All commands (14,187)

  • Make alias pemanent fast

    Simple function to permanently add an alias to your profile. Tested on bash and Ksh, bash version above. Here is the ksh version: PERMA () { print "$@" >> ~/.profile; } Sample usage: PERMA alias la='ls -a'


    2
    PERMA () { echo "$@" >> ~/.bashrc; }
    zlemini · 2009-09-28 16:03:24 9
  • Perform a reverse DNS lookup

    Performs a reverse DNS lookup, variants include: nslookup 74.125.45.100 or: host 74.125.45.100 Show Sample Output


    4
    dig -x 74.125.45.100
    postrational · 2009-09-28 15:13:34 3
  • Change user, assume environment, stay in current dir

    I've used this a number of times troubleshooting user permissions. Instead of just 'su - user' you can throw another hyphen and stay in the original directory. Show Sample Output


    13
    su -- user
    matthewdavis · 2009-09-28 04:23:43 7
  • Makes a project directory, unless it exists; changes into the dir, and creates an empty git repository, all in one command

    gitstart ~/path/to/dir Initialized empty Git repository in /home/user/path/to/dir/.git/


    0
    gitstart () { if ! [[ -d "$@" ]]; then mkdir -p "$@" && cd "$@" && git init; else cd "$@" && git init; fi }
    xyz · 2009-09-28 01:12:32 3
  • Matrix Style

    I like the fact the Patola's version uses only ones and zeros, but I also like the sparse output of the other versions. This one combines both of those features and eliminates some unnecessary cruft. You can vary the sparseness by changing "$(($RANDOM % 5))" to another number. The number in this term "$(($RANDOM % 4))" controls how frequently the numbers are output bold.


    21
    echo -e "\e[32m"; while :; do for i in {1..16}; do r="$(($RANDOM % 2))"; if [[ $(($RANDOM % 5)) == 1 ]]; then if [[ $(($RANDOM % 4)) == 1 ]]; then v+="\e[1m $r "; else v+="\e[2m $r "; fi; else v+=" "; fi; done; echo -e "$v"; v=""; done
    dennisw · 2009-09-27 15:30:38 16
  • create pdf files from text files or stdout.


    7
    enscript jrandom.txt -o - | ps2pdf - ~/tmp/jrandom.pdf (from file) or: ls | enscript -o - | ps2pdf - ~/tmp/ls.pdf (from stdout)
    bartonski · 2009-09-27 15:15:16 6
  • Go get those photos from a Picasa album


    2
    wget 'link of a Picasa WebAlbum' -O - |perl -e'while(<>){while(s/"media":{"content":\[{"url":"(.+?\.JPG)//){print "$1\n"}}' |wget -w1 -i -
    aciancone · 2009-09-27 14:36:27 7
  • convert .rpm to .deb using alien

    convert to debian package file (deb) a redhat package file (rpm) , then you can install it by using dpkg , require alien package ( sudo apt-get install alien first ) Show Sample Output


    -5
    sudo alien --to-deb Your_PackAge.rpm
    eastwind · 2009-09-27 13:49:07 5
  • Disable beep sound from your computer

    This command will disable the beep sound from the PC speaker.


    5
    echo "blacklist pcspkr"|sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
    sliceoflinux · 2009-09-27 11:42:47 5
  • save date and time for each command in history

    Date-time format: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS Show Sample Output


    7
    export HISTTIMEFORMAT='%F %T '
    postrational · 2009-09-26 17:13:23 7
  • Install a LAMP server in a Debian based distribution

    The execution of this command will install a LAMP server (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) in a Debian based distribution. For example, in Ubuntu.


    5
    sudo tasksel install lamp-server
    sliceoflinux · 2009-09-26 08:15:03 8
  • Download a TiVo Show

    Download the last show on your TiVo DVR. Replace $MAK with your MAK see https://www3.tivo.com/tivo-mma/showmakey.do Replace $tivo with your TiVo's IP


    0
    curl -s -c /tmp/cookie -k -u tivo:$MAK --digest "$(curl -s -c /tmp/cookie -k -u tivo:$MAK --digest https://$tivo/nowplaying/index.html | sed 's;.*<a href="\([^"]*\)">Download MPEG-PS</a>.*;\1;' | sed 's|\&amp;|\&|')" | tivodecode -m $MAK -- - > tivo.mpg
    matthewbauer · 2009-09-26 03:00:46 5
  • Log a command's votes

    Log a command's votes, then run: gnuplot -persist <(echo "plot 'votes' with lines")


    0
    while true; do curl -s http://www.commandlinefu.com/commands/view/3643/log-a-commands-votes | grep 'id="num-votes-' | sed 's;.*id="num-votes-[0-9]*">\([0-9\-]*\)</div>;\1;' >> votes; sleep 10; done
    matthewbauer · 2009-09-26 00:55:24 44
  • save date and time for each command in history

    for the change stay in your history file , export command by writing it into your .bashrc Show Sample Output


    7
    export HISTTIMEFORMAT="%h/%d-%H:%M:%S "
    eastwind · 2009-09-25 22:42:28 7
  • Rip DVD to YouTube ready MPEG-4 AVI file using mencoder

    Rip DVD to YouTube ready AVI file, using MPEG-4 video codec and MP3 audio codec. Resizes to 320x240 and deinterlaces as needed.


    4
    mencoder -oac mp3lame -lameopts cbr=128 -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4 -ffourcc xvid -vf scale=320:-2,expand=:240:::1 -o output.avi dvd://0
    ivalladt · 2009-09-25 19:29:25 3
  • Display summary of git commit ids and messages for a given branch

    In color. Additionally you may define in your ~/.gitconfig and run it just as 'git one': one = log --pretty='format:%Cgreen%H %Cred%ai %Creset- %s'


    1
    git log --pretty='format:%Cgreen%H %Cred%ai %Creset- %s'
    levenbrech · 2009-09-25 19:18:37 36
  • Create a single-use TCP proxy with debug output to stderr

    or you can add "-x" to get a typical hexdump like output Show Sample Output


    5
    socat -v tcp4-l:<port> tcp4:<host>:<port>
    sitaram · 2009-09-25 17:10:16 4
  • Get all members from one AD group and put them in another AD group

    Interacting with Active Directory to add users from one group to another group. This prevents from having to deal with long DNs and copying, pasting problems. It executes once per returned object.


    -3
    for /F "DELIMS=""" %i in ('dsquery group -name SourceGroupName ^| dsget group -members') do dsquery group -name TargetGroupName | dsmod group -addmbr %i
    miketheman · 2009-09-25 16:32:33 10
  • List Network Tools in Linux

    Get all the networking related commands for your distro Show Sample Output


    13
    apropos network |more
    shaiss · 2009-09-25 15:05:33 12
  • Detect if we are running on a VMware virtual machine

    If you run this command on a VMWare Virtual Machine, it will return the string "VMware Virtual Platform". If you run it on a physical machine, it will return nothing. Useful for having a script determine if it's running on a VM or not. Of course, you must have dmidecode installed for this to work. Try it this way in a script: ISVM=$(dmidecode | awk '/VMware Virtual Platform/ {print $3,$4,$5}') Then test if $ISVM has text in it, or is blank.


    7
    dmidecode | awk '/VMware Virtual Platform/ {print $3,$4,$5}'
    SuperFly · 2009-09-25 14:46:35 13
  • Colorized grep in less


    0
    ack --pager='less -r'
    unixmonkey5780 · 2009-09-25 13:01:58 3
  • Create/open/use encrypted directory

    Create/open/use an encrypted directory encfs needs to be installed During creation easiest to use default values The encrypted files will be in ~/.crypt and you will work as usual in ~/crypt To close the encrypted directory run: fusermount -u ~/crypt When you switch off the computer the encrypted directory will be automatically closed This example uses /home/user/crypt as encrypted directory I use ubuntu linux 8.04 and I am also the creator of www.minihowto.org


    8
    encfs ~/.crypt ~/crypt
    bkn390 · 2009-09-25 10:13:39 5
  • Install a deb package

    Install a deb package you have downloaded (synaptic has to be closed). (dpkg-dev needs to be installed) After that you may have to run following: sudo apt-get install -f (that should fix any dependency problems) I am using ubuntu linux


    -7
    sudo dpkg -i packagename.deb
    bkn390 · 2009-09-25 09:54:04 13
  • Remove blank lines from a file using grep and save output to new file


    30
    grep . filename > newfilename
    alvinx · 2009-09-25 09:25:34 17
  • Backup all MySQL Databases to individual files

    No need to loop when we have `xargs`. The sed command filters out the first line of `show databases` output, which is always "Database".


    5
    mysql -e 'show databases' | sed -n '2,$p' | xargs -I DB 'mysqldump DB > DB.sql'
    mislav · 2009-09-25 08:43:06 9
  • ‹ First  < 442 443 444 445 446 >  Last ›

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

Send e-mail if host is 'dead' or not reachable
Cleaner with a mailto assignment in crontab (if the command fails you get an email): MAILTO=admin@example.com 10,30,50 * * * * ping -q -c1 -w3 192.168.0.14 >/dev/null

List all information about all files (in current dir)
This is a funny usage of the traditional command ls. It could be basically simplified as: $ ls -a -l Duplicating arguments is permitted: $ ls -a -l -l And this markup could be shortened as: $ ls -al Extra note: To view filesizes like a pro, pray for your God: $ ls -allah

Bitcoin Brainwallet Checksum Calculator
A bitcoin "brainwallet" is a secret passphrase you carry in your brain. The Bitcoin Brainwallet Exponent Calculator is the second of three functions needed to calculate a bitcoin PRIVATE key. Roughly, checksum is the first 8 hex digits of sha256(sha256(0x80+sha256(passphrase))) Note that this is a bash function, which means you have to type its name to invoke it

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

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

count of files from each subfolder
Find the number of files from each folder

quickly formats a fat partition. usefull for flash drives

Recursively search for large files. Show size and location.

Convert all .flac from a folder subtree in 192Kb mp3
find . -type f -iname '*.flac' # searches from the current folder recursively for .flac audio files | # the output (a .flac audio files with relative path from ./ ) is piped to while read FILE; do FILENAME="${FILE%.*}"; flac -cd "$FILE" | lame -b 192 - "${FILENAME}.mp3"; done # for each line on the list: # FILE gets the file with .flac extension and relative path # FILENAME gets FILE without the .flac extension # run flac for that FILE with output piped to lame conversion to mp3 using 192Kb bitrate

Find the annual salary of any White House staffer.
Query the Socrata Open Data API being used by the White House to find any employee's salary using curl, grep and awk. Change the value of the search parameter (example uses Axelrod) to the name of any White House staffer to see their annual salary.

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: