Commands using head (314)

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Insert the last argument of the previous command
for example if you did a: $ ls -la /bin/ls then $ ls !$ is equivalent to doing a $ ls /bin/ls

Open a file with specified application.
This command require mac os x.

Setup an ssh tunnel
Uses ssh as tunnel tunnel for an other connection. -f runs ssh in the background -N tell that there is no command to run -L deals with the forwarding aspect where the first number is the local port number, the second is parameter is the name of the server to forward to and the third parameter is the port number on that server. The last part of the command is the usual ssh form consisting of the user name and remote server name

Easy and fast access to often executed commands that are very long and complex.
When using reverse-i-search you have to type some part of the command that you want to retrieve. However, if the command is very complex it might be difficult to recall the parts that will uniquely identify this command. Using the above trick it's possible to label your commands and access them easily by pressing ^R and typing the label (should be short and descriptive). UPDATE: One might suggest using aliases. But in that case it would be difficult to change some parts of the command (such as options, file/directory names, etc).

Never rewrites a file while copying (or moving)
Allows you to preserve your files when using cp, mv, ln, install or patch. When the target file exists, it will generate a file named XXX.~N~ (N is an auto-incremental number) instead of deleting the target file.

List your largest installed packages (on Debian/Ubuntu)
dpigs is in the package debian-goodies (debian/ubuntu)

Disconnect telnet
You are stuck with testing a tcp port using telnet, and must kill the telnet session from another terminal... Or, press ctrl+5 and write close/quit to force the current connection to close..

create random numbers within range for conjob usage
if you need to install cron jobs in a given time range.

Scan a document to PDF
Adjust the --resolution and --mode as required (if these options are available for your scanner). The size options (-x, -y, -imageheight, -imagewidth) are for US letter paper. For A4, I think the command would be: $scanimage -p --resolution 250 --mode Gray -x 210 -y 297 | pnmtops -imageheight 11.7 -imagewidth 8.3 | ps2pdf - output.pdf

Split a file one piece at a time, when using the split command isn't an option (not enough disk space)
bs = buffer size (basically defined the size of a "unit" used by count and skip) count = the number of buffers to copy (16m * 32 = 1/2 gig) skip = (32 * 2) we are grabbing piece 3...which means 2 have already been written so skip (2 * count) i will edit this later if i can to make this all more understandable


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