All commands sorted by votes

All commands (14,187)

sorted by

Show a config file without comments
This is sample output - yours may be different.
-3

grep -Pv '^\S*(#|$)'

endre · 2011-05-13 11:40:12 6
Running VirtualBox as headless
This is sample output - yours may be different.
-3

nohup VBoxHeadless -p 3052 -startvm ServidorProducao &

rduarte · 2009-12-16 17:10:30 3
Execute a command with a timeout

I found this in Ubuntu repos, and consider it better than timeout. Show Sample Output
This is sample output - yours may be different.
```
Will send a SIGHUP after 100s, then a SIGKILL if needed.
Signals and time inbetween can be changed.
```
-3

timelimit -t100 somecommand

CodSpirit · 2010-09-27 08:44:37 4
Search term while reading man page

Will highlight search term i.e. "foo" across entire man page (scroll up or down to see) /term_to_search_for+Enter That is how to find things ;) /Enter (slash+empty string+Enter) will jump to the next occurence of previous searched item.
This is sample output - yours may be different.
-3

/foo

knoppix5 · 2013-10-09 08:40:06 9
Convert unix timestamp to date
This is sample output - yours may be different.
-3

echo $EPOCH|awk '{print strftime("%c",$1)}'

EBAH · 2011-01-19 15:12:51 8
tar - extract only one file

if I need get olnly script.sh from "folder/script.sh" Show Sample Output
This is sample output - yours may be different.
```
script.sh
```
-3

tar zxvf package.tar.gz --strip 1

voyeg3r · 2010-05-18 21:01:23 5

make ping run a little faster

Show Sample Output

-3

alias ping='ping -n'

wincus · 2011-01-19 23:39:21 3

Generate a test csv file using looping in AIX

while commandt do command command ... done {commandt is executed and its exit status tested.} for i in 1 2 3 > do > echo $i > done Show Sample Output
This is sample output - yours may be different.
```
test, ttest, tttest-0
test, ttest, tttest-1
test, ttest, tttest-2
test, ttest, tttest-3
```
-3

i=0; while [ $i -lt 100 ]; do echo "test, ttest, tttest-${i}" >> kk.file; i=`expr $i + 1`; done

kaushalmehra · 2012-09-13 21:46:18 4
Count all files in a directory

ls -1 shows one file per line (update: -1 was not really needed) wc -l counts the lines received from the previous command Show Sample Output
This is sample output - yours may be different.
```
345
```
-3

ls | wc -l

Sebasg · 2013-01-22 03:35:35 10
Look for a string in one of your codes, excluding the files with svn and ~ (temp/back up files)

Look for a string in one of your codes, excluding the files with svn and ~ (temp/back up files). This can be useful when you're looking for a particular string in one of your source codes for example, inside a directory which is under version control (e.g. svn), removing all the annoying files with ~ (tilde) from the search. you can even change the command after -exec to delete (rm) or view (cat) files found by 'find' for example
This is sample output - yours may be different.
-3

find . -type f -exec grep StringToFind \{\} --with-filename \;|sed -e '/svn/d'|sed -e '/~/d'

f241vc15 · 2009-03-31 18:09:31 7
find the device when you only know the mount point

most usefull when creating batch scripts using several usb drives and some commands like mkntfs needs a device name the -w option for grep is here to filter lines when you have multiple drives with the same volume label. Without this option, the grep command will return /media/KINGSTON /media/KINGSTON_ /media/KINGSTON__ Show Sample Output
This is sample output - yours may be different.
```
/dev/sdc1
```
-3

df | grep -w /media/KINGSTON | awk {'print $1'}

vilain_mamuth · 2011-01-20 09:07:19 3
encode/decode HTML entities

For reverse, there's asc2xml asc2xml < entitiesfile > utf8file They come as a part of the html-xml-utils debian package. PS. Tried to submit sample data, but the site autoconverted the non ascii to html entities. So a bit of imagination is needed. Show Sample Output
This is sample output - yours may be different.
```
$ echo "foo somegreekchars bar" | xml2asc
foo &#945;&#946;&#947;&#948; bar

$ echo "foo &#945;&#946;&#947;&#948; bar" | asc2xml 
foo somegreekchars bar
```
-3

xml2asc < inputfile > outputfile

forcefsck · 2011-02-23 12:22:18 4
Remote Screenshot

Like the given command, but combines _DISPLAY=":0.0"_ with _export DISPLAY_ to get _export DISPLAY=":0.0"_ and only imports if DISPLAY is set successfully.
This is sample output - yours may be different.
-3

export DISPLAY=":0.0" && import -window root screenshot.png

fraktil · 2010-02-17 12:13:49 3
Analyse a PHP file for instantations and static calls

This grabs all lines that make an instantation or static call, then filters out the cruft and displays a summary of each class called and the frequency. Show Sample Output
This is sample output - yours may be different.
```
1 parent
1 product_Item
1 promotion_Base
1 swc_Response
2 product_ViewHelper
2 product_ViewTransformer
4 promotion_Tab
5 site_Template
6 self
```
-3

grep -o "$new \(\w\+$\|\w\+::\)" file.php | sed 's/new \|:://' | sort | uniq -c | sort

root · 2009-01-26 12:08:47 54
Add a list of numbers
This is sample output - yours may be different.
-3

awk '{total+=$0}END{print total}' file

felix001 · 2011-02-23 21:02:08 3
Find top 5 big files

Find top 5 big files
This is sample output - yours may be different.
-3

find . -type f -exec ls -s {} \; | sort -n -r | head -5

opexxx · 2013-03-19 12:16:24 5
Print your local hostname with python

Show Sample Output
This is sample output - yours may be different.
```
brian.intranet.example.com
```
-3

python -c "import platform; print platform.node()"

keimlink · 2010-03-24 09:09:34 5
Add a list of numbers
This is sample output - yours may be different.
-3

paste -sd'+' file|bc -l

daa · 2011-02-24 03:04:54 3
if you are alone and have to determine which switch port your server ends ... here we go

use this comand to see which switch port your network interface is using. but remind, there is no network traffic for 10 minutes or how long you run the comand. if you start the comand via ssh, port will come up again after the "for loop" has endet
This is sample output - yours may be different.
-3

for i in $(seq 300) ; do ethtool -s eth0 autoneg on ; sleep 2 ; done

christian773 · 2010-10-31 18:15:54 4
Add a list of numbers

Works for any mathematical operation, even converting numbers from one base to another. Show Sample Output
This is sample output - yours may be different.
```
10
```
-3

echo "1+2+3+4" | bc

twjolson · 2011-02-24 03:08:00 3
delete all tasks scheduled for the local computer
This is sample output - yours may be different.
-3

schtasks /delete /tn * /f

kev · 2011-09-10 09:44:06 3
Print file content in reverse order

Show Sample Output
This is sample output - yours may be different.
```
$ echo -e "1\n2\n3" | tac
3
2
1
```
-3

tac [FILE]

andreasS · 2013-05-09 09:19:51 7
Show the number of current httpd processes
This is sample output - yours may be different.
-3

netstat -l -p --tcp | egrep -e 'www.*[0-9]{3,4}\/(apache2|httpd)' | awk '{print$7}'

cicatriz · 2010-07-26 12:52:07 5
kills all php5-fcgi processes for user per name
This is sample output - yours may be different.
-3

pgrep -u username php5-fcgi | xargs kill -9

drucko · 2011-08-09 15:32:14 2
Create a git repository

Creates a git repository in a predefined location. Show Sample Output
This is sample output - yours may be different.
```
Initialized empty Git repository in /srv/git/mygit4/
Repository location: ssh://user@hostname/srv/git/mygit4
```
-3

git-createrepo() { repos_path='/srv/git/'; mkdir $repos_path$1; cd $repos_path$1; git init --bare; echo "Repository location: ssh://$USER@`cat /etc/HOSTNAME``pwd`"; cd -; }

batandwa · 2013-05-09 21:44:24 20
‹ First < 525 526 527 528 529 > 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

Show current iptables rules, with line numbers

PRINT LINE the width of screen or specified using any char including Colors, Escapes and metachars

One of the first functions programmers learn is how to print a line. This is my 100% bash builtin function to do it, which makes it as optimal as a function can be. The COLUMNS environment variable is also set by bash (including bash resetting its value when you resize your term) so its very efficient. I like pretty-output in my shells and have experimented with several ways to output a line the width of the screen using a minimal amount of code. This is like version 9,000 lol. This function is what I use, though when using colors or other terminal features I create separate functions that call this one, since this is the lowest level type of function. It might be better named printl(), but since I use it so much it's more optimal to have the name contain less chars (both for my programming and for the internal workings). If you do use terminal escapes this will reset to default. $ tput sgr0 For implementation ideas, check my http://www.askapache.com/linux-unix/bash_profile-functions-advanced-shell.html

Compare copies of a file with md5

I had the problem that the Md5 Sum of a file changed after copying it to my external disk. This unhandy command helped me to fix the problem.

Add a progress counter to loop (see sample output)

For this hack you need following function: $ finit() { count=$#; current=1; for i in "$@" ; do echo $current $count; echo $i; current=$((current + 1)); done; } and alias: $ alias fnext='read cur total && echo -n "[$cur/$total] " && read' Inspired by CMake progress counters.

Convert decimal numbers to binary

Convert some decimal numbers to binary numbers. You could also build a general base-converter: $ function convBase { echo "ibase=$1; obase=$2; $3" | bc; } then you could write $ function decToBun { convBase 10 2 $1; }

Create a list of binary numbers

If you should happen to find yourself needing some binary numbers, this is a quickie way of doing it. If you need more digits, just add more "{0..1}" sequences for each digit you need. You can assign them to an array, too, and access them by their decimal equivalent for a quickie binary to decimal conversion (for larger values it's probably better to use another method). Note: this works in bash, ksh and zsh. For zsh, though, you'll need to issue a setopt KSH_ARRAYS to make the array zero-based. $ binary=({0..1}{0..1}{0..1}{0..1}) $ echo ${binary[9]}

List last opened tabs in firefox browser

Tuned for short command line - you can set the path to sessionstore.js more reliable instead of use asterixes etc. Usable when you are not at home and really need to get your actual opened tabs on your home computer (via SSH). I am using it from my work if I forgot to bookmark some new interesting webpage, which I have visited at home. Also other way to list tabs when your firefox has crashed (restoring of tabs doesn't work always). This script includes also tabs which has been closed short time before.

List bash functions defined in .bash_profile or .bashrc

If you issue the "set" command, you'll see a list of variables and functions. This command displays just those functions' names.

What is my ip?

mail with attachment

An easy one but nice to keep in mind.

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:

» all commands
» commands with 3 up-votes (commandlinefu3)
» commands with 10 up-votes (commandlinefu10)

All commands (14,187) the last day the last week the last month all time sorted by date votes

What's this?

Check These Out

Stay in the loop…

All commands (14,187)

sorted by