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Use result of the last command
\$ which python /usr/bin/python \$ ll `!!` lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 2010-11-08 22:01 /usr/bin/python -> python2.6

Transfer large files/directories with no overhead over the network
This invokes tar on the remote machine and pipes the resulting tarfile over the network using ssh and is saved on the local machine. This is useful for making a one-off backup of a directory tree with zero storage overhead on the source. Variations on this include using compression on the source by using 'tar cfvp' or compression at the destination via $ ssh user@host "cd dir; tar cfp - *" | gzip - > file.tar.gz

Get AWS temporary credentials ready to export based on a MFA virtual appliance
You might want to secure your AWS operations requiring to use a MFA token. But then to use API or tools, you need to pass credentials generated with a MFA token. This commands asks you for the MFA code and retrieves these credentials using AWS Cli. To print the exports, you can use: `awk '{ print "export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=\"" $1 "\"\n" "export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=\"" $2 "\"\n" "export AWS_SESSION_TOKEN=\"" $3 "\"" }'` You must adapt the command line to include: * $MFA_IDis ARN of the virtual MFA or serial number of the physical one * TTL for the credentials

Find the package that installed a command

export iPad App list to txt file
This will generate the same output without changing the current directory, and filepath will be relative to the current directory. Note: it will (still) fail if your iTunes library is in a non-standard location.

copy file to clipboard
Loads file content on clipboard. Very useful when text selection size is higher than console size.

Which processes are listening on a specific port (e.g. port 80)
swap out "80" for your port of interest. Can use port number or named ports e.g. "http"

Shows what processes need to be restarted after system upgrade
This command can be installed in debian by the package debian-goodies. It also outputs the /etc/init.d/ commands that you need to do.

Prints total line count contribution per user for an SVN repository
make usable on OSX with filenames containing spaces. note: will still break if filenames contain newlines... possible, but who does that?!

Display the tree of all instance of a particular process


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