Harness the Combinatoric Power of Command-Line Tools and Utilities

Tips

Explore beyond the book with short, focused command-line tips to increase your productivity.

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Find Long Lines With awk

Published December 13, 2025 and last verified on December 13, 2025

Find lines that exceed a specific character limit in text files and source code using awk, great for enforcing line length standards.

Copy thousands of files with rsync

Published July 29, 2024 and last verified on December 13, 2024

Use rsync to copy thousands of files between machines with progress tracking, resume support, and options for bandwidth control.

Use CDPATH to Access Directories Faster

Published May 31, 2024 and last verified on December 13, 2025

Set the CDPATH environment variable in Bash or Zsh to cd into your most-used directories from anywhere in your terminal.

See Open Network Connections

Published May 17, 2024 and last verified on December 13, 2025

List open network connections and their TCP state on your system using the lsof command, with options to filter by protocol and port.

Follow Log Files With Less

Published May 17, 2024 and last verified on December 13, 2025

Follow and monitor log files in real time using the less command, with search, navigation, and filtering right in your terminal.

Find Modified Files

Published May 17, 2024 and last verified on December 13, 2025

Use the find and sort commands to search a directory for the most recently modified files and sort them by modification time.

Create Multiple Files With Brace Expansion

Published May 17, 2024 and last verified on July 11, 2025

Use brace expansion in the terminal to create multiple files or directories with a single command, saving time and effort.

Rename Multiple Files

Published May 14, 2024 and last verified on December 13, 2025

Batch rename files in the terminal using a Bash for loop and the mv command to change file extensions and naming patterns quickly.