51 Highly Useful yet lesser known commands which are very powerful in daily use.
- sudo!!: Execute the previous command in sudo.
- Python -m SimpleHTTPServer : Execute a server in the current working directory using port 8000
- mtr: a combination of ping an traceroute commands
- Ctrl+x+e: Opens an editor in terminal
- nl : Outputs the content of text file with lines Numbered
- shuf : Randomly selects line/file/folder from a file/folder very similar to a shuffle
- ss : Outputs Socket Statistics.
- Last: returns the history of the last logged user
- curl ifconfig.me : Shows machine’s external IP Address.
- tree : Prints files and folders in tree-like fashion, recursively.
- Pstree : Prints running processes with child processes, recursively.
- command : Adding a space before the command ensures the command is not recorded in history
- stat : Shows the status information of a file as well as of a file system.
- . And . : A tweak which put the last command argument at prompt, in the order of last entered command, appearing first.
- Pv: command allows a user to see the progress of data through a pipeline, by giving the following information
- Mount | column -t : Lists mounted file system, in nice formatting with specification
- Ctrl + l: clear shell prompt, instantaneously.
- curl -u gmail_id –silent “https://mail.google.com/mail/feed/atom” | perl -ne ‘print “\t” if //; print “$2\n” if /(.*)/;’. This simple scripts, opens up, unread mail of an user, in the terminal itself.
- screen : Detach and Reattach, long running process from a session.
- file : Outputs information, regarding types of file.
- id : Print User and Group Id.
- ^foo^bar : Run last command with modification, without the need of rewriting the whole command again
- > file.txt : Flush the content of a text file, in a single go, from the command prompt.
- at : Run a particular command, time based.
- du -h –max-depth=1 Command : Outputs the size of all the files and folders within current folder, in human readable format.
- expr : Solve simple mathematical calculations from the terminal.
- look: Lookup for an English word, from the dictionary, in case of confusion, right from the shell
- yes : continues to print a sting, till interrupt instruction is given.
- factor: Gives all the possible factors of a decimal number.
- ping -i 60 -a IP_address : Pings the provided IP_address, and gives audible sound when host comes alive.
- tac : Prints content of a file, in reverse order.
- strace : A debugging tool.
- disown -a && exit Command : Run a command in background, even after terminal session is closed.
- getconf LONG_BIT Command : Output Machine Architecture, very clearly.
- while sleep 1;do tput sc;tput cup 0 $(($(tput cols)-29));date;tput rc;done & : The script outputs date and time on the top right corner of shell/ terminal.
- convert : converts the output of a command in picture, automatically.
- watch -t -n1 “date +%T|figlet” : Show animated digital clock at the prompt.
- host and dig : DNS lookup utility.
- dstat : Generates statistics regarding system resource.
- bind -p : Shows all the shortcuts available in Bash.
- Touch /forcefsck : Force file-system check on next boot.
- lsb_release : Prints distribution specification information.
- nc -ZV localhost port_number : Check if a specific port is open or not.
- curl ipinfo.io : Outputs Geographical Information, regarding an ip_address
- find .-user xyz : Lists all file owned by user ‘xyz’
- apt-get build-dep package_name: Build all the dependency, automatically while installing any specific package.
- lsof -iTCP:80 -sTCP:LISTEN. The script, outputs all the service/process using port 80
- find -size +100M : This command combination, Lists all the files/folders the size of which is 100M or more.
- pdftk : A nice way to concatenate a lot of pdf files, into one.
- ps -LF -u user_name : Outputs Processes and Threads of a user.
- Startx — :1 (This command creates another new X session).
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