calib dmesg dnsmasq dpm dpmd drmdiagapp drmserver du dumpstate dumpsys dun-server dxhdcpd e2fsck ebtables efsks exfatck exfatdebug exfatinfo exfatlabel fast-dormancy fm_qsoc_patches fmconfig fmfactorytest fmfactorytestserver fota-snoop fsck_msdos ftmdaemon garden_app getenforce getevent getprop getsebool gpsone_daemon grabramdump grep gzip hci_qcomm_init hd hostapd hostapd_cli id idd-logreader iddd idmap ifconfig iftop illumination_service ime input insmod installd ioctl ionice ip ip6tables iptables irsc_util isdbtmmtest iw keymaster_test keystore kill ks linker lmkd ln load_policy loc_launcher location-mq log logcat logd logwrapper lowi-server lowi_test ls lsmod lsof lsusb make_ext4fs mcStarter md5 mdm_helper mdnsd media mediaserver mkdir mkexfat mknod mkswap mm-jpeg-dec-test mm-jpeg-dec-test-client mm-jpeg-enc-test mm-jpeg-enc-test-client mm-jps-enc-test mm-mpo-dec-test mm-mpo-enc-test mm-qcamera-app mm-qcamera-daemon mm-qcamera-test mm-qcamera-testsuite-client monkey mount mpdecision mssconfig mtpd multi-cdf-symlinker.sh mv n_smux nandread ndc netcfg netd netmgrd netstat newfs_msdos nl_listener nohup notify oatdump oemwvtest patchoat perfd ping ping6 pm pppd printenv prlimit profiler_daemon ps ptt_socket_app qcks qmuxd qseecom_sample_client qseecom_security_test qseecomd quipc_igsn quipc_main racoon radish readlink reboot regdbdump renice requestsync resize2fs restorecon rild rm rmdir rmmod rmt_storage route run-as runcon sapd scd scdnotifier schedtest schedtop screencap screenrecord sdcard sendevent sensorservice service servicemanager setenforce setprop setsebool settings setup_fs sh sleep sm_native_svc smd ssr_diag start startup-prober stop suntrold surfaceflinger svc swapoff swapon sync system_monitor ta2bin ta_qmi_client taimport tc test_diag test_gemini time_daemon toolbox top touch tune2fs uiautomator umount uncrypt updatemiscta uptime usbeng usbhub usbhub_init usf_epos usf_tester v4l2-qcamera-app vdc vmstat vold watchprops wcnss_service wdsdaemon wipe wm wpa_supplicant xssm xtwifi-client xtwifi-inet-agent |