All commands (14,187)

  • Remove trailing whitespaces (or tabs) from a text file

    This command is useful when you are programming, for example.


    -1
    sed -i 's/[ \t]\+$//g' file.txt
    elder · 2011-09-07 01:47:44 9
  • Show all groups user is a member of and other useful info


    -1
    net user USERNAME /domain
    shawn_abdushakur · 2014-01-02 20:22:46 7
  • my command for downloading delicious web links,

    just a alternative using a saved html file of all of my bookmarks. works well although it takes awhile.


    -1
    wget -r --wait=5 --quota=5000m --tries=3 --directory-prefix=/home/erin/Documents/erins_webpages --limit-rate=20k --level=1 -k -p -erobots=off -np -N --exclude-domains=del.icio.us,doubleclick.net -F -i ./delicious-20090629.htm
    bbelt16ag · 2009-07-02 01:46:21 7
  • CPU architecture details

    It works in every linux box Show Sample Output


    -1
    cat /proc/cpuinfo
    magicjohnson_ · 2010-09-24 09:27:58 3
  • OSX Terminal helper with tab completion, ssh tunneling, and now screen re-attach

    http://github.com/c3w/ash . a Ruby SSH helper script . reads a JSON config file to read host, FQDN, user, port, tunnel options . changes OSX Terminal profiles based on host 'type' USAGE: put 'ash' ruby script in your PATH modify and copy ashrc-dist to ~/.ashrc configure OSX Terminal profiles, such as "webserver", "development", etc run "ash myhostname" and away you go! v.2 will re-attach to a 'screen' named in your ~/.ashrc Show Sample Output


    -1
    ash prod<tab>
    c3w · 2012-05-12 19:51:02 8
  • ls


    -1
    ls
    yingkailiang · 2013-03-14 01:28:01 5
  • check your up to date delicious links.

    This commands queries the delicious api then runs the xml through xml2, grabs the urls cuts out the first two columns, passes through uniq to remove duplicates if any, and then goes into linkchecker who checks the links. the links go the blacklist in ~/.linkchecker/blacklist. please see the manual pages for further info peeps. I took me a few days to figure this one out. I how you enjoy it. Also don't run these api more then once a few seconds you can get banned by delicious see their site for info. ~updated for no recursive Show Sample Output


    -1
    curl -k https://Username:Password@api.del.icio.us/v1/posts/all?red=api | xml2| \grep '@href' | cut -d\= -f 2- | sort | uniq | linkchecker -r0 --stdin --complete -v -t 50 -F blacklist
    bbelt16ag · 2013-05-04 17:43:21 8
  • Find all files containing a word

    This is very similar to the first example except that it employs the 'exec' argument of the find command rather than piping the result to xargs. The second example is nice and tidy but different *NIXs may not have as capable a grep command.


    -1
    find . -name "*.php" -exec grep -il searchphrase {} \;
    unixmonkey7797 · 2010-01-16 05:09:30 4
  • identify big file

    first 10 big file


    -1
    du -s * | sort -nr | head
    chenge · 2010-05-13 12:21:22 4
  • Timelapse with ffmpeg (after symlinking pictures as per ffmpeg FAQ)


    -1
    ffmpeg -r 12 -i img%03d.jpg -sameq -s hd720 -vcodec libx264 -crf 25 OUTPUT.MP4
    brainstorm · 2013-05-04 18:46:36 9
  • hardcode dnsserver, no more rewriting of etc/resolv.conf

    The while loop is an overkill, it would be simpler to prevent the file to be modified. That said, none of the proposed solutions are such: a real one would go to the source of the problem.


    -1
    chkmod -w /etc/resolve.conf
    ntropia · 2018-05-14 16:25:47 161
  • Edit all files found having a specific string found by grep

    Make sure that find does not touch anything other than regular files, and handles non-standard characters in filenames while passing to xargs.


    -1
    find . -type f -exec grep -qi 'foo' {} \; -print0 | xargs -0 vim
    arcege · 2009-09-03 17:55:26 7
  • Pear install behind proxy

    Useful since "export http_proxy=blahblah:8080" doesn't seem to work with pear Show Sample Output


    -1
    pear config-set http_proxy http://myusername:mypassword@corporateproxy:8080
    KoRoVaMiLK · 2010-05-13 14:44:03 30
  • know which version of the program is installed on your Debian and derivatives

    Output: Version 3.2-0 (for example if you type # aptitude show bash | grep Vers Depends on the language of your distribution, because the name of the word "Version" in other languages may be different.


    -1
    aptitude show $PROGRAM | grep Vers
    aabilio · 2009-02-27 23:24:37 8
  • Get minimum, current, maximum possible resolution of Xorg


    -1
    xrandr -q | grep -w Screen
    hemanth · 2010-02-14 15:38:49 3
  • split a postscript file

    splits a postscript file into multiple postscript files. for each page of the input file one output file will be generated. The files will be numbered for example 1_orig.ps 2_orig.ps ... The psselect commad is part of the psutils package


    -1
    file=orig.ps; for i in $(seq `grep "Pages:" $file | sed 's/%%Pages: //g'`); do psselect $i $file $i\_$file; done
    damncool · 2010-09-24 19:44:32 4
  • A simple overview of memory usage refreshed at user designated intervals.

    This command shows a high level overview of system memory and usage refreshed in seconds. Change -n 10 to you desired refresh interval. Show Sample Output


    -1
    watch -n 10 free -m
    Darkstar · 2014-01-04 10:10:15 12
  • Find the full path of an already running process

    Uses the pid to get the full path of the process. Useful when you do not which command got picked from the path Show Sample Output


    -1
    readlink -f /proc/<pid>/cmdline
    naseer · 2009-05-26 10:09:03 23
  • Filenames ROT13

    This got a bit complicated, because I had to introduce an additional dot at the end that has to be removed again later.


    -1
    for each in *; do file="$each."; name=${file%%.*}; suffix=${file#*.}; mv "$each" "$(echo $name | rot13)${suffix:+.}${suffix%.}"; done
    hfs · 2010-03-20 16:11:12 6
  • Sort files in $PWD by year embedded anywhere in filename


    -1
    ls --color=never -1| grep -E "[0-9]{4}"|sed -re "s/^(.*)([0-9]{4})(.*)$/\2 \1\2\3/" | sort -r
    ysangkok · 2014-01-04 20:50:12 9
  • display only tcp


    -1
    netstat -4tnape
    gnuyoga · 2009-05-26 11:50:52 5
  • wget, tar xzvf, cd, ls

    Combines a few repetitive tasks when compiling source code. Especially useful when a hypen in a file-name breaks tab completion. 1.) wget source.tar.gz 2.) tar xzvf source.tar.gz 3.) cd source 4.) ls From there you can run ./configure, make and etc. Show Sample Output


    -1
    wtzc () { wget "$@"; foo=`echo "$@" | sed 's:.*/::'`; tar xzvf $foo; blah=`echo $foo | sed 's:,*/::'`; bar=`echo $blah | sed -e 's/\(.*\)\..*/\1/' -e 's/\(.*\)\..*/\1/'`; cd $bar; ls; }
    oshazard · 2010-01-17 11:25:47 3
  • Split a file into equal size chunks and archive to (e)mail account.

    This is just a little snippit to split a large file into smaller chunks (4mb in this example) and then send the chunks off to (e)mail for archival using mutt. I usually encrypt the file before splitting it using openssl: openssl des3 -salt -k <password> -in file.tgz -out file.tgz.des3 To restore, simply save attachments and rejoin them using: cat file.tgz.* > output_name.tgz and if encrypted, decrypt using: openssl des3 -d -salt -k <password> -in file.tgz.des3 -out file.tgz edit: (changed "g" to "e" for political correctness)


    -1
    split -b4m file.tgz file.tgz. ; for i in file.tgz.*; do SUBJ="Backup Archive"; MSG="Archive File Attached"; echo $MSG | mutt -a $i -s $SUBJ YourEmail@(E)mail.com
    tboulay · 2010-03-20 16:49:19 8
  • Find Out My Linux Distribution Name and Version


    -1
    if [ -x /etc/*-release ]; then cat /etc/*-release ; else cat /etc/*-version ; fi
    hugoeustaquio · 2011-06-22 14:09:24 3
  • Transfer files with rsync over ssh on a non-standard port.

    Transfer files with rsync over ssh on a non-standard port, showing a progress bar and resuming partial transfers.


    -1
    rsync -P -e 'ssh -p PORT' SRC DEST
    vickio · 2011-10-13 08:59:07 4
  • ‹ First  < 498 499 500 501 502 >  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

Get Shellcode from ARM Binaries
Getting shellcode from ARM binaries - @OsandaMalith

use screen as a terminal emulator to connect to serial consoles
Use GNU/screen as a terminal emulator for anything serial console related. screen /dev/tty eg. screen /dev/ttyS0 9600 MacOSX: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20061109133825654 Cheat Sheet: http://www.catonmat.net/blog/screen-terminal-emulator-cheat-sheet/

display a smiling smiley if the command succeeded and a sad smiley if the command failed
you could save the code between if and fi to a shell script named smiley.sh with the first argument as and then do a smiley.sh to see if the command succeeded. a bit needless but who cares ;)

Print github url for the current url
Works for repos cloned via ssh or https.

Create Encrypted WordPress MySQL Backup without any DB details, just the wp-config.php
The coolest way I've found to backup a wordpress mysql database using encryption, and using local variables created directly from the wp-config.php file so that you don't have to type them- which would allow someone sniffing your terminal or viewing your shell history to see your info. I use a variation of this for my servers that have hundreds of wordpress installs and databases by using a find command for the wp-config.php file and passing that through xargs to my function.

Count lines in a file with grep
Returns the number of lines in a file, emulates "wc -l" behavior with grep.

Transform a portrait pdf in a landscape one with 2 pages per page
This is an example of the usage of pdfnup (you can find it in the 'pdfjam' package). With this command you can save ink/toner and paper (and thus trees!) when you print a pdf. This tools are very configurable, and you can make also 2x2, 3x2, 2x3 layouts, and more (the limit is your fantasy and the resolution of the printer :-) You must have installed pdfjam, pdflatex, and the LaTeX pdfpages package in your box.

Show File System Hierarchy
Curious about differences between /bin, /usr/bin, and /usr/local/bin? What should be in the /sbin dir? Try this command to find out. Tested against Red Hat & OS X

Print text string vertically, one character per line.
Define a function $ vert () { echo $1 | grep -o '.'; } Use it to print some column headers $ paste

Resets your MAC to a random MAC address to make you harder to find.
Next time you are leaching off of someone else's wifi use this command before you start your bittorrent ...for legitimate files only of course. It creates a hexidecimal string using md5sum from the first few lines of /dev/urandom and splices it into the proper MAC address format. Then it changes your MAC and resets your wireless (wlan0:0).

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: