All commands (14,187)

What's this?

commandlinefu.com is the place to record those command-line gems that you return to again and again. That way others can gain from your CLI wisdom and you from theirs too. All commands can be commented on, discussed and voted up or down.

Share Your Commands


Check These Out

Quickly create an alias for changing into the current directory

Start a local web server in the current directory on a random dynamic port.

Bash prompt with user name, host, history number, current dir and just a touch of color
I put that line in my .bash_profile (OS X) and .bashrc (Linux). Here is a summary of what the \char means: n=new line, u=user name, h=host, !=history number, w=current work directory The \[\e[32m\] sequence set the text to bright green and \[\e[0m\] returns to normal color. For more information on what you can set in your bash prompt, google 'bash prompt'

Trace and view network traffic
Trace and view network traffic. I made this far too complicated.. now fixed, thanks zolden.

Generate a list of items from a couple of items lists A and B, getting (B - A ) set
ItemsListtoAvoid (A) could be a list of files with a special characteristic to exclude. It can be a result of previous processing list, ex. a list of files containing a special string. AlItemsList.txt (B) Is a complete list of items including some or all items in A. $Difference is saved in ItemsDifference.txt

list block devices
Shows all block devices in a tree with descruptions of what they are.

sshfs usage
you can use this command for mounting local directory to a remost directory..

Find usb device in realtime
Using this command you can track a moment when usb device was attached.

Backup your LDAP
Simple way to backup your LDAP entries: put this line on your crontab. The -n switch identifies the dbnum you want to backup (alternatively you can use -b suffix. Check man slapcat for your personal switches)

prevent accidents and test your command with echo
if you're using wildcards * or ? in your command, and if you're deleting, moving multiple files, it's always safe to see how those wildcards will expand. if you put "echo" in front of your command, the expanded form of your command will be printed. It's better safe than sorry.


Stay in the loop…

Follow the Tweets.

Every new command is wrapped in a tweet and posted to Twitter. Following the stream is a great way of staying abreast of the latest commands. For the more discerning, there are Twitter accounts for commands that get a minimum of 3 and 10 votes - that way only the great commands get tweeted.

» http://twitter.com/commandlinefu
» http://twitter.com/commandlinefu3
» http://twitter.com/commandlinefu10

Subscribe to the feeds.

Use your favourite RSS aggregator to stay in touch with the latest commands. There are feeds mirroring the 3 Twitter streams as well as for virtually every other subset (users, tags, functions,…):

Subscribe to the feed for: