Search Results for command line
Really nice Linux command cheatsheet
I'm writing a book right now about the Linux command line (Linux Phrasebook), so I'm knee-deep in shell
goodness. I just today read about this page, How To Look Like A UNIX Guru, and I first
thought it was going to tell me to grow a big beard, wear t-shirts all the time, & eat a lot of pizza or Chinese
food. Happily, it's actually a loooooong page listing essential *nix commands and how to use them. This would be a
great page to read over to test yourself, and it would also be a good candidate for printing or saving in case you need
a quick reference. Check it out ... it's very useful, and that's a good thing. Now I'm off to comb my beard and clean
the pizza stains off my t-shirt!
(Check out all of our posts on command
line.) ...
My new book - Linux Phrasebook - is out!
I'm really proud to announce that my 3rd book is now out & available for purchase: Linux Phrasebook. My first book - Don't Click on the Blue E!: Switching to Firefox - was for general readers (really!) who wanted to learn how to move to and use the fantastic Firefox web browser. I included a lot of great information for more technical users as well, but the focus was your average Joe. My second book - Hacking Knoppix - was for the more advanced user who wanted to take advantage of Knoppix, a version of Linux that runs entirely off of a CD. You don't need to be super-technical to use and enjoy Hacking Knoppix, but the more technical you are, the more you'll enjoy the book. Linux Phrasebook is all about the Linux command line, and it's perfect for both Linux newbies and experienced users. In fact, when I was asked to write the book, I responded, "Write it? I can't wait to buy it!"
The idea behind Linux Phrasebook is to give practical examples of Linux commands and their myriad options, with examples for ...
HUGE list of linux commands ... on one page!
I'm in the middle of a book for Pearson titled Linux Phrasebook, which is gonna be all about the command
line, so I'm deep into the command line right now. This page just warms my command line-lovin' heart: it's a massive
collection of a buttload of Linux commands, with a short explanation of each one, organized alphabetically within
sections. Titled "Linux Shortcuts and Commands", it'd
be perfect to keep bookmarked, printed, or even memorized!
(Check out all of our posts on the command
line.) ...
Command line BitTorrent overview
If any of you have been reading this blog, you know I'm a huge fan of BitTorrent. Linux.com published a short guide
to using BitTorrent on the command line. If you're a command line junkie like I am, then you really should read
"BitTorrent for Linux". I still prefer Azureus, but
in cases where I don't have that proggie available, the commands discussed in this article will come in handy.
(Check out all of my posts on BitTorrent
& Azureus.) ...
Rename files on the command line
This fella on a mailing list I'm on wants to rename files (specifically, .mpe to .mpg) on his Mac OS X box using the
command line, but doesn't know how. The great Robert Citek to the rescue! Here's his suggestion:
for file in *.mpe ; do mv $file ${file%.mpe}.mpg ; done
However, Robert then went on to make this interesting suggestion: "Personally, I like to echo the command and proof
it. If I like it I can then pipe it into bash. That allows you to catch the case when there are several .mpg files and
no .mpe files."
for file in *.mpe ; do echo mv $file ${file%.mpe}.mpg; done | bash
Great idea, Robert! Thanks!
Oh, and by the way: this same technique works just fine and dandy on a Linux box as well.
(Check out all of our posts on scripting,
bash, or
renaming.) ...
Use YaST on the command line to install software
Yeah, yeah … YaST is primarily a GUI tool, there's no bout adout it (read that one again!). But did ya know you can
also use YaST on the command line to install software? Ya didn't? Didn't think so! Just go check out the ultra-short
guide on Novell's site: "Install Software With YAST
From the Command Line". In no time you'll be GUI-free. Enjoy!
(Check out all of our posts on SUSE &
YaST.) ...
Play D&D? Want to learn the command line?
Hoo boy. I thought I'd seen everything, but I was wrong. There's a free book available - or you can buy it if you
want some extra goodies - named Unix for the Beginning Mage that teaches you the
command line shell using the metaphor of wizards & magic & other D&D-like stuff. It's perfect for the
Half-Elf Paladin in your life!
(Check out all of my posts on the
shell.) ...
Debug SSL connections via the command line
This is pretty darn cool, and I'm really glad that Novell wrote this brief note titled
"Easy Way to Debug SSL Connections". If you've ever
tried to debug SSL - used in, say, a web transaction, or for IMAP or POP mail - you know that it can be kinda
difficult. Well, Novell explains how to use OpenSSL on the command line to start the debugging process by connecting
directly to the port of the connection you're trying to debug. That, my friends, is very useful (if you don't
understand, you might want to take a look anyway - this is a really, really short article, so it's not like you'll be
wasting gobs of time). I myself have used a direct telnet connection before to debug weird HTTP sessions, as explained
in this article
("Using http
commands through telnet"), but now I know how to do the same for SSL. Awesome. ...
Use AbiWord to convert filetypes on the command line
AbiWord can convert documents in one format (it doesn't have to be AbiWord,
just a format AbiWord supports) to OpenOffice.org Writer, or Word, or any of a heck of a lot other formats. Even
better, you can do these conversions via the command line. For instance, let's say you have a Word document named
foo.doc, and you want to convert it to AbiWord format without having to open the program.
$ abiword --to=abw foo.doc
You'll have a document named foo.doc and one named foo.abw. What if you wanted the new document to have a different
name too? Just use this:
$ abiword --to=bar.abw foo.doc
The process is the same if you want to convert foo.doc to OpenOffice.org Writer.
$ abiword --to=sxw foo.doc
And so on. You can use several different formats, including zabw, rtf, txt, utf8, html, latex, & many, many
more. Just open up AbiWord, go to Save As, & take a look at the various formats supported.
Of course, the real power comes in when you write a simple script to batch ...
How hot is your CPU?
Computer CPUs can stand really hot temperatures, but there comes a point at which things break. Want to know your CPU's temp? To tell, run this command:
cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THM0/temperature
(Note that it may not work on all machines).
(Check out all of our posts on the command line.) ...
Reasons to use Ethereal as a packet sniffer
When it comes to sniffing packets, the tool I usually use is Ethereal, a fantastically powerful piece of software.
Tony Howlett's book Open Source Security Tools: A Practical Guide to Security Applications covers Ethereal and
many more. You can read a sample chapter, titled "Network Sniffers: Is Open Source Right for
You?", online. In it, Howlett gives a great list explaining Ethereal's benefits over using straight tcpdump on
the command line. Here's a brief outline of his list. After reading this, go check out the sample chapter & the
book!
Easy to use GUI
More analytical & statistical options than command line
Cleaner output format
Supports over 300 network protocols
Supports many physical network formats
Interactively browse & sort captured data
Save output in a variety of formats
Display packets with color-coding
Filter creation GUI makes it easy to create filters
Follow a TCP stream & view it as a unified whole in ASCII
Supports many ...
Interviews with Michael Robertson of Linspire
Michael Robertson, founder & CEO of Linspire, may be maddening at times, but he's always interesting &
usually quotable. He's interviewed in 2 publications -
OSNews and
ZDNet - that you may find worth reading. In particular, his
remarks about the ease of use aimed for by Linspire interest me: "Ease of use really does matter to both consumers and
businesses. It's impossible to use most Linux versions without resorting to the command line. Not so with Linspire.
Everything is one click easy." Linspire is one distro I've never tried, so I'm asking you guys: is this really true?
You can really use it without ever having to use the command line? ...
Cool tool: screen
If you live on the command line like I do, and you find that you're constantly SSHing into machines all over God's green earth, then you really must stop whatever it is you're doin' & go read this little piece on screen. Here's the link - The Antidesktop - but you'll need to scroll down a tiny lil' bit to find the section titled "screen". Basically, screen allows you to have virtual terminal sessions inside one terminal session. Don't know what I'm talkin' about? Read the little article!
(Check out all of our posts on SSH, bash, & the command line.) ...
Quickly move into subdirectories using numbers
Linux Gazette has a cool posting, "Quick moving into folders",
that has a neat shell alias you can use to jump into immediately subdirectories using a numbered list. Basically, enter
the following on your command line:
alias dn='OPTIONS=$(ls -F |grep /$) ; select s in $OPTIONS; do cd $PWD/$s ; break ; done'
Now type dn & you should see something like this:
1) Desktop/ 5) Music/ 9) bin/
2) Documents/ 6) Pictures/ 10) fink-0.7.1-full/
3) Library/ 7) Public/ 11) report/
4) Movies/ 8) Sites/ 12) src/
#?
Type one of the numbers next to the prompt on the last line, & you jump into that directory.
Here's the same thing, but displaying the hidden directories as well.
alias dnf='OPTIONS=$(ls -aF |grep /$) ; select s in $OPTIONS; do cd $PWD/$s ; break ; done'
Type dnf on the command line, & you get a numerical listing of all immediate subdirectories, even
the hidden ones. Type a number, & you're in that ...
Free Book Day, item #666: GNU Bash Reference Manual
Gad, but I love my command line. There's always more to learn about that infinitely powerful tool, & I'm always
lookin' to learn more. This free book will give you lots of valuable info about the bash shell & what you can do
with it: GNU Bash Reference Manual. It's not an overview of
every command in the world - don't worry; I'll be getting to that - but it's instead an overview of how bash works
& behaves. CLI junkie? Get this one!
(Check out all of my posts on bash &
books.) ...
