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Questions tagged [command-line-interface]

A command-line interface (CLI) is a mechanism for interacting with a computer operating system or software by typing commands to perform specific tasks.

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310 votes
14 answers
1.0m views

What's the command-line utility in Windows to do a reverse DNS look-up?

Is there a built-in command line tool that will do reverse DNS look-ups in Windows? I.e., something like <toolname> w.x.y.z => mycomputername I've tried: nslookup: seems to be forward look-...
alastairs's user avatar
  • 3,235
279 votes
160 answers
320k views

Useful Command-line Commands on Windows

The aim for this Wiki is to promote using a command to open up commonly used applications without having to go through many mouse clicks - thus saving time on monitoring and troubleshooting Windows ...
197 votes
10 answers
522k views

Nginx enable site command

We all know how to enable a website using apache on Linux. I'm pretty sure that we all agree on using the a2ensite command. Unfortunately, there is no default equivalent command that comes with Nginx, ...
HXH's user avatar
  • 3,125
196 votes
6 answers
67k views

How to cd into a directory with this name "-2" (starting with the hyphen)?

I have a directory named: -2 I want to cd into it but the cd complains: bash: cd: -2: invalid option With no success, I've tried: cd "-2" cd '-2' cd \-2 Any solution? Edit: no file browsers ...
user151851's user avatar
  • 1,863
194 votes
9 answers
1.3m views

Resolve host name from IP address

I'm looking for a command line tool which gets an IP address and returns the host name, for Windows.
DouglasJose's user avatar
  • 2,063
186 votes
31 answers
102k views

How do I prevent accidental rm -rf /*?

I just ran rm -rf /* accidentally, but I meant rm -rf ./* (notice the star after the slash). alias rm='rm -i' and --preserve-root by default didn't save me, so are there any automatic safeguards for ...
Valentin Nemcev's user avatar
177 votes
11 answers
361k views

Run a .bat file in a scheduled task without a window

I have a scheduled task that starts a batch script that runs robocopy every hour. Every time it runs a window pops up on the desktop with robocopy's output, which I don't really want to see. I ...
Tom Dunham's user avatar
  • 1,915
169 votes
9 answers
573k views

How to remove empty/blank lines from a file in Unix (including spaces)?

How do I remove empty/blank (including spaces only) lines in a file in Unix/Linux using the command line? contents of file.txt Line:Text 1:<blank> 2:AAA 3:<blank> 4:BBB 5:<blank> 6:...
Michael Ellick Ang's user avatar
155 votes
13 answers
327k views

How do I find the UUID of a file system?

I'm running Ubuntu, and want to find out the UUID of a particular filesystem (not partition). I know I can use e2label /dev/sda1 to find out the file system label, but there doesn't seem to be a ...
Brad Gilbert's user avatar
  • 2,573
150 votes
6 answers
178k views

Show full process name in top

I'm running a Rails stack on Ubuntu. When I call ps -AF, I get a descriptive process name set by the Apache module like 00:00:43 Rails: /var/www... which is really helpful in diagnosing load issues. ...
Ben K.'s user avatar
  • 2,459
144 votes
11 answers
535k views

Run Oracle SQL script and exit from sqlplus.exe via command prompt

I would like to run an Oracle script through SQL Plus via a Windows command prompt. The script does not contain an "exit" command, but I would still like SQL Plus to exit, returning control to the ...
JoshL's user avatar
  • 1,635
143 votes
9 answers
327k views

Find out symbolic link target via command line

Say that I setup a symbolic link: ln -s /root/Public/mytextfile.txt /root/Public/myothertextfile.txt is there a way to see what the target of myothertextfile.txt is using the command line?
Jared's user avatar
  • 1,587
141 votes
39 answers
150k views

What useful things can one add to one's .bashrc? [closed]

Is there anything that you can't live without and will make my life SO much easier? Here are some that I use ('diskspace' & 'folders' are particularly handy). # some more ls aliases alias ll='ls -...
138 votes
14 answers
181k views

What's the reverse DNS command line utility?

What's the command to find the name of a computer given its IP address? I always forget what this command is, but I know it exists in Windows and I assume it exists on the *nix command-line.
Peter Turner's user avatar
  • 2,408
132 votes
7 answers
420k views

Does Windows have a built-in ZIP command for the command line?

Since Windows Explorer (since at least Windows XP) has some basic support for ZIP files, it seems like there should be a command-line equivalent, but I can't seem to find any sign of one. Does ...
Electrons_Ahoy's user avatar
113 votes
10 answers
325k views

How to display certain lines from a text file in Linux?

I guess everyone knows the useful Linux cmd line utilities head and tail. head allows you to print the first X lines of a file, tail does the same but prints the end of the file. What is a good ...
Boaz's user avatar
  • 2,289
105 votes
11 answers
111k views

How can I get diff to show only added and deleted lines? If diff can't do it, what tool can?

How can I get diff to show only added and deleted lines? If diff can't do it, what tool can?
C. Ross's user avatar
  • 3,115
104 votes
3 answers
180k views

How to get the url of the current svn repo?

I have 2 svn checkouts that someone setup for me. Now I need to check these same files on another computer, but since I didn't check them out initially I don't know the urls to use when running the ...
Manny's user avatar
  • 1,043
104 votes
2 answers
364k views

How can I connect to a Windows server using a Command Line Interface? (CLI)

Especially with the option to install Server Core in Server 2008 and above, connecting to Windows servers over a CLI is increasingly useful ability, if not one that's very widespread amongst Windows ...
HopelessN00b's user avatar
103 votes
11 answers
140k views

How to zip/unzip files in Powershell?

Is there a one-liner that will zip/unzip files (*.zip) in PowerShell?
BlueGene's user avatar
  • 2,231
93 votes
7 answers
117k views

How to sort ps output by process start time?

Is there a way to sort ps output by process start time, so newest are either at the top or bottom ? On Linux ? On SysV5 ? On Mac ?
Dean Smith's user avatar
  • 1,290
87 votes
7 answers
143k views

What is the Windows equivalent of Unix "whoami" command?

Is there a Windows equivalent of Unix "whoami" command? If so, what is it?
Kip's user avatar
  • 3,610
70 votes
6 answers
282k views

How can I query my system via command line to see if a KB patch is installed?

I'm looking to find out if a KB is installed via command line.
MathewC's user avatar
  • 7,027
69 votes
3 answers
215k views

php cli memory limit

I am getting a memory error in a php cron job: Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 67108864 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 71 bytes) in /opt/matrix/core/lib/DAL/DAL.inc on line 830 The ...
Ryan H's user avatar
  • 1,508
68 votes
3 answers
32k views

GNU less: How can I search while ignoring case sensitivity without using less -I option?

From GNU less manpage -i or --ignore-case Causes searches to ignore case; that is, uppercase and lowercase are considered identical. This option is ignored if any uppercase letters appear in the ...
Tom Feiner's user avatar
  • 18.3k
67 votes
18 answers
104k views

How to ping in linux until host is known?

How can I ping a certain address and when found, stop pinging. I want to use it in a bash script, so when the host is starting up, the script keeps on pinging and from the moment the host is ...
Sander Versluys's user avatar
61 votes
7 answers
144k views

Force SSH to use a specific shell

Is there any way to force SSH to use a particular shell on the remote end, regardless of what the user's default shell is? I've tried solutions akin to: ssh host.domain.com /bin/bash -c 'complicated,...
plinehan's user avatar
  • 755
60 votes
1 answer
19k views

What is the difference between a 'Login' and an 'Interactive' bash shell

What is the difference between a ‘Login’ and an ‘Interactive’ bash shell? I have quoted Wikipedia below but can anybody give a better answer? EDIT: This is a community wiki so maybe rather than voting ...
59 votes
6 answers
124k views

How to automatically close netcat connection after data is sent?

I am executing the following command from a script: echo '{"hostUp": true}' | sudo /usr/local/bin/netcat localhost 8001 However, the netcat client stays open indefinitely. How can I close the ...
Justin Meltzer's user avatar
58 votes
55 answers
92k views

What are useful Command-line Commands on Mac OS X?

Per the Windows and Linux threads, what commands do you find most useful in Mac OS X Server (or Client)?
58 votes
6 answers
66k views

How do I print contents of at jobs?

I have a Debian box with some jobs scheduled using at. I know I can list the jobs with their times using atq, but is there any way to print out their contents, apart from peeking into /var/spool/cron/...
che's user avatar
  • 729
57 votes
4 answers
106k views

Linux command line character limit

I'm passing a variable to a script on the command line. What is the character limit of a command? eg: $ MyScript reallyreallyreally...reallyreallyreallylongoption Thanks.
robdog's user avatar
  • 673
56 votes
6 answers
42k views

Bash Loop - How to stop the loop when I press Control-C inside a command?

I am rsyncing a few directories. I have a bash terminal open and am executing something like this: for DIR in * ; do rsync -a $DIR example.com:somewhere/ ; done However if I want to stop the whole ...
Amandasaurus's user avatar
  • 32.7k
56 votes
4 answers
289k views

Is there a built-in command-line tool under Windows like wget/curl?

I come from a Linux/Unix background and I have been wondering if Windows has a binary that can download files from the console. I would like to automate a certain process and one of my requirements ...
carlspring's user avatar
54 votes
10 answers
239k views

How do I check the build status of a Jenkins build from the command line?

How do I check the Jenkins build status without switching to the browser? If required, I can create a script using the JSON API, but I was wondering if there is already something like this built in.
Catskul's user avatar
  • 1,979
54 votes
12 answers
137k views

What are useful .screenrc settings?

Basically like some of my own that I've posted below. I'm looking for added functionality to the programme 'screen'. At the very least have a look at the last line for a fantastic 'menu bar' at the ...
Gareth's user avatar
  • 8,663
52 votes
4 answers
107k views

Linux/Windows/Unix/... file names: Which characters are allowed? Which are unescaped?

Which characters are allowed and which of them must be escaped on the command line in different operating systems?
java.is.for.desktop's user avatar
47 votes
7 answers
48k views

Recursive text search with grep and file patterns

Given this example folder structure: /folder1/file1.txt /folder1/file2.djd /folder2/file3.txt /folder2/file2.fha How do I do a recursive text search on all *.txt files with grep from "/"? ("grep -...
Anders Sandvig's user avatar
46 votes
3 answers
359k views

How to check my PHP and MySQL version on Ubuntu VPS?

HI I am going to install MyBB but I am not sure whether I have installed the correct version of PHP and MySQL. PHP version 5.1.0 or above with XML Extension installed MySQL version 4.0 or ...
DocWiki's user avatar
  • 693
46 votes
3 answers
130k views

How to view hidden files using Linux `find` command

On a Linux server, I need to find all files with a certain file extension in the current directory and all sub-directories. Previously, I have always used the following command: find . -type f | grep -...
Tom's user avatar
  • 4,462
44 votes
9 answers
58k views

How to hide a password passed as command line argument?

I'm running a software daemon that requires for certain actions to enter a passphrase to unlock some features which looks for example like that: $ darkcoind masternode start <mypassphrase> Now ...
q9f's user avatar
  • 620
44 votes
3 answers
94k views

What is the command to flash a NIC link light?

I remember using a command line tool to flash a NIC's link light to identify it. I can't remember for the life of me what it was.
rjmoggach's user avatar
  • 1,043
44 votes
2 answers
11k views

Using dot (.) as delimiter to specify group in chown

I've always done: chown nimmylebby:admins file I see that this also works: chown nimmylebby.admins file Might seem like a silly question but I'm genuinely curious on how the latter works. It isn't ...
Belmin Fernandez's user avatar
43 votes
7 answers
249k views

What is the windows command line command to copy files?

What is the windows command prompt command to copy files? I need to move a file from location A to location B. Also if the folder for location B doesn't' exists I want to have it created. I need ...
David Basarab's user avatar
42 votes
8 answers
92k views

Force local IP traffic to an external interface

I have a machine with several interfaces that I can configure as I want, for instance: eth1: 192.168.1.1 eth2: 192.168.2.2 I would like to forward all the traffic sent to one of these local ...
calandoa's user avatar
  • 1,325
42 votes
6 answers
43k views

prevent xargs from quitting on error

According to the man page, xargs will quit if one of the execution lines exits with an error of 255: If any invocation of the command exits with a status of 255, xargs will stop immediately without ...
JDS's user avatar
  • 2,638
42 votes
6 answers
6k views

Avoid to keep command in history

I use bash and I would like to avoid some commands being kept in the history. Is it possible to do that for the next command only? Is it possible to do that for the entire session?
Luc M's user avatar
  • 3,460
41 votes
5 answers
8k views

Smoothest workflow to handle SSH host verification errors?

This is a simple issue that we all face and probably resolve manually without giving much thought. As servers change, are re-provisioned, or IP addresses reallocated, we receive the SSH host ...
ewwhite's user avatar
  • 199k
41 votes
4 answers
38k views

What's a secure alternative to using a MySQL password on the command line?

We have a PHP command-line script to version a database. We run this script whenever a developer has added a new database patch. The script runs the patch with the MySQL command-line: system('mysql -...
BenMorel's user avatar
  • 4,607
40 votes
4 answers
158k views

Get directory containing the currently executed batch script

I use %0 in batch file to get the containing directory of the batch file but the result is :- c:\folder1\folder2\batch.bat I want just directory, without batch file name, like this :- c:\folder1\...
Mohammad AL-Rawabdeh's user avatar

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