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5 ways to make using bash more productive
1 week, 3 days ago
If you are using Linux or a Mac these days, then you likely have bash as your default shell. It generally comes with a few nice features (tab-completion, history etc.), but there are a few tips and tricks which will make it much nicer to use. Here’s a run down of my favourite 5. -
An Introduction to Linux CLI - Tutorial
1 month, 3 weeks ago
A tutorial for beginners on how to use CLI in Linux, basic concepts of Bash and explanations for various basic commands. -
Gmrun - Substitute for GNOME run dialog in Ubuntu
2 months, 1 week ago
Gmrun is a run-program utility that provides bash-like tab completion and history, the ability to run commands in a terminal using Ctrl-Enter, and the ability to search history with Ctrl-R/Ctrl-S. -
Convert filenames to lowercase
2 months, 1 week ago
Back in the good old days, there was an operating system that didn't seem to think NAME and name were different. The result was that sometimes when you transferred files from a floppy disk (remember them?) created on that Dumb Old System, you would clutter your directory with uppercase filenames. As us Unix old-timers learned a nifty trick to get directory names to sort before filenames in the output of the ls command (namely, start directory names with an uppercase letter), having filenames with uppercase letters was irritating. So I wrote this script ... -
Fancy globbing with zsh
2 months, 2 weeks ago
Zsh has quite a few features which (while you can get around them other ways in other shells) are very convenient for everyday use. -
Entering a safe mirror when logging in with unionfs and chroot
1 year, 3 months ago
"This environment is a exact copy (mirror) of the system you're working on. Because you're in safe copy of the real system, you can do whatever you like, it will never change the system, everything stays inside the cache (the readwrite branch) ... " -
Linux tip: Bash parameters and parameter expansions
1 year, 3 months ago
Do you sometimes wonder how to use parameters with your scripts, and how to pass them to internal functions or other scripts? Do you need to do simple validity tests on parameters or options, or perform simple extraction and replacement operations on the parameter strings? This tip helps you with parameter use and the various parameter expansions available in the bash shell.
Linux.com : Shell & CLI
Save time at the command line with shell aliases and functions
Familiarity with command prompts and shell scripts is still necessary if you want to get the most from your GNU/Linux system, but the less time you spend doing that the better, right? Two powerful ways to minimize your time at the command line are shell aliases and functions.
Scheduling jobs based on filesystem activity with incron
There are numerous documents, tutorials and guides detailing the workings and usage of cron, the de facto tool for scheduling jobs on Linux. While traditional cron jobs are executed at set times, inotify cron, or incron, is a cron clone that watches the filesystem for specified changes and executes the relevant commands. You can set incron to monitor a particular file or directory for changes and schedule jobs for when those changes occur.
CLI Magic: For geek cred, try these one-liners
In this context, a one-liner is a set of commands normally joined through a pipe (|). When joined by a pipe, the command on the left passes its output to the command on the right. Simple or complex, you can get useful results from a single line at the bash command prompt.
Bringing the trashcan to the command line
The trash project allows you to interact with your desktop trashcan from the command line. It lets users "undo" deletions made with the trash command in a similar manner to restoring files from the trashcan in a desktop environment. For experienced Linux users, the trash command comes in handy when you want to put a file into the trashcan from the command line.
A utility for sending complex email messages from the command line
When the need arises to send email from the command line, many folks first think of the mail(1) command. A better choice might be the email program, which gives you the ability to send email to an SMTP server over SSL, offers MIME support including ability to attach one or more files to your emails, uses an address book to store your recipients, and lets you digitally sign and encrypt your messages.
Transform images into videos with images2mpg
images2mpg, a simple utility that's part of the KDE Image Plugin Interface (KIPI), lets you create an MPEG file from image files. Relying on a handful of command-line tools including the ImageMagick suite and mjpegtools, images2mpg creates wonderful videos from your images and even lets you insert your favorite song as the background. It supports SVCD, DVD, VCD, and XVCD video formats.
Terminator runs multiple GNOME terminals in the same window
In a sense, the desktop is the best thing that ever happened to the command line. Because a virtual terminal runs in a graphical environment, it boasts all sorts of enhancements that the unadorned shell lacks -- everything from multiple tabs to easy selection of display fonts and background and foreground colors. Perhaps the resulting power and convenience explains why, even at a time when the emphasis is on giving every application a graphical interface -- no matter how inappropriately -- people still write useful utilities for virtual terminals. A good example is Terminator, a program designed to perform one simple function: displaying multiple instances of the GNOME terminal within the same window.
Korn -- an extended shell
Everyone knows what a Linux shell is -- you open up a Linux terminal window (such as Konsole or xterm), type in some commands, and there you are, using your Linux shell. Write your commands to a file, make it executable, run it, and you're a shell programmer. But did you know that there are different shells that you can use, and that each shell operates in a slightly different way? My personal favorite is the Korn shell; by the end of this article, it may be your favorite as well.
CLI Magic: A little script to customize directory listings
Sometimes when I run ls to get a directory listing, I am looking for a specific file, but I want to see the whole context where the file resides. While you can pipe the output of ls to grep, that doesn't show you the whole directory with the matched files highlighted in a different color. I create a small script to do just what I want.
GNU Emacs 22 finally released
Emacs fans, limber up your fingers -- there's a new GNU in town. Almost six years after the release of the previous version, the Free Software Foundation has announced the release of GNU Emacs 22. (Actually, 22.1, but who's counting?) This release includes support for GTK+, drag and drop support for X, a number of new modes, and a graphical interface to the GNU Debugger (GDB).
