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avoid wc overload ;)
Useful for checking if there are differences between local and remote files.
An easy alias for opening a manpage, nicely HTML formatted, in your set internet browser.
If you get a "command exited with status 3" error you need to install groff.
this shows the CWD of every running `java' command. YMMV but we often switch to a working directory for each service to start and run from there -- therefore this quicly shows what is running by a more meaningful name than command alone (the -bw prevents using blocking system calls which speeds this up quite a bit in the presence of remote mounted filesystems)
Very useful in shell scripts because you can run a task nicely in the background using job-control and output progress until it completes.
Here's an example of how I use it in backup scripts to run gpg in the background to encrypt an archive file (which I create in this same way). $! is the process ID of the last run command, which is saved here as the variable PI, then sleeper is called with the process id of the gpg task (PI), and sleeper is also specified to output : instead of the default . every 3 seconds instead of the default 1. So a shorter version would be sleeper $!;
The wait is also used here, though it may not be needed on your system.
$ echo ">>> ENCRYPTING SQL BACKUP"
$ gpg --output archive.tgz.asc --encrypt archive.tgz 1>/dev/null &
$ PI=$!; sleeper $PI ":" 3; wait $PI && rm archive.tgz &>/dev/null
Previously to get around the $! not always being available, I would instead check for the existance of the process ID by checking if the directory /proc/$PID existed, but not everyone uses proc anymore. That version is currently the one at http://www.askapache.com/linux-unix/bash_profile-functions-advanced-shell.html but I plan on upgrading to this new version soon.
Several times, I find myself hitting my up arrow, and changing the search term. Unfortunately, I find myself wasting too much time typing:
$ grep kernel /var/log/messages
Redirecting STDIN allows me to put the search term at the end so I less cursor movement to change what I'm searching for:
$ < /var/log/messages grep kernel
If you're using the emacs keyboard binding, then after you press your up arrow, press CTRL+w to erase the word.
If this has already been submitted, I couldn't find it with the search utility.
This one is tried and tested for Ubuntu 12.04. Works great for tailing any file over http.
swap out "80" for your port of interest. Can use port number or named ports e.g. "http"
