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 37
  • 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

Stream YouTube URL directly to MPlayer
A function for streaming youtube to mplayer. The option "-g" for youtube-dl tells it to output the direct video URL, instead of downloading the video. "-fs" tells MPlayer to go FullScreen, and "-quit" makes it less verbose. Requires: youdube-dl ( http://bitbucket.org/rg3/youtube-dl/ ) (Tested in zsh)

find previously entered commands (requires configuring .inputrc)
[Click the "show sample output" link to see how to use this keystroke.]   Meta-p is one of my all time most used and most loved features of working at the command line. It's also one that surprisingly few people know about. To use it with bash (actually in any readline application), you'll need to add a couple lines to your .inputrc then have bash reread the .inputrc using the bind command:   $ echo '"\en": history-search-forward' >> ~/.inputrc   $ echo '"\ep": history-search-backward' >> ~/.inputrc   $ bind -f ~/.inputrc     I first learned about this feature in tcsh. When I switched over to bash about fifteen years ago, I had assumed I'd prefer ^R to search in reverse. Intuitively ^R seemed better since you could search for an argument instead of a command. I think that, like using a microkernel for the Hurd, it sounded so obviously right fifteen years ago, but that was only because the older way had benefits we hadn't known about.     I think many of you who use the command line as much as I do know that we can just be thinking about what results we want and our fingers will start typing the commands needed. I assume it's some sort of parallel processing going on with the linguistic part of the brain. Unfortunately, that parallelism doesn't seem to work (at least for me) with searching the history. I realize I can save myself typing using the history shortly after my fingers have already started "speaking". But, when I hit ^R in Bash, everything I've already typed gets ignored and I have to stop and think again about what I was doing. It's a small bump in the road but it can be annoying, especially for long-time command line users. Usually M-p is exactly what I need to save myself time and trouble.     If you use the command line a lot, please give Meta-p a try. You may be surprised how it frees your brain to process more smoothly in parallel. (Or maybe it won't. Post here and let me know either way. ☺)

Using ASCII Art output on MPlayer
Not so useful. Just a cool feature.

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

Count number of Line for all the files in a directory recursively

list current processes writing to hard drive

Display the top ten running processes - sorted by memory usage

I finally found out how to use notify-send with at or cron
The simplest way to do it. Works for me, at least. (Why are the variables being set?)

Separates each frame of a animated gif file to a counted file, then appends the frames together into one sheet file. Useful for making sprite sheets for games.
requires imagemagick

Download all MegaTokyo strips
A simple script for download all the MegaTokyo strips from the first to the last one

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: