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 :)