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Empty a file
The downside of output redirection is that you need permissions. So something like $ > file won't play nicely w/ sudo. You'd need to do something like $ bash -c '> file' instead, you could go w/ $ sudo truncate -s0 file

Backup files incremental with rsync to a NTFS-Partition
This will backup the _contents_ of /media/SOURCE to /media/TARGET where TARGET is formatted with ntfs. The --modify-window lets rsync ignore the less accurate timestamps of NTFS.

sort through source to find most common authors

Format partition with ext4 but without a journal
For slow flash memory (cheap thumb drive), ext4 is the fastest stable file system for all use cases with no relevant exception: http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/tutorials/7208/1 Since we can usually dispense with the benefits of a journal for this type of storage, this is a way to achieve the least awful I/O-speed. Disabling the journal for an existing ext4 partition can be achieved using $ tune2fs -O ^has_journal /dev/sdXN Note that it is often recommended to format removable flash media with ext2, due to the lack of a journal. ext4 has many advantages over ext2 even without the journal, with much better speed as one of the consequences. So the only usecase for ext2 would be compatibility with very old software.

disk space email alert
put it in crontab to get an alert when / is over 89% utilization.

Merge Two or More PDFs into a New Document
require the pdftk package

edit, view or execute last modified file with a single key-press
Copy this function to command line, press 'Enter' 'f'' 'Enter' to execute (sentence on the left written only for newbies). Hint 'e|x|v|1..9' in front of displayed last modified file name means: "Press 'e' for edit,'x' for execute,'v' for view or a digit-key '1..9' to touch one file from the recent files list to be last modified" and suggested (hidden files are listed too, else remove 'a' from 'ls -tarp' statement if not intended). If you find this function useful you can then rename it if needed and append or include into your ~/.bashrc config script. With the command $ . ~/.bashrc the function then can be made immediately available. In the body of the function modifications can be made, i.e. replaced joe editor command or added new option into case statement, for example 'o) exo-open $h;;' command for opening file with default application - or something else (here could not be added since the function would exceed 255 chars). To cancel execution of function started is no need to press Ctrl-C - if the mind changed and want to leave simple Enter-press is enough. Once defined, this function can with $ typeset -f f command be displayed in easy readable form

Deleting Files from svn which are missing

Backup a file with a date-time stamp
Appends the input file with the date format YYYY-MM-DD.bak. Also runs silently if you remove the -v on the cp at the end of the function.

Ruby - nslookup against a list of IP`s or FQDN`s
This version uses host and no ruby.


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