10 Cool Command Line Tools For Your Linux Terminal


As a Linux user, you might have heard that the command line is the true power of Linux. While graphical user interfaces can be useful, the command line offers more control and flexibility. There are many command line tools available for Linux that can make your life easier and improve your productivity. In this article, we will explore some cool command line tools for your Linux terminal.

The Grep Command

The grep command is a powerful tool for searching text files. It allows you to search for specific words or patterns in a file or multiple files. The syntax of the grep command is as follows −

grep [OPTIONS] PATTERN [FILE...]

Here, OPTIONS are the various command line options available with grep, PATTERN is the word or pattern you want to search for, and FILE is the name of the file you want to search in.

For example, if you want to search for the word "hello" in a file called "example.txt", you can use the following command −

grep "hello" example.txt

This will display all the lines that contain the word "hello" in the file "example.txt".

The Sed Command

The sed command is a stream editor that can be used to modify text files. It can be used to perform various text transformations such as search and replace, deletion, insertion, and more. The syntax of the sed command is as follows −

sed [OPTIONS] 'COMMAND' [FILE...]

Here, OPTIONS are the various command line options available with sed, COMMAND is the sed command you want to execute, and FILE is the name of the file you want to apply the sed command to.

For example, if you want to replace all occurrences of the word "apple" with the word "orange" in a file called "fruits.txt", you can use the following command −

sed 's/apple/orange/g' fruits.txt

This will replace all occurrences of the word "apple" with the word "orange" in the file "fruits.txt".

The Awk Command

The awk command is a versatile tool for text processing. It can be used to perform a wide range of operations such as data extraction, manipulation, and reporting. The syntax of the awk command is as follows −

awk [OPTIONS] 'PATTERN {ACTION}' [FILE...]

Here, OPTIONS are the various command line options available with awk, PATTERN is the pattern you want to match, and ACTION is the awk command you want to execute.

For example, if you want to print the first column of a comma-separated value (CSV) file called "data.csv", you can use the following command −

awk -F ',' '{print $1}' data.csv

This will print the first column of the file "data.csv".

The Curl Command

The curl command is a tool for transferring data from or to a server. It can be used to perform various operations such as downloading files, uploading files, and sending requests to web servers. The syntax of the curl command is as follows −

curl [OPTIONS] [URL]

Here, OPTIONS are the various command line options available with curl, and URL is the URL of the file or web page you want to download or upload.

For example, if you want to download a file from a website, you can use the following command −

curl -O https://example.com/file.txt

This will download the file "file.txt" from the website "https://example.com".

The Wget Command

The wget command is another tool for transferring data from or to a server. It can be used to download files, recursively download directories, and even download entire websites. The syntax of the wget command is as follows −

wget [OPTIONS] [URL]

Here, OPTIONS are the various command line options available with wget, and URL is the URL of the file or website you want to download.

For example, if you want to download a file from a website using wget, you can use the following command −

wget https://example.com/file.txt

This will download the file "file.txt" from the website "https://example.com".

The Tree Command

The tree command is a tool for displaying directory structures in a tree-like format. It can be used to visualize the contents of a directory and its subdirectories. The syntax of the tree command is as follows −

tree [OPTIONS] [DIRECTORY]

Here, OPTIONS are the various command line options available with tree, and DIRECTORY is the directory you want to display in a tree-like format.

For example, if you want to display the contents of the current directory in a tree-like format, you can use the following command −

tree

This will display the contents of the current directory in a tree-like format.

The Htop Command

The htop command is a tool for monitoring system resources in real-time. It can be used to view system processes, CPU usage, memory usage, and more. The syntax of the htop command is as follows −

htop [OPTIONS]

Here, OPTIONS are the various command line options available with htop.

For example, if you want to view system processes in real-time using htop, you can simply enter the following command −

htop

This will display a real-time view of system processes, CPU usage, memory usage, and more.

The Screen Command

The screen command is a tool for creating and managing multiple terminal sessions within a single terminal window. It can be used to run multiple processes simultaneously and switch between them easily. The syntax of the screen command is as follows −

screen [OPTIONS] [COMMAND]

Here, OPTIONS are the various command line options available with screen, and COMMAND is the command you want to run in the screen session.

For example, if you want to create a new screen session and run a command in it, you can use the following command −

screen -S session_name command

This will create a new screen session with the name "session_name" and run the specified command in it.

The Tar Command

The tar command is a tool for creating and managing compressed archives of files and directories. It can be used to create backups, transfer files, and compress large files for storage. The syntax of the tar command is as follows −

tar [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Here, OPTIONS are the various command line options available with tar, and FILE is the name of the file or directory you want to compress.

For example, if you want to create a compressed archive of a directory called "my_folder", you can use the following command −

tar -czvf my_folder.tar.gz my_folder

This will create a compressed archive of the directory "my_folder" with the name "my_folder.tar.gz".

The Top Command

The top command is a tool for monitoring system resources and processes in real-time. It can be used to view system processes, CPU usage, memory usage, and more. The syntax of the top command is as follows −

top [OPTIONS]

Here, OPTIONS are the various command line options available with top.

For example, if you want to view system processes and CPU usage in real-time using top, you can simply enter the following command −

top

This will display a real-time view of system processes, CPU usage, memory usage, and more.

The Ping Command

The ping command is a tool for testing network connectivity and latency. It can be used to determine whether a network host is online and how long it takes to send and receive data from it. The syntax of the ping command is as follows −

ping [OPTIONS] [HOST]

Here, OPTIONS are the various command line options available with ping, and HOST is the hostname or IP address of the network host you want to test connectivity with.

For example, if you want to test connectivity with the website "example.com" using ping, you can use the following command −

ping example.com

This will send packets to the website "example.com" and display information about the latency and packet loss

Conclusion

There are many cool command line tools available for Linux that can make your life easier and improve your productivity. In this article, we have explored some of the most useful command line tools, including grep, sed, awk, curl, wget, tree, and htop. These tools can help you search for text, edit files, process data, transfer files, display directory structures, and monitor system resources. By mastering these command line tools, you can become more efficient and productive on Linux.

Updated on: 27-Apr-2023

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