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Short one line while loop that outputs parameterized content from one file to another
The above is an example of grabbing only the first column. You can define the start and end points specifically by chacater position using the following command: $ while read l; do echo ${l:10:40}; done < three-column-list.txt > column-c10-c40.txt Of course, it doesn't have to be a column, or extraction, it can be replacement $ while read l; do echo ${l/foo/bar}; done < list-with-foo.txt > list-with-bar.txt Read more about parameter expansion here: http://wiki.bash-hackers.org/syntax/pe Think of this as an alternative to awk or sed for file operations

RTFM function
Same as the other rtfm's, but using the more correct xdg-open instead of $BROWSER. I can't find a way to open info only if the term exists, so it stays out of my version.

Securely destroy data on given device hugely faster than /dev/urandom
This command generates a pseudo-random data stream using aes-256-ctr with a seed set by /dev/urandom. Redirect to a block device for secure data scrambling.

Put a console clock in top right corner
Gives not only date but also some interesting status about the System

vim's pastetoggle: when you press f9 'paste' is on , press f9 again and 'paste' is off, and so forth (works in insert-mode and command-mode)

Maximum PNG compression with optipng, advpng, and advdef
optipng and advancecomp (for the the advpng and advdef tools) are the best FOSS tools for losslessly compressing PNGs. With the above tool chain, you can cut off as much as 20% off a PNG's file size.

drop first column of output by piping to this
An advantage is that this doesn't modify remained string at all. One can change {0,1} with {0,n} to drop several columns

Disable the ping response
It really disables all ICMP responses not only the ping one. If you want to enable it you can use: $ sudo -s "echo 0 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/icmp_echo_ignore_all"

quickly rename a file

convert markdown to PDF
This is the one-line version of this htmldoc + markdown combo to convert markdown formatted text to PDF files to distribute to your non-savvy project managers. http://scottnesbitt.net/ubuntublog/?p=114


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