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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.

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Copy via tar pipe while preserving file permissions (cp does not!; run this command with root!)
cp options: -p will preserve the file mode, ownership, and timestamps -r will copy files recursively also, if you want to keep symlinks in addition to the above: use the -a/--archive option

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

List of commands you use most often

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

Create a temporary file
To create directory, use: $ tempdir=$(/bin/mktemp -d)

Search back through previous commands
Searches backwards through your command-history for the typed text. Repeatedly hitting Ctrl-R will search progressively further. Return invokes the command.

command line Google I'm Feeling Lucky
opens the Google I'm Feeling Lucky result in lynx, the command line browser

Check disk for bad sectors
Checks HDD for bad sectors, just like scandisk or chkdisk under some other operating system ;-).

Create a mirror of a local folder, on a remote server
Create a exact mirror of the local folder "/root/files", on remote server 'remote_server' using SSH command (listening on port 22) (all files & folders on destination server/folder will be deleted)

check open ports without netstat or lsof


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