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2010-03-18 - Top 10 commands explained
There's a great article by Peteris Krumins explaining the current top 10 commands: http://www.catonmat.net/blog/top-ten-one-liners-from-commandlinefu-explained/
2010-03-03 - Commandlinefu @ SXSW 2010
Am going to be at SXSW this year, in case you want to submit any CLI nuggets or suggestions to me in person. Ping me on the @codeinthehole Twitter account.
2009-09-12 - Email updates now available
You can now enable email updates to let you know each time you're command is commented on.
2009-07-11 - API and javascript blog widget now available
A simple API has been released, allowing commands to be retrieved in various formats. This also allows commands to be embedded on blogs/homepages.
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Terminal - All commands - 5,761 results
sudo !!
2009-01-26 10:26:48
User: root
546

Useful when you forget to use sudo for a command. "!!" grabs the last run command.

python -m SimpleHTTPServer
:w !sudo tee %
2009-02-25 16:27:24
User: skinp
Functions: tee
Tags: vim sudo tee
317

I often forget to sudo before editing a file I don't have write permissions on. When you come to save that file and get the infamous "E212: Can't open file for writing", just issue that vim command in order to save the file without the need to save it to a temp file and then copy it back again.

cd -
^foo^bar
2009-01-26 13:25:37
User: root
240

Really useful for when you have a typo in a previous command. Also, arguments default to empty so if you accidentally run:

echo "no typozs"

you can correct it with

^z
cp filename{,.bak}
mtr google.com
2009-02-21 07:53:32
User: fryfrog
194

mtr combines the functionality of the traceroute and ping programs in a single network diagnostic tool.

As mtr starts, it investigates the network connection between the host mtr runs on and HOSTNAME. by sending packets with purposly low TTLs. It continues to send packets with low TTL, noting the response time of the intervening routers. This allows mtr to print the response percentage and response times of the internet route to HOSTNAME. A sudden increase in packetloss or response time is often an indication of a bad (or simply over‐loaded) link.

!whatever:p
2009-02-05 21:39:39
User: jonty
178

!whatever will search your command history and execute the first command that matches 'whatever'. If you don't feel safe doing this put :p on the end to print without executing. Recommended when running as superuser.

ctrl-x e
2009-03-11 09:26:05
User: fool
163

Next time you are using your shell, try typing ctrl-x e (that is holding control key press x and then e). The shell will take what you've written on the command line thus far and paste it into the editor specified by $EDITOR. Then you can edit at leisure using all the powerful macros and commands of vi, emacs, nano, or whatever.

$ssh-copy-id user@host
ffmpeg -f x11grab -s wxga -r 25 -i :0.0 -sameq /tmp/out.mpg
> file.txt
2009-01-26 10:22:31
User: root
140

For when you want to flush all content from a file without removing it (hat-tip to Marc Kilgus).

curl -u user:pass -d status="Tweeting from the shell" http://twitter.com/statuses/update.xml
ssh -N -L2001:localhost:80 somemachine
reset
2009-01-28 22:22:01
User: root
Functions: reset
133

If you bork your terminal by sending binary data to STDOUT or similar, you can get your terminal back using this command rather than killing and restarting the session. Note that you often won't be able to see the characters as you type them.

echo "ls -l" | at midnight
2009-01-25 21:07:42
User: root
Functions: at echo
111

This is an alternative to cron which allows a one-off task to be scheduled for a certain time.

dd if=/dev/dsp | ssh -c arcfour -C username@host dd of=/dev/dsp
2009-02-08 10:10:00
User: morpheus
Functions: dd ssh
105

This will output the sound from your microphone port to the ssh target computer's speaker port. The sound quality is very bad, so you will hear a lot of hissing.

netstat -tlnp
2009-02-15 14:20:25
User: fulat2k
Functions: netstat
99

The PID will only be printed if you're holding a root equivalent ID.

mount -t tmpfs tmpfs /mnt -o size=1024m
2009-02-06 00:33:08
User: ajrobinson
Functions: mount
99

Makes a partition in ram which is useful if you need a temporary working space as read/write access is fast.

Be aware that anything saved in this partition will be gone after your computer is turned off.

dig +short txt <keyword>.wp.dg.cx
2009-07-31 16:08:59
User: drizzt
Functions: dig
97

Query Wikipedia by issuing a DNS query for a TXT record. The TXT record will also include a short URL to the complete corresponding Wikipedia entry.You can also write a little shell script like:

$ cat wikisole.sh

#!/bin/sh

dig +short txt ${1}.wp.dg.cx

and run it like

./wikisole.sh unix

were your first option ($1) will be used as search term.

ssh user@host cat /path/to/remotefile | diff /path/to/localfile -
2009-02-04 11:33:19
User: root
Functions: cat diff ssh
96

Useful for checking if there are differences between local and remote files.

mount | column -t
2009-03-20 14:18:56
User: thechile
Functions: column mount
94

Particularly useful if you're mounting different drives, using the following command will allow you to see all the filesystems currently mounted on your computer and their respective specs with the added benefit of nice formatting.

<space>command
2009-03-17 16:25:29
User: eaZy
91

Prepending one or more spaces to your command won't be saved in history.

Useful for pr0n or passwords on the commandline.

Tested on BASH.

!!:gs/foo/bar
2009-02-11 10:20:15
User: Tronks
90

Very useful for rerunning a long command changing some arguments globally.

As opposed to ^foo^bar, which only replaces the first occurrence of foo, this one changes every occurrence.

sshfs name@server:/path/to/folder /path/to/mount/point
2009-02-05 20:17:41
User: ihasn
88

Install SSHFS from http://fuse.sourceforge.net/sshfs.html

Will allow you to mount a folder security over a network.