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

Convert CSV to JSON
Replace 'csv_file.csv' with your filename.

rsync directory tree including only files that match a certain find result.
'-mtime -10' syncs only files newer 10 days (-mtime is just one example, use whatever find expressions you need) printf %P: File's name with the name of the command line argument under which it was found removed. this way, you can use any src directory, no need to cd into your src directory first. using \\0 in printf and a corresponding --from0 in rsync ensures that even filenames with newline characters work (thanks syssyphus for #3808). both, #1481 and #3808 just work if you either copy the current directory (.) , or the filesystem root (/), otherwise the output from find and the source dir from rsync just don't match. #7685 works with an arbitrary source directory.

Check whether laptop is running on battery or cable

Split a file one piece at a time, when using the split command isn't an option (not enough disk space)
bs = buffer size (basically defined the size of a "unit" used by count and skip) count = the number of buffers to copy (16m * 32 = 1/2 gig) skip = (32 * 2) we are grabbing piece 3...which means 2 have already been written so skip (2 * count) i will edit this later if i can to make this all more understandable

find all active IP addresses in a network
I just added the args [arp-scan --localnet] which works for Debian users, because the package 'arp' has name 'arp-scan', and it doesn't works with the argument 'arp'.

Rename files in batch

How to run a command on a list of remote servers read from a file
The important thing to note in this command, is the "-n" flag.

Countdown Clock
Simple countdown clock that should be quite portable across any Bourne-compatible shell. I used to teach for a living, and I would run this code when it was time for a break. Usually, I would set "MIN" to 15 for a 15-minute break. The computer would be connected to a projector, so this would be projected on screen, front and center, for all to see.

Find files with the same names in several directories.
cat file1 file2 file3|sort|uniq -d finds the same lines in several files, especially in files with lists of files.

Watch the progress of 'dd'
Only slightly different than previous commands. The benefit is that your "watch" should die when the dd command has completed. (Of course this would depend on /proc being available)


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: