Commands using cat (514)

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Use mtr to create a text file report
The report mode of mtr produces a text formated result of the mtr run using the number of ping cycles stated by the command. This text file could then be attached to an email with ease. I use this also without the ">" portion when writing email from within mutt using VI from the command mode with ":r !mtr --report --report-cycles 10 www.google.com" to actually input the same output in the body of an email.

mkdir & cd into it as single command
The biggest advantage of this over the functions is that it is portable.

check the status of 'dd' in progress

List files accessed by a command
Can be run as a script `ftrace` if my_command is substrituted with "$@" It is useful when running a command that fails and you have the feeling it is accessing a file you are not aware of.

cpu info

Multiple variable assignments from command output in BASH
This version uses read instead of eval.

Alias TAIL for automatic smart output
Run the alias command, then issue $ps aux | tail and resize your terminal window (putty/console/hyperterm/xterm/etc) then issue the same command and you'll understand. $ ${LINES:-`tput lines 2>/dev/null||echo -n 12`} Insructs the shell that if LINES is not set or null to use the output from `tput lines` ( ncurses based terminal access ) to get the number of lines in your terminal. But furthermore, in case that doesn't work either, it will default to using the default of 80. The default for TAIL is to output the last 10 lines, this alias changes the default to output the last x lines instead, where x is the number of lines currently displayed on your terminal - 7. The -7 is there so that the top line displayed is the command you ran that used TAIL, ie the prompt. Depending on whether your PS1 and/or PROMPT_COMMAND output more than 1 line (mine is 3) you will want to increase from -2. So with my prompt being the following, I need -7, or - 5 if I only want to display the commandline at the top. ( http://www.askapache.com/linux/bash-power-prompt.html ) 275MB/748MB [7995:7993 - 0:186] 06:26:49 Thu Apr 08 [askapache@n1-backbone5:/dev/pts/0 +1] ~ $ In most shells the LINES variable is created automatically at login and updated when the terminal is resized (28 linux, 23/20 others for SIGWINCH) to contain the number of vertical lines that can fit in your terminal window. Because the alias doesn't hard-code the current LINES but relys on the $LINES variable, this is a dynamic alias that will always work on a tty device.

count how many cat processes are running

Connect to TCP port 5000, transfer data and close connexion.
With no '-q 0' switch, nc simply waits, and whatever awaits the data hangs.

Cleanup debian/ubuntu package configurations
Sometimes, simpler is better.


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