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Remove lines that contain a specific pattern($1) from file($2).
The -i option in sed allows in-place editing of the input file. Replace myexpression with any regular expression. /expr/d syntax means if the expression matches then delete the line. You can reverse the functionality to keep matching lines only by using: $ sed -i -n '/myexpression/p' /path/to/file.txt

Isolate file name from full path/find output
Quick method of isolating filenames from a full path using expansion. Much quicker than using "basename"

Find the package that installed a command

Show a file in less without wrapping long lines

make computer speaking to you :)
you can listen to your computer, but don't be carried away

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"

How to copy CD/DVD into hard disk (.iso)
A dear friend of mine asked me how do I copy a DVD to your hard drive? If you want to make a copy of the ISO image that was burned to a CD or DVD, insert that medium into your CD/DVD drive and (assuming /dev/cdrom is associated with your computer?s CD drive) type the following command

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

Convert seconds to [DD:][HH:]MM:SS
Converts any number of seconds into days, hours, minutes and seconds. sec2dhms() { declare -i SS="$1" D=$(( SS / 86400 )) H=$(( SS % 86400 / 3600 )) M=$(( SS % 3600 / 60 )) S=$(( SS % 60 )) [ "$D" -gt 0 ] && echo -n "${D}:" [ "$H" -gt 0 ] && printf "%02g:" "$H" printf "%02g:%02g\n" "$M" "$S" }

swap the java version being used
You have openjdk and sun java installed. Many of your java plugins will not work properly. Something called IcedTea (the java web plugin) keeps crashing. Run this and select sun java to use sun java.


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