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As there is a windows version of this question, I decided to open a community wiki for the same question under unix, linux, and the like.

I'll be updating this list with the answers:

  • bash: exec 3<> /dev/tcp/localhost/80 # Redirect to port 80 of localhost
  • find: search for files in a directory hierarchy
  • htop: interactive process viewer, similar to top
  • xargs: build and execute command lines from standard input
  • tmux: detachable, re-attachable command line sessions
  • apropo: find relevant man pages
  • vmstat: See the state of your system

Websites:

  • commandlinefu.com
  • serverfault.com

Keyboard shortcuts: - Ctrl T (BSD specific): send SIGINFO to a running program - Magic SesRq key (Linux specific): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_SysRq_key

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See @Andrew Hodgson's response. – gyaresu May 14 '09 at 1:37
Yeah, actually I see it. – Álvaro May 21 '09 at 20:32
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10 Answers

up vote 9 down vote

Try commandlinefu.com.

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up vote 7 down vote

'screen' - allows for detachable, re-attachable command line sessions. Made extra shiny with screen-profiles (default in Ubuntu 9.04), and byobu in 10.04

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up vote 3 down vote

Slight dupe:

Hidden Features of Linux

http://serverfault.com/questions/2817/hidden-features-of-linux

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yeah, I didn't find it – Álvaro May 8 '09 at 13:27
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up vote 2 down vote

find. Extremely useful in combination with xargs.

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But also on its own. – Matthew Flaschen May 9 '09 at 21:29
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The use of -exec in find makes xargs useless most of the time. – Raphink Dec 28 '09 at 21:11
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up vote 2 down vote

Using 'ack' as a replacement for grep/find+xargs+grep: www.betterthangrep.com

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up vote 2 down vote

reset

for when you accidentally cat a binary file :-)

Cheers

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up vote 1 down vote

Maybe not commands per se, but I've found knowing that you can set bash to use emacs or vi-style shortcuts to navigate the prompt to be especially useful. Ctrl+A to move to the beginning of the line, Ctrl+E to move to the end of the line, and all the others (c.f. http://www.hypexr.org/bash_tutorial.php).

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I know that bash uses emacs style by default, but is it actually possible to have it use vi commands? I'd love that, but I'm not sure how it'd work. (Edit: I just realized how old this is....but ah well. Legit question.) – lunchmeat317 Jan 18 at 5:12
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up vote 0 down vote

ls - list directory contents. ls /bin ls /usr/bin ls /usr/local/bin : See what other toys you can play with

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up vote 0 down vote

pushd, popd - push directory, pop directory

cd - without any parameters will take you back to your home directory.

history - gives a list of all the previous command combinations that were run. You can grep this list if you're looking for something specific. And then use !n to recall it.

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