Commands by braak (2)

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paste one file at a time instead of in parallel
paste one file at a time instead of in parallel

random xkcd comic
i sorta stole this from http://www.shell-fu.org/lister.php?id=878#MTC_form but it didn't work, so here it is, fixed. --- updated to work with jpegs, and to use a fancy positive look behind assertion.

Remove color codes (special characters) with sed
Removes ANSI color and end of line codes to the [{attr1};...;{attrn}m format.

Sort contents of a directory with human readable output
Show sizes of all files and directories in a directory in size order. $du -hs * | sort -hr for reverse order. Taken from http://serverfault.com/questions/62411/how-can-i-sort-du-h-output-by-size

list block devices
Shows all block devices in a tree with descruptions of what they are.

Display packages and versions on Debian/Ubuntu distrib
Need admin right to run dpkg-query

When was your OS installed?
Show time and date when you installed your OS.

5 Which Aliases
5 helpful aliases for using the which utility, specifically for the GNU which (2.16 tested) that is included in coreutils. Which is run first for a command. Same as type builtin minus verbosity $ alias which='{ command alias; command declare -f; } | command which --read-functions --read-alias' Which (a)lias $ alias whicha='command alias | command which --read-alias' Which (f)unction $ alias whichf='command declare -f | command which --read-functions' Which e(x)ecutable file in PATH $ alias whichx='command which' Which (all) alias, function, builtin, and files in PATH $ alias whichall='{ command alias; command declare -f; } | command which --read-functions --read-alias -a' # From my .bash_profile http://www.askapache.com/linux-unix/bash_profile-functions-advanced-shell.html

continuously print string as if being entered from the keyboard
Cycles continuously through a string printing each character with a random delay less than 1 second. First parameter is min, 2nd is max. Example: 1 3 means sleep random .1 to .3. Experiment with different values. The 3rd parameter is the string. The sleep will help with battery life/power consumption. $ cycle 1 3 $(openssl rand 100 | xxd -p) Fans of "The Shining" might get a kick out of this: $ cycle 1 4 ' All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.'

Edit a file inside a compressed archive without extracting it
If you vim a compressed file it will list all archive content, then you can pickup any of them for editing and saving. There you have the modified archive without any extra step. It supports many file types such as tar.gz, tgz, zip, etc.

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