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Rename files in batch

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

Monitor the queries being run by MySQL
Watch is a very useful command for periodically running another command - in this using mysqladmin to display the processlist. This is useful for monitoring which queries are causing your server to clog up. More info here: http://codeinthehole.com/archives/2-Monitoring-MySQL-processes.html

Get the full path of a bash script's Git repository head.
Rather than complicated and fragile paths relative to a script like "../../other", this command will retrieve the full path of the file's repository head. Safe with spaces in directory names. Works within a symlinked directory. Broken down: $cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" temporarily changes directories within this expansion. Double quoted "$(dirname" and ")" with unquoted ${BASH_SOURCE[0]} allows spaces in the path. $git rev-parse --show-toplevel gets the full path of the repository head of the current working directory, which was temporarily changed by the "cd".

tcmdump check ping
capture only ping echo requests with tcpdump

Get duration of an audio file in seconds.
This is an alternative to #9131. ffmpeg didn't work on my .au files, though it did on the .wav ones. Also useful if you don't have ffmpeg but do have sox. Handily, sox already reports in seconds (decimal).

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

Find running binary executables that were not installed using dpkg
This helped me find a botnet that had made into my system. Of course, this is not a foolproof or guarantied way to find all of them or even most of them. But it helped me find it.

Deal with dot files safely

Lock your KDE4 remotely (via regular KDE lock)
Forgot to lock your computer? Want to lock it via SSH or mobile phone or use it for scheduled lock? TIP: Make a alias for this (e. g. as "lock"). I found some howtos for ugly X11 lock, but this will use regular KDE locking utility. Note that KDE 3 is using utility with another name (I guess with the same argument --forcelock) Tested on Kubuntu 8.10. Stay tuned for remote unlock.


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