Useful Commandline Commands on Unix

Question

As there is a windows version of this question, I decided to open a community wiki for the same question under unix, linux, and the like.

I'll be updating this list with the answers:

bash: exec 3<> /dev/tcp/localhost/80 # Redirect to port 80 of localhost
find: search for files in a directory hierarchy
htop: interactive process viewer, similar to top
xargs: build and execute command lines from standard input
tmux: detachable, re-attachable command line sessions
apropo: find relevant man pages
vmstat: See the state of your system

Websites:

commandlinefu.com
serverfault.com

Keyboard shortcuts: - Ctrl T (BSD specific): send SIGINFO to a running program - Magic SesRq key (Linux specific): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_SysRq_key

See @Andrew Hodgson's response. – Gareth May 14 '09 at 01:37 — Gareth, May 14 '09 at 01:37

score 8 · Answer 1 · answered May 08 '09 at 13:21

8

Try commandlinefu.com.

answered May 08 '09 at 13:21

Node

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score 7 · Answer 2 · edited Dec 09 '11 at 23:33

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'screen' - allows for detachable, re-attachable command line sessions. Made extra shiny with screen-profiles (default in Ubuntu 9.04), and byobu in 10.04

edited Dec 09 '11 at 23:33

jrg

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answered May 29 '09 at 19:43

Jacob Hume

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score 3 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:13

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Slight dupe:

Hidden Features of Linux

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:13

Community

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answered May 08 '09 at 13:25

yeah, I didn't find it – Álvaro May 08 '09 at 13:27

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered May 28 '09 at 00:50

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answered May 28 '09 at 00:50

raspi

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score 2 · Answer 5 · answered May 29 '09 at 19:29

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Using 'ack' as a replacement for grep/find+xargs+grep: www.betterthangrep.com

answered May 29 '09 at 19:29

dsully

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score 2 · Answer 6 · answered May 08 '09 at 13:21

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find. Extremely useful in combination with xargs.

answered May 08 '09 at 13:21

Zifre

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But also on its own. – Matthew Flaschen May 09 '09 at 21:29
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The use of `-exec` in `find` makes `xargs` useless most of the time. – raphink Dec 28 '09 at 21:11

score 2 · Answer 7 · answered Oct 09 '09 at 02:02

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reset

for when you accidentally cat a binary file :-)

Cheers

answered Oct 09 '09 at 02:02

HTTP500

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score 1 · Answer 8 · answered May 28 '09 at 00:40

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Maybe not commands per se, but I've found knowing that you can set bash to use emacs or vi-style shortcuts to navigate the prompt to be especially useful. Ctrl+A to move to the beginning of the line, Ctrl+E to move to the end of the line, and all the others (c.f. http://www.hypexr.org/bash_tutorial.php).

answered May 28 '09 at 00:40

I know that bash uses emacs style by default, but is it actually possible to have it use vi commands? I'd love that, but I'm not sure how it'd work. (Edit: I just realized how old this is....but ah well. Legit question.) – lunchmeat317 Jan 18 '12 at 05:12

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Dec 09 '11 at 23:45

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ls - list directory contents. ls /bin ls /usr/bin ls /usr/local/bin : See what other toys you can play with

answered Dec 09 '11 at 23:45

thinice

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score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Dec 10 '11 at 01:02

pushd, popd - push directory, pop directory

cd - without any parameters will take you back to your home directory.

history - gives a list of all the previous command combinations that were run. You can grep this list if you're looking for something specific. And then use !n to recall it.

Useful Commandline Commands on Unix

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