Cool useful linux and osx commandline tools

This post will show you a few of the cool useful linux and osx commandline tools that I use every day. They are mostly available for osx, but some require fink or brew to install on a mac.

# ssh
  • available by default on osx and linux.
  • lets you log in to a terminal on a remote machine with an encrypted
    connection.
# scp
  • available by default on osx and linux.
  • lets you copy files from one machine to another using an encrypted connection
# mc
  • you need to install this one using fink, apt or rpm, etc
  • a commandline filemanager with built in editor and a ton of other features.
  • usually the first command I type when I log in to a terminal :)
# vi
  • available by default on osx and linux
  • vi is an editor.
  • eg
    vi ~/.bashrc
# ls
  • available by default on osx and linux
  • gives you a list of the files and directories
  • eg
    ls ~
# cat
  • short for concatenate
  • available by default on osx and linux
  • you can use tis to dump the contents of a file to the screen
  • eg
    cat /var/log/mesages
# |

(pipe)

  • used to send theoutput of one command to the input of another
  • available by default on osx and linux
  • eg
    cat /var/log/messages | grep text_to_find
# grep
  • available by default on osx and linux
  • you can use this to search within files
  • eg
    cat /var/log/messages | grep text_to_find
# cd
  • available by default on osx and linux
  • change directory
  • eg
    cd /etc/
# cp
  • available by default on osx and linux
  • copy
  • eg
    cp ~/.bashrc ~/.bashrc.bak
# mv
  • available by default on osx and linux
  • move
  • eg
    mv ~/.bashrc.bak ~/.bashrc.old

I hope you liked my list of cool useful linux and osx commandline tools and that they help you out :)

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