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apt-get via sudo
An apt-get wrapper function which will run the command via sudo, but will run it normally if you're only downloading source files. This was a bit of an excuse to show off the framework of $ cmd && echo true || echo false ...but as you can see, you must be careful about what is in the "true" block to make sure it executes without error, otherwise the "false" block will be executed. To allow the apt-get return code to pass through, you need to use a more normal if/else block: $ apt-get () { if [ "$1" = source ]; then command apt-get "$@"; else sudo apt-get "$@"; fi }

List Threads by Pid along with Thread Start Time
This command will list all threads started by a particular pid along with the start time of each thread. This is very valuable when diagnosing thread leaks.

Copy via tar pipe while preserving file permissions (run this command as root!)
It's the same like 'cp -p' if available. It's faster over networks than scp. If you have to copy gigs of data you could also use netcat and the tar -z option in conjunction -- on the receiving end do: # nc -l 7000 | tar -xzvpf - ...and on the sending end do: # tar -czf - * | nc otherhost 7000

Quickly batch resize images
-geometry (preserves values of height and width given, and aspect ratio). WARNING: While 'resize' creates resized copies of original files, 'mogrify' works on the original files, replacing them. It will overwrite the source files, use with caution, and backup regularly.

Get a quick list of all user and group owners of files and dirs under the cwd.
find -printf '%u\n' | sort | uniq #just users find -printf '%g\n' | sort | uniq #just groups

Send test prints to networked printer.
This will send a test print job to a networked printer.

Create a false directory structure for testing your commands
This will make a false directory with the same file names as whatever directory you choose. This is wise to use when testing scripts that alter contents, filenames, or move files. I wrote this after an OOPS I made when renaming a directory of JPGs, PNGs, PSDs that were mixed. I recommend this as I lost over 2000 vacation pictures and some graphics I designed for software and web sites. :( NOTE: This only creates name copies, that data itself is not copied.

HTML5 ogg player
find OGG audio files on your *nix box and listen to them using your web browser

Which processes are listening on a specific port (e.g. port 80)
swap out "80" for your port of interest. Can use port number or named ports e.g. "http"

Symlink all files from a base directory to a target directory
Symlinks all files in the base directory to the target directory then lists all of the created symlinks.


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