18 Commands That Will Change The Way You Use Linux Forever

00:29:50
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVXYq8aL47Q

Ringkasan

TLDRThis video introduces a range of useful command line tricks for Linux terminal users. It starts with basic directory navigation shortcuts such as using `cd -` to return to the last directory, and `pushd`/`popd` for more flexible directory navigation by adding directories to a stack. The video then shows how to clear terminal output using `CTRL + L` and completely reset the terminal with the `reset` command. Viewers learn about backgrounding tasks with `CTRL + Z` and how to bring them back with `fg`. The tutorial demonstrates repeating previous commands with `sudo !!` or retrieving commands from history using `CTRL + R`. It also covers permanently setting up history time format for better command tracking. Advanced tips include efficiently chaining commands using `;` and `&&`, monitoring system logs in real-time with `tail -f`, and formatting command outputs using the `column -t` command. Additional useful shortcuts and fun commands like `cmatrix` are presented, which can provide a fun display of terminal activity.

Takeaways

  • πŸ’» Learn to navigate directories efficiently with `cd -`, `pushd`, and `popd`.
  • 🧹 Clear your terminal quickly with `CTRL + L` or completely reset it with `reset`.
  • πŸ”„ Background tasks with `CTRL + Z` and return them with `fg`.
  • πŸ“œ Use `sudo !!` to rerun the last command as superuser.
  • πŸ•’ Update your `.bashrc` to include timestamps in your command history.
  • πŸ”— Chain commands to run in sequence with `;` and `&&`.
  • πŸ“‚ Monitor log files in real time using `tail -f`.
  • πŸ“Š Display output in columns for better readability with `column -t`.
  • πŸ” Use `CTRL + R` to search command history by typing part of a command.
  • πŸŽ₯ Discover `cmatrix` for a fun Matrix-like terminal display.

Garis waktu

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The video introduces some command line tricks to improve efficiency while working in the Linux terminal. One useful tip is using 'cd -' to return to the previous directory, providing flexibility beyond the home directory shortcut 'cd ~'. Another time-saving trick is using 'Ctrl + L' to clear the screen, though it doesn't completely clear history like the 'reset' command does.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    An explanation is given on using 'pushd' and 'popd' commands to manage directories more flexibly than 'cd -', allowing storage and recall of multiple directory paths. 'pushd' adds the current directory to a stack and switches to a new one, while 'popd' pops the stack to return to a previous directory. This is useful when performing multiple directory changes and needing to return to a specific directory afterwards.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    The presenter discusses using 'Ctrl + Z' to pause a foreground application, moving it to the background without terminating it. It can be brought back using the 'fg' command. This method allows multitasking without needing to close or open new terminals. Additionally, the presenter introduces the 'sudo !!' command to rerun the last command with root privilegesβ€”a quick fix for forgetting to prepend a command with 'sudo'.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    Explaining command history navigation, the use of 'Ctrl + R' is highlighted for searching and recalling previously run commands, enhancing command line productivity by avoiding unnecessary retyping. The 'history' command is demonstrated to list past commands, assignable to numbers for quick recalling. Setting the 'HISTTIMEFORMAT' can add timestamps to command history entries, improving monitoring and troubleshooting tasks.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:29:50

    More advanced tips include command chaining with ';' and '&&', which execute subsequent commands conditionally based on success or failure of the preceding commands. The 'tail -f' command is shown for real-time monitoring of log files, useful for system diagnostics. Non-essential but fun tricks like the 'cmatrix' command are shared for aesthetic enhancement, while customizable terminal shortcuts like fullscreen toggling and font size adjustments offer personalized workflow options.

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Peta Pikiran

Video Tanya Jawab

  • What does the `cd -` command do?

    The `cd -` command takes you back to the last directory you visited.

  • How can I reset my terminal completely?

    You can reset your terminal by using the `reset` command.

  • How can I send a running task to the background?

    Press `CTRL + Z` to send the running task to the background.

  • How do I bring back a task from the background to the foreground?

    Use the `fg` command to bring a task back to the foreground.

  • How can I run a previous command with superuser privileges?

    Type `sudo !!` to run the last command with superuser privileges.

  • What is the use of `column -t`?

    `column -t` formats the output of commands into neat columns for better readability.

  • How do I chain commands to execute one after another?

    Use `;` to chain commands regardless of success and `&&` to chain commands only if the preceding command succeeds.

  • What is the purpose of `tail -f`?

    `tail -f` is used to monitor changes in real time by displaying the last part of a file as it grows.

  • What is `cmatrix`?

    `cmatrix` is a command that displays a Matrix-style screen of falling characters in the terminal.

  • How do I search my command history?

    You can search your command history by holding `CTRL` and pressing `R`, then typing part of the command.

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Gulir Otomatis:
  • 00:00:00
    hello again everyone and welcome back to
  • 00:00:03
    lenode
  • 00:00:04
    in today's video what i'm going to do is
  • 00:00:06
    teach you guys some command line tricks
  • 00:00:08
    that i've picked up over the years some
  • 00:00:10
    tricks that i wish i knew earlier in my
  • 00:00:12
    career
  • 00:00:13
    and these are going to be some command
  • 00:00:15
    line tricks that'll save you time maybe
  • 00:00:17
    help you work more efficiently and some
  • 00:00:19
    are just plain fun so let's go ahead and
  • 00:00:22
    get into my favorite command line tricks
  • 00:00:24
    for the linux terminal
  • 00:00:31
    [Music]
  • 00:00:38
    all right so here i am on my laptop and
  • 00:00:41
    i'm going to go over some of my favorite
  • 00:00:42
    tips and tricks right now
  • 00:00:44
    now i'm going to go over these in no
  • 00:00:46
    particular order so just stick with me
  • 00:00:48
    and hopefully you'll find at least some
  • 00:00:50
    of these helpful maybe you'll add these
  • 00:00:52
    to your daily workflow that would be
  • 00:00:53
    really cool let's go ahead and get
  • 00:00:55
    started
  • 00:00:57
    now what i'm going to do is start off
  • 00:00:58
    with a really easy one
  • 00:01:00
    so i'm going to go into the etsy
  • 00:01:02
    directory i'm going to change directory
  • 00:01:03
    into that directory
  • 00:01:05
    and now that's my current working
  • 00:01:06
    directory but what if i want to go back
  • 00:01:09
    to the previous directory that i was
  • 00:01:10
    just in well to do that i can actually
  • 00:01:13
    type cd and then dash
  • 00:01:15
    and that's it i'm just going to type cd
  • 00:01:18
    dash just like that i'll press enter
  • 00:01:20
    and i'm back to my home directory
  • 00:01:23
    now of course you could go back to your
  • 00:01:24
    home directory by typing cd and then
  • 00:01:26
    tilde just like this
  • 00:01:28
    that does essentially the same thing
  • 00:01:30
    but the difference with cd dash is that
  • 00:01:32
    it's not specific to the home directory
  • 00:01:34
    at all
  • 00:01:35
    so for example if i go into the etsy
  • 00:01:37
    directory
  • 00:01:40
    after that let's just say i go into a
  • 00:01:41
    different directory
  • 00:01:45
    cd dash takes me back to the previous
  • 00:01:47
    directory like i mentioned
  • 00:01:49
    whereas cd and then tilde takes you
  • 00:01:51
    specifically to your home directory
  • 00:01:53
    and i'm sure a lot of people know about
  • 00:01:55
    cd tilde but i guess if you didn't
  • 00:01:57
    already know that then well now you do
  • 00:02:01
    so what i'm going to do right now is
  • 00:02:03
    just clear my screen
  • 00:02:05
    so i'll type clear
  • 00:02:06
    and when i press enter it's going to
  • 00:02:08
    clear the screen
  • 00:02:10
    actually
  • 00:02:11
    i'm not going to press enter but i am
  • 00:02:13
    going to clear the screen
  • 00:02:15
    but wait a minute how did i do that
  • 00:02:18
    so if you have output on your terminal
  • 00:02:20
    and then you hold ctrl and press l
  • 00:02:23
    that actually clears your screen it's
  • 00:02:24
    that easy
  • 00:02:27
    and yeah you could type clear to clear
  • 00:02:29
    your screen that does work but when you
  • 00:02:31
    do that you're using quite a few more
  • 00:02:32
    keys than when you just simply hold ctrl
  • 00:02:34
    and press l which i find to be the
  • 00:02:36
    easiest way to do it
  • 00:02:38
    so again you have output on the screen
  • 00:02:40
    just hold ctrl
  • 00:02:41
    press l
  • 00:02:42
    and that's it you've cleared the screen
  • 00:02:46
    now the screen isn't actually completely
  • 00:02:48
    clear though so for example if i use my
  • 00:02:51
    mouse and i just scroll up a bit
  • 00:02:54
    you can see that the output that i had
  • 00:02:56
    is still there so essentially what
  • 00:02:57
    control l is going to do is just move
  • 00:03:00
    the command prompt back to the top of
  • 00:03:01
    the screen
  • 00:03:03
    giving you all the space back but the
  • 00:03:05
    history is actually still there if you
  • 00:03:07
    use your mouse wheel to scroll up
  • 00:03:10
    now alternatively you can also type
  • 00:03:12
    reset as well
  • 00:03:15
    and that's actually going to reset your
  • 00:03:16
    shell
  • 00:03:18
    and i'm scrolling the mouse wheel
  • 00:03:21
    but i'm not able to scroll why well i
  • 00:03:23
    reset everything so reset is kind of
  • 00:03:25
    like clear on steroids it actually
  • 00:03:27
    empties out everything and legitimately
  • 00:03:30
    clears your screen in every sense of the
  • 00:03:31
    word
  • 00:03:32
    now for me it's just muscle memory to
  • 00:03:34
    hold ctrl and press l so that's what i
  • 00:03:36
    do i don't use reset all that often
  • 00:03:38
    unless there's something wrong with my
  • 00:03:39
    shell session maybe something isn't
  • 00:03:41
    acting right if that's the case i might
  • 00:03:43
    type reset but most of the time i'll
  • 00:03:45
    hold ctrl and press l that's what i'll
  • 00:03:47
    do
  • 00:03:48
    now earlier in the video i showed you cd
  • 00:03:50
    dash to go back to the previous
  • 00:03:52
    directory
  • 00:03:53
    but what i'm going to show you right now
  • 00:03:55
    is a different way to do the same thing
  • 00:03:57
    but it's a little bit more
  • 00:03:58
    flexible what i'll do right now is
  • 00:04:00
    change directory into the slash var
  • 00:04:02
    directory but i'm going to go about it a
  • 00:04:04
    different way
  • 00:04:06
    instead of typing cd i'm going to type
  • 00:04:08
    push d
  • 00:04:10
    and then the directory i want to go into
  • 00:04:14
    and you can see that i am now in the
  • 00:04:16
    slash bar directory
  • 00:04:18
    and that's pretty cool
  • 00:04:20
    so what i'll do just to illustrate the
  • 00:04:21
    point is just change directory a few
  • 00:04:23
    more times
  • 00:04:25
    now i'm in my home directory
  • 00:04:28
    and now i'll just go into my.config
  • 00:04:30
    directory
  • 00:04:32
    so i've changed directories a few times
  • 00:04:33
    here it doesn't really matter which
  • 00:04:35
    directories you change into but what i'm
  • 00:04:37
    going to do right now is type popd
  • 00:04:40
    and now back to etsy
  • 00:04:42
    when you type push d and then give it a
  • 00:04:44
    directory you'll change into that
  • 00:04:46
    directory
  • 00:04:48
    but it's not quite that simple when you
  • 00:04:50
    change directory into the new directory
  • 00:04:52
    the previous directory is added to the
  • 00:04:54
    stack and here you can actually see the
  • 00:04:57
    stack
  • 00:04:58
    i'm going into slash var from
  • 00:05:01
    etsy
  • 00:05:02
    the push d and poppy commands are
  • 00:05:04
    actually more involved than this there's
  • 00:05:06
    more you can do with it
  • 00:05:07
    but for right now what i recommend that
  • 00:05:09
    you remember is how to type push d and
  • 00:05:11
    then pop d and push d remembers the
  • 00:05:14
    directory that you are in and then pop d
  • 00:05:16
    will take you back to that directory
  • 00:05:18
    even if it's not the most recent
  • 00:05:20
    directory that you are in
  • 00:05:22
    if you recall cd dash takes you back to
  • 00:05:24
    the previous directory
  • 00:05:25
    but push d gives you the ability to
  • 00:05:27
    remember a specific directory then pop d
  • 00:05:30
    puts you back into that directory
  • 00:05:32
    anytime you want to go back there
  • 00:05:34
    so if you plan on doing some file system
  • 00:05:36
    navigation and then at the end of that
  • 00:05:38
    you want to return to a specific
  • 00:05:39
    directory that's when push d and pop d
  • 00:05:42
    helps the most
  • 00:05:45
    so now i'm back into my home directory
  • 00:05:46
    let's go ahead and continue and check
  • 00:05:48
    out some more tricks
  • 00:05:50
    the next trick i'm not going to spend
  • 00:05:51
    too much time on because it's one of
  • 00:05:53
    those things that i could actually
  • 00:05:54
    explain in greater detail
  • 00:05:57
    but i've already done that i have a
  • 00:05:58
    whole video about background tasks so
  • 00:06:00
    i'm going to summarize it here
  • 00:06:02
    but i'll leave a card right about here
  • 00:06:04
    if you want to check out my background
  • 00:06:05
    process video and learn even more about
  • 00:06:07
    how this works
  • 00:06:09
    now let's say for example i have a file
  • 00:06:11
    open
  • 00:06:12
    i'm going to use vim for some reason
  • 00:06:14
    this doesn't always work with nano i
  • 00:06:15
    don't know why
  • 00:06:16
    but it really shouldn't matter if it's a
  • 00:06:18
    text editor or h-top or whatever program
  • 00:06:21
    basically any program that is in the
  • 00:06:24
    front
  • 00:06:25
    you know something that takes you away
  • 00:06:26
    from the command line
  • 00:06:28
    and what if you want to return to the
  • 00:06:29
    command line but you don't want to close
  • 00:06:31
    the program you're in
  • 00:06:33
    so what i'm going to do is just open up
  • 00:06:34
    a random file i'm going to choose the
  • 00:06:36
    etsy ssh sshd config file
  • 00:06:40
    and let's just say i'm in this file
  • 00:06:42
    right here and i'm changing some
  • 00:06:44
    configuration options
  • 00:06:45
    but i need to work on something else
  • 00:06:47
    real quick because something came up and
  • 00:06:48
    i need to go do something else
  • 00:06:50
    and let's say i've made a bunch of
  • 00:06:52
    changes to this file i'm not ready to
  • 00:06:54
    save the file yet because i'm not
  • 00:06:56
    finished with it but i also don't want
  • 00:06:57
    to lose it either so how do i get back
  • 00:07:00
    to the terminal without actually saving
  • 00:07:02
    the file and also without opening up
  • 00:07:04
    another terminal window
  • 00:07:06
    but what we can do is hold ctrl and
  • 00:07:08
    press z
  • 00:07:09
    and that effectively minimizes that
  • 00:07:11
    particular program to the background now
  • 00:07:14
    it's not quite the same thing as
  • 00:07:15
    minimizing a program in a desktop
  • 00:07:17
    environment or a graphical user
  • 00:07:18
    interface
  • 00:07:20
    but we're going to pretend it's
  • 00:07:21
    essentially the same thing because
  • 00:07:23
    that's the value that i see here you
  • 00:07:25
    have a program running you don't want to
  • 00:07:26
    lose it you don't want to lose your work
  • 00:07:29
    and you do want to return to it
  • 00:07:30
    but you also don't want to open up a
  • 00:07:32
    terminal just to get back to the command
  • 00:07:34
    line this is a great way to do it
  • 00:07:36
    so now you know how to send things to
  • 00:07:37
    the background
  • 00:07:39
    but how do you get it back
  • 00:07:40
    well that's easy you type fg for
  • 00:07:42
    foreground
  • 00:07:44
    and then it comes back it's that simple
  • 00:07:46
    you hold ctrl z to send something to the
  • 00:07:48
    background something that's in the front
  • 00:07:51
    and then fg
  • 00:07:53
    and that'll bring it back to the
  • 00:07:54
    foreground
  • 00:07:56
    so i'll go ahead and exit this
  • 00:07:59
    and like i mentioned it doesn't really
  • 00:08:00
    matter if it's a text editor another
  • 00:08:03
    example of this is h-top
  • 00:08:05
    and this is a really cool utility for
  • 00:08:06
    monitoring system resources
  • 00:08:09
    but the same thing applies here i can
  • 00:08:10
    hold ctrl and press z
  • 00:08:12
    it's sent to the background fg
  • 00:08:15
    is now in the foreground
  • 00:08:17
    if you want to find out more about how
  • 00:08:18
    this works then check out the video that
  • 00:08:20
    i mentioned but at the very least being
  • 00:08:22
    able to send something to the background
  • 00:08:24
    and then bring it back to the foreground
  • 00:08:26
    will probably save you a lot of time
  • 00:08:28
    just keep in mind that if you close the
  • 00:08:30
    shell or log out you will lose
  • 00:08:32
    whatever's running in the background so
  • 00:08:34
    just make sure you remember that when
  • 00:08:36
    you send something to the background you
  • 00:08:38
    should bring it back to the foreground
  • 00:08:40
    finish what you're doing before you
  • 00:08:41
    close your terminal window
  • 00:08:44
    all right so it's time to move on to the
  • 00:08:46
    next trick and what i'm going to do
  • 00:08:47
    first is just update my package
  • 00:08:49
    repository index so i'll type app update
  • 00:08:52
    just like that and i'll press enter
  • 00:08:55
    oh wait
  • 00:08:56
    i forgot to use sudo
  • 00:08:58
    you know as long as i've been using
  • 00:09:00
    linux you would think that i'd remember
  • 00:09:01
    that by now but even after two decades
  • 00:09:04
    i'm constantly forgetting to run sudo
  • 00:09:07
    of course i could just run sudo aft
  • 00:09:08
    update i mean it doesn't take that long
  • 00:09:10
    to type that command but that's not what
  • 00:09:12
    i'm going to do
  • 00:09:15
    what i'm going to do instead is type
  • 00:09:17
    sudo and then two exclamation marks just
  • 00:09:19
    like this
  • 00:09:20
    and then i'll press enter
  • 00:09:23
    and it worked now check this out
  • 00:09:26
    when you run sudo exclamation mark
  • 00:09:28
    exclamation mark
  • 00:09:30
    the two exclamation marks actually refer
  • 00:09:32
    to the previous command that you just
  • 00:09:34
    ran
  • 00:09:36
    so by running sudo exclamation mark
  • 00:09:38
    exclamation mark i'm telling the command
  • 00:09:40
    shell to repeat the most recent command
  • 00:09:42
    but put sudo in front of it
  • 00:09:45
    so that way i don't have to worry about
  • 00:09:46
    retyping the entire command just to run
  • 00:09:48
    it to sudo this is a great way to repeat
  • 00:09:50
    the last command but make sure that you
  • 00:09:52
    have the proper privileges and run it
  • 00:09:54
    with sudo
  • 00:09:55
    and again i find myself forgetting to
  • 00:09:57
    use sudo quite often so this trick right
  • 00:10:00
    here is something i use at least once a
  • 00:10:02
    week
  • 00:10:04
    now another trick is going back through
  • 00:10:05
    the command history by holding ctrl and
  • 00:10:07
    pressing r
  • 00:10:09
    now this is kind of confusing to explain
  • 00:10:11
    so i think showing you will make more
  • 00:10:12
    sense so i'm going to hold ctrl i'll
  • 00:10:14
    press r
  • 00:10:16
    and now the command prompt is changed to
  • 00:10:18
    a search field here so what do i do here
  • 00:10:21
    well what i do is i start typing part of
  • 00:10:24
    a command that i remember part of any
  • 00:10:26
    command that i would have ran in the
  • 00:10:27
    past
  • 00:10:28
    maybe i want to bring back a long
  • 00:10:30
    command that i ran in the past but i
  • 00:10:33
    don't remember the syntax and i just
  • 00:10:34
    don't want to go through the history
  • 00:10:36
    file to find it i'll just type what i
  • 00:10:38
    know of the command so we just ran apt
  • 00:10:40
    update for example
  • 00:10:43
    now notice i just typed apt and it's
  • 00:10:45
    already showing sudo apt update
  • 00:10:48
    if i hold ctrl and press r again
  • 00:10:51
    it'll go to the next thing in the search
  • 00:10:53
    history that meets that criteria
  • 00:10:55
    and control r will just keep going back
  • 00:10:57
    through the command history
  • 00:10:59
    and then once i find the command that i
  • 00:11:01
    was looking for i rerun it by simply
  • 00:11:03
    pressing enter
  • 00:11:05
    in the sudo apt-install h-top command
  • 00:11:07
    that's what i ran off-camera to install
  • 00:11:10
    h-top on this computer
  • 00:11:15
    so there's pop d
  • 00:11:17
    we ran that one we also ran push d
  • 00:11:20
    any command that i've ran in the past i
  • 00:11:22
    could easily run it again with this
  • 00:11:23
    trick
  • 00:11:25
    i'll hold ctrl and press c to break out
  • 00:11:26
    of this
  • 00:11:28
    and what i'm going to do is show you yet
  • 00:11:30
    another way to run previously run
  • 00:11:32
    commands that i think is even better
  • 00:11:35
    what i'm going to do right now is run
  • 00:11:36
    history just like this
  • 00:11:40
    and we see all of my command history
  • 00:11:41
    which is very useful in and of itself
  • 00:11:44
    especially if you're a new linux
  • 00:11:46
    administrator for a company if you're
  • 00:11:48
    working with a server that has a
  • 00:11:49
    particular problem maybe it's a problem
  • 00:11:51
    that's happened in the past
  • 00:11:53
    and as a new linux administrator it's
  • 00:11:55
    always a good idea to check the command
  • 00:11:57
    history because you could find out what
  • 00:11:58
    people before you have done in similar
  • 00:12:00
    situations
  • 00:12:02
    and like i said this is a cool trick in
  • 00:12:04
    and of itself but that's not actually
  • 00:12:06
    the trick that i want to show you
  • 00:12:09
    what i'm going to do is show you how to
  • 00:12:11
    rerun any command from your history
  • 00:12:13
    notice that there's a number on the left
  • 00:12:15
    side of each of these commands
  • 00:12:18
    so for example i typed this command
  • 00:12:21
    right here off camera to see whether or
  • 00:12:22
    not h top was installed on this computer
  • 00:12:25
    it wasn't so then after that
  • 00:12:27
    i installed it
  • 00:12:29
    but what if i want to run this command
  • 00:12:31
    right here yet again
  • 00:12:33
    i could just right click and copy it
  • 00:12:35
    and then i could right click and paste
  • 00:12:37
    but that's not what i'm going to do
  • 00:12:39
    what i'm going to do instead is refer to
  • 00:12:41
    the command by its number
  • 00:12:43
    but first i'll type an exclamation mark
  • 00:12:45
    and then directly after that i'll type
  • 00:12:47
    the number no space or anything like
  • 00:12:48
    that
  • 00:12:49
    and us linux people we often refer to
  • 00:12:51
    the exclamation mark as bang so
  • 00:12:54
    essentially i'm typing bang 102.
  • 00:12:59
    and what happens is that it actually
  • 00:13:01
    shows me the command that's associated
  • 00:13:03
    with that number
  • 00:13:04
    and then it runs it so right there i was
  • 00:13:06
    editing the ssh config file
  • 00:13:09
    so i could do that again by typing bang
  • 00:13:11
    and then the number just like before
  • 00:13:13
    and now i'm back into that config file
  • 00:13:18
    i think this is a very useful way to use
  • 00:13:19
    the history but i'm going to make it
  • 00:13:21
    even better
  • 00:13:23
    one thing that i think is missing here
  • 00:13:24
    is the date and time i feel like it's
  • 00:13:26
    really helpful to have the date and time
  • 00:13:28
    that every command was run in
  • 00:13:30
    so that way if i'm looking for a
  • 00:13:31
    specific command during a specific time
  • 00:13:34
    period i could find it and have a better
  • 00:13:36
    idea about the actual command history
  • 00:13:39
    and when the commands are executed
  • 00:13:41
    but the problem is we don't have that
  • 00:13:43
    information here
  • 00:13:44
    so how do we get it
  • 00:13:47
    for that we have a very special variable
  • 00:13:50
    in its hist
  • 00:13:51
    time format
  • 00:13:54
    and what i'm going to do is set this
  • 00:13:55
    equal to a very specific string
  • 00:13:59
    so i'm going to type percent
  • 00:14:01
    capital y
  • 00:14:03
    dash percent lowercase m
  • 00:14:06
    dash percent lowercase d
  • 00:14:09
    space
  • 00:14:11
    percent uppercase t and then another
  • 00:14:13
    space
  • 00:14:15
    and adding another space here is really
  • 00:14:17
    important i'll explain why in a moment
  • 00:14:19
    but anyway i'll press enter
  • 00:14:21
    and now that we've done that let's run
  • 00:14:23
    the history command again
  • 00:14:26
    now we have a date next to each of the
  • 00:14:28
    commands right here depending on how
  • 00:14:30
    your shell is configured it might
  • 00:14:32
    actually show the same date for
  • 00:14:33
    everything because maybe a date wasn't
  • 00:14:35
    recorded when it was first created
  • 00:14:37
    different distributions set this up
  • 00:14:39
    differently so this may or may not be a
  • 00:14:40
    problem for you
  • 00:14:42
    but at least going forward it's going to
  • 00:14:44
    have the correct date and time for every
  • 00:14:45
    command so if you're looking for a
  • 00:14:48
    specific command from a specific time
  • 00:14:49
    period
  • 00:14:52
    you could just scroll through your
  • 00:14:53
    history and as you can see it shows that
  • 00:14:55
    information here
  • 00:14:57
    now one problem with this though is that
  • 00:14:59
    when you close your shell then the his
  • 00:15:01
    time format variable is going to go away
  • 00:15:04
    we set the variable here in this session
  • 00:15:06
    so even if i opened up a new terminal
  • 00:15:07
    window it's not going to apply to that
  • 00:15:10
    particular terminal window it's only for
  • 00:15:11
    this session
  • 00:15:13
    so what i want to do is actually make
  • 00:15:14
    this permanent and the way to do that is
  • 00:15:17
    we just open up a special file with an
  • 00:15:18
    editor we can use nano vim it doesn't
  • 00:15:20
    matter
  • 00:15:24
    and what we're going to do is open up
  • 00:15:25
    the dot bash rc file in our home
  • 00:15:27
    directory
  • 00:15:29
    and right here we have hist control
  • 00:15:32
    and that's actually another trick that
  • 00:15:34
    wasn't on my list but it may as well
  • 00:15:35
    have been
  • 00:15:36
    hist control being set to ignore both
  • 00:15:39
    means it's going to ignore lines that
  • 00:15:40
    include a space at the beginning so if
  • 00:15:43
    you want to type a command and you don't
  • 00:15:44
    want it to show up in the history
  • 00:15:46
    if this is set you could type a space in
  • 00:15:48
    front of the command and it won't show
  • 00:15:50
    in the history so if you are running a
  • 00:15:51
    command that contains something
  • 00:15:53
    sensitive it might be a great way to
  • 00:15:55
    hide that from the history but that's
  • 00:15:57
    not what we're here for
  • 00:15:58
    what i'm going to do instead is add the
  • 00:16:00
    his time format variable right here in
  • 00:16:02
    the bashrc file so that way every single
  • 00:16:05
    shell i open will automatically have the
  • 00:16:07
    settings
  • 00:16:24
    just like that
  • 00:16:26
    so i'll hold ctrl and press o to save
  • 00:16:27
    the file enter to confirm it
  • 00:16:29
    ctrl x to exit out
  • 00:16:33
    so from this point forward every
  • 00:16:34
    terminal window that i open should have
  • 00:16:36
    the his time format variable set giving
  • 00:16:38
    me the date and time for each command
  • 00:16:41
    now earlier i mentioned to not forget to
  • 00:16:43
    type the space at the end when you're
  • 00:16:45
    setting the variable
  • 00:16:46
    and the reason for that is because if
  • 00:16:48
    you don't then there's not going to be a
  • 00:16:50
    space in between the date and time and
  • 00:16:51
    the command so this space right here
  • 00:16:53
    would not be present
  • 00:16:55
    because you added a space at the end of
  • 00:16:57
    that string it's putting that space
  • 00:16:59
    right here in between the date and the
  • 00:17:01
    time and the command
  • 00:17:03
    so if you don't include that things get
  • 00:17:04
    you know confusing
  • 00:17:07
    now another command that i want to show
  • 00:17:08
    you guys is completely useless i mean
  • 00:17:11
    it's cool
  • 00:17:12
    but it gives you no practical
  • 00:17:14
    capabilities whatsoever doesn't enhance
  • 00:17:15
    your workflow so technically it doesn't
  • 00:17:18
    even belong in this video but i figured
  • 00:17:20
    it might be fun to show you
  • 00:17:21
    and that command is c matrix
  • 00:17:24
    you have to have this package installed
  • 00:17:26
    most of the time this will not be
  • 00:17:27
    installed so you could use your
  • 00:17:28
    distributions package manager to install
  • 00:17:30
    this package so i'll press enter and
  • 00:17:32
    you'll see immediately what it does
  • 00:17:37
    does that look familiar
  • 00:17:39
    if you recall in the background i often
  • 00:17:41
    have a laptop that has this as the
  • 00:17:43
    screen saver
  • 00:17:44
    but it's not actually a screen saver
  • 00:17:46
    it's just a full screen terminal window
  • 00:17:48
    that's running c matrix
  • 00:17:50
    i just think it looks really cool in the
  • 00:17:52
    background again it has no practical use
  • 00:17:54
    whatsoever it's not going to enhance
  • 00:17:56
    your productivity but it's cool
  • 00:17:59
    now as an aside what i often do is press
  • 00:18:01
    f11 to make the terminal full screen
  • 00:18:05
    and that makes it look even cooler
  • 00:18:09
    but f 11 is not actually specific to c
  • 00:18:13
    matrix
  • 00:18:14
    that's a trick in and of itself
  • 00:18:16
    so i'll press f11 again
  • 00:18:18
    and that undoes the full screen
  • 00:18:21
    and then to get out of c matrix i hold
  • 00:18:22
    ctrl and press c
  • 00:18:24
    and now i've broken out a c matrix
  • 00:18:27
    so again i'm going to press f11
  • 00:18:30
    and notice that the terminal is now full
  • 00:18:32
    screen
  • 00:18:34
    so f11 is a terminal shortcut and it's
  • 00:18:36
    recognized by quite a few desktop
  • 00:18:38
    terminal emulators
  • 00:18:40
    there's some that don't understand f11
  • 00:18:42
    but most do
  • 00:18:43
    and that makes it full screen and i mean
  • 00:18:45
    full screen to the point that you won't
  • 00:18:47
    see any window controls at all you won't
  • 00:18:50
    see your panel it's literally taking up
  • 00:18:52
    your entire screen
  • 00:18:54
    so i'll often do this if i want my
  • 00:18:55
    terminal to basically cover up
  • 00:18:57
    everything else if i don't want any
  • 00:18:59
    distractions and i just want to work on
  • 00:19:01
    something without seeing anything in my
  • 00:19:02
    desktop environment i don't want to see
  • 00:19:04
    email alerts i don't want to see
  • 00:19:06
    anything but what i'm working on i'll
  • 00:19:08
    just press f11 and make the terminal the
  • 00:19:10
    only thing that's visible
  • 00:19:12
    and when you press f11 again it returns
  • 00:19:15
    it back to normal
  • 00:19:17
    in addition most desktop terminal
  • 00:19:18
    emulators will allow you to increase and
  • 00:19:21
    decrease the font
  • 00:19:22
    and this is something that i often do in
  • 00:19:24
    my videos
  • 00:19:26
    so what i'm going to do is hold ctrl and
  • 00:19:27
    shift at the same time and while i'm
  • 00:19:29
    holding those down i'll press plus
  • 00:19:32
    notice that every time i press plus
  • 00:19:35
    the font will get larger
  • 00:19:37
    if i hold control not control and shift
  • 00:19:39
    but just control and press minus
  • 00:19:43
    as you can see
  • 00:19:44
    the font is shrinking
  • 00:19:47
    now often when i do this it kind of
  • 00:19:48
    plays around with the sizing of the
  • 00:19:50
    terminal so i'll often press reset to
  • 00:19:52
    make sure that it's going back to the
  • 00:19:53
    proper size
  • 00:19:55
    otherwise i might have some blank space
  • 00:19:57
    up here but anyway that's how i actually
  • 00:19:59
    adjust the size of the font in my videos
  • 00:20:01
    i often crank up the font size to make
  • 00:20:03
    sure that you guys are able to see what
  • 00:20:05
    i'm doing and sometimes i have to shrink
  • 00:20:07
    the font size if something i'm doing is
  • 00:20:09
    taking up too much space
  • 00:20:11
    i've had some people in my comments ask
  • 00:20:13
    me how i do that and if that's you well
  • 00:20:16
    now you know
  • 00:20:17
    now what i'm going to do is just press
  • 00:20:18
    the up arrow a few times i'm going to
  • 00:20:20
    just bring up a previous command
  • 00:20:22
    i think this one right here is good
  • 00:20:24
    enough
  • 00:20:25
    and what i'm going to do is hold ctrl
  • 00:20:26
    and press u
  • 00:20:29
    and it just deletes everything on that
  • 00:20:30
    line
  • 00:20:32
    literally everything
  • 00:20:34
    and depending on your computer it could
  • 00:20:36
    take some time to actually backspace
  • 00:20:38
    everything out i mean that didn't take
  • 00:20:39
    too long
  • 00:20:40
    but if you had a complete wall of text
  • 00:20:43
    ctrl u
  • 00:20:44
    will simply just delete everything
  • 00:20:46
    that's pretty cool now similar to that
  • 00:20:51
    i'll bring up another command here maybe
  • 00:20:53
    something a little bit longer i guess
  • 00:20:54
    that's fine
  • 00:20:56
    since we're on the subject of control u
  • 00:20:58
    to delete everything on the prompt
  • 00:21:00
    there's a few other shortcuts that also
  • 00:21:02
    involve holding down control
  • 00:21:04
    so what i'll do is hold ctrl and press a
  • 00:21:07
    and that puts the cursor all the way to
  • 00:21:08
    the front of the line
  • 00:21:10
    and then ctrl e takes you to the end of
  • 00:21:12
    the line
  • 00:21:18
    now suppose that i want to run this
  • 00:21:20
    command right here
  • 00:21:21
    but before i press enter i realize that
  • 00:21:23
    i probably should have included sudo at
  • 00:21:25
    the beginning now i could hold down the
  • 00:21:27
    left arrow go all the way to the
  • 00:21:29
    beginning which might take more time if
  • 00:21:31
    the command is even longer and then i
  • 00:21:33
    could type sudo and i'm fine
  • 00:21:37
    but what i think is more practical is
  • 00:21:38
    that you can hold ctrl and press a
  • 00:21:41
    and that immediately brings you to the
  • 00:21:42
    front of the line
  • 00:21:46
    and then control e takes you to the end
  • 00:21:47
    of the line so that way i'm able to jump
  • 00:21:50
    to the beginning add sudo jump back to
  • 00:21:51
    the end
  • 00:21:52
    that'll save some time
  • 00:21:54
    maybe not the most useful thing in the
  • 00:21:56
    world but you never know maybe this is
  • 00:21:58
    something you'll find helpful at one
  • 00:21:59
    point or another in the future
  • 00:22:02
    so i'll clear the screen
  • 00:22:04
    this time i'll just hold ctrl and press
  • 00:22:05
    u to delete that command and now i'm
  • 00:22:07
    back to an empty prompt
  • 00:22:09
    now what if i wanted to run two commands
  • 00:22:11
    one after another
  • 00:22:13
    maybe i want to run sudo apt update and
  • 00:22:16
    then sudo apt dist upgrade the first
  • 00:22:18
    command will update my package
  • 00:22:19
    repository index
  • 00:22:21
    whereas the second command that i
  • 00:22:22
    mentioned will make sure that all
  • 00:22:24
    available updates are installed what i
  • 00:22:26
    could do is run sudo apt update
  • 00:22:32
    and then once it's done i can run sudo
  • 00:22:33
    apt disk upgrade
  • 00:22:35
    to run the second command but that's not
  • 00:22:37
    what i'm going to do
  • 00:22:40
    instead i'm going to set up the command
  • 00:22:42
    just like this
  • 00:22:47
    and watch what happens
  • 00:22:52
    it immediately changed the command into
  • 00:22:54
    the dist upgrade command so if i was to
  • 00:22:56
    press enter it's going to install all of
  • 00:22:58
    the updates
  • 00:22:59
    now of course apt is actually specific
  • 00:23:01
    to debian and ubuntu
  • 00:23:03
    but the command itself doesn't really
  • 00:23:05
    matter
  • 00:23:06
    i'll just say no for now because i don't
  • 00:23:08
    need to update anything i'm just using a
  • 00:23:10
    temporary installation on my studio
  • 00:23:12
    laptop
  • 00:23:14
    i don't really care to update it right
  • 00:23:15
    now anyway
  • 00:23:17
    so what i'll do right now is just chain
  • 00:23:19
    two random commands together
  • 00:23:22
    so ls-l
  • 00:23:26
    and then i'll run echo
  • 00:23:29
    hello world
  • 00:23:31
    so the first command produced this
  • 00:23:33
    output right here because i ran ls dash
  • 00:23:35
    l
  • 00:23:36
    and the second command echoed hello
  • 00:23:38
    world to the screen
  • 00:23:40
    which we see right here
  • 00:23:42
    so now what i'm going to do is show you
  • 00:23:44
    another variation of this same idea
  • 00:23:47
    so i'll recall this command and i'm
  • 00:23:48
    going to take away the semicolon here
  • 00:23:52
    and instead i'll type to ampersands what
  • 00:23:54
    do you think is going to happen
  • 00:23:56
    let's find out
  • 00:23:58
    the same thing
  • 00:24:00
    but wait a minute if it does the same
  • 00:24:02
    thing if this method changed two
  • 00:24:04
    commands together as well
  • 00:24:06
    then why would i want to use the
  • 00:24:07
    semicolon versus the two ampersands
  • 00:24:11
    to demonstrate the difference i'm going
  • 00:24:13
    to bring back this command right here
  • 00:24:15
    but what i'm going to do is make the
  • 00:24:17
    first command completely invalid
  • 00:24:25
    so i'm going to list the storage of a
  • 00:24:27
    directory that doesn't exist
  • 00:24:29
    this will produce an error and then i'm
  • 00:24:31
    going to chain the command into echo
  • 00:24:32
    hello world just like before
  • 00:24:36
    but the command stopped me though it's
  • 00:24:37
    telling me that this directory does not
  • 00:24:39
    exist which i knew
  • 00:24:41
    but it didn't run the second command
  • 00:24:43
    that's interesting
  • 00:24:46
    let's bring that back
  • 00:24:48
    take away the ampersands
  • 00:24:50
    and i'll replace them with a semicolon
  • 00:24:53
    so we get the same message as before
  • 00:24:55
    it's telling me that the directory does
  • 00:24:57
    not exist
  • 00:24:58
    but it still ran the second command so
  • 00:25:00
    now you can see the difference
  • 00:25:02
    if you chain commands together with
  • 00:25:04
    semicolons in between
  • 00:25:06
    it will actually run the next command if
  • 00:25:08
    the previous command failed
  • 00:25:10
    but on the other hand if you chain
  • 00:25:12
    commands together with ampersands
  • 00:25:14
    instead of the semicolon if it
  • 00:25:16
    encounters an error it will not run
  • 00:25:17
    subsequent commands
  • 00:25:19
    and that's the difference
  • 00:25:21
    depending on what you want maybe you
  • 00:25:22
    want the second command to go through if
  • 00:25:24
    the first one fails or maybe you don't
  • 00:25:27
    and that'll determine which one of these
  • 00:25:28
    you actually use
  • 00:25:30
    now another command that i want to show
  • 00:25:31
    you guys is tail dash f
  • 00:25:34
    and i feel like this is a command that a
  • 00:25:36
    lot of people know already
  • 00:25:38
    but for whatever reason i didn't find
  • 00:25:40
    this out until much later in my career
  • 00:25:43
    so i want to make sure that i let you
  • 00:25:44
    guys know about this as early as i can
  • 00:25:47
    so if you didn't already know about this
  • 00:25:48
    well you're about to know about it
  • 00:25:50
    so what we're going to do is just tail a
  • 00:25:52
    log file i just chose the var log syslog
  • 00:25:55
    file randomly
  • 00:25:57
    you could give it any file that actually
  • 00:25:58
    exists
  • 00:26:00
    now when i press enter it's going to
  • 00:26:01
    show me the contents of var log syslog
  • 00:26:04
    or at least the last portion of it
  • 00:26:07
    and you can't really see it now but if
  • 00:26:08
    anything was to happen on this system
  • 00:26:11
    then this is going to update in real
  • 00:26:12
    time so i can literally watch the log as
  • 00:26:15
    content is being added to it so that way
  • 00:26:18
    if i'm troubleshooting something i could
  • 00:26:19
    keep my eye on what's happening on the
  • 00:26:21
    server maybe the other person that's
  • 00:26:23
    telling me about a problem can try to
  • 00:26:25
    reproduce the problem and while they're
  • 00:26:27
    doing that i'll just watch the log and
  • 00:26:29
    as they're trying i'll see new entries
  • 00:26:31
    being added to the log file it's a very
  • 00:26:33
    cool thing to do
  • 00:26:35
    and to break out of this you hold ctrl
  • 00:26:37
    and press c
  • 00:26:38
    and now you're back on the command line
  • 00:26:42
    now for the next trick
  • 00:26:45
    if i list the storage of my current
  • 00:26:46
    working directory
  • 00:26:48
    i actually have this file right here
  • 00:26:50
    called hello.txt
  • 00:26:52
    that i actually created off-camera
  • 00:26:55
    if i check the contents of that file
  • 00:26:58
    you can see that all it contains is
  • 00:27:00
    hello world
  • 00:27:01
    now we're going to pretend that this is
  • 00:27:03
    a very long file maybe it's a log file
  • 00:27:06
    for example and we want to empty it out
  • 00:27:08
    now most of the time you can actually
  • 00:27:10
    delete a log file and then the service
  • 00:27:12
    will recreate it but that's not always
  • 00:27:14
    the case
  • 00:27:15
    it's actually easier to truncate a file
  • 00:27:17
    especially if it's a log file it's a
  • 00:27:19
    safer thing to do than outright deleting
  • 00:27:20
    a file
  • 00:27:22
    maybe there's still an open file handle
  • 00:27:23
    to that file
  • 00:27:25
    and if you go ahead and delete a log
  • 00:27:26
    file maybe a new log file will not be
  • 00:27:29
    created
  • 00:27:30
    and that wouldn't be good so what you
  • 00:27:32
    could do is run truncate
  • 00:27:34
    we could set the size that's what the
  • 00:27:36
    dash s stands for we'll set the size to
  • 00:27:38
    zero be very careful with this by the
  • 00:27:40
    way and then we'll give it a file name
  • 00:27:43
    and that's going to make the file size
  • 00:27:45
    of that file exactly zero thereby
  • 00:27:47
    deleting everything it contains
  • 00:27:49
    and that's why i mentioned you should be
  • 00:27:51
    careful with it
  • 00:27:53
    i kept the contents of hello.txt one
  • 00:27:55
    more time
  • 00:27:56
    it's an empty file that makes sense we
  • 00:27:58
    set the size to exactly zero
  • 00:28:01
    it's now an empty file
  • 00:28:04
    so now i'm going to show you guys one
  • 00:28:05
    more command that i like and that's the
  • 00:28:07
    column command but it's actually more
  • 00:28:09
    useful when you chain commands into it
  • 00:28:11
    for example if i run mount
  • 00:28:14
    it's going to show me a list of all the
  • 00:28:15
    file systems that i have mounted on my
  • 00:28:17
    computer or server or whatever happens
  • 00:28:19
    to be
  • 00:28:20
    but it's all kind of jumbled together
  • 00:28:23
    and yes part of that is because of my
  • 00:28:24
    font size but even if i shrink the font
  • 00:28:27
    size and then run it again
  • 00:28:29
    it's not all that much better
  • 00:28:32
    so let's try this a different way
  • 00:28:34
    i'm going to run mount
  • 00:28:36
    and then i'm going to pipe that into
  • 00:28:38
    column
  • 00:28:40
    dash t
  • 00:28:43
    and i might need to make the font size
  • 00:28:44
    really small so you can see the
  • 00:28:45
    difference
  • 00:28:47
    it's going to make sure that all the
  • 00:28:49
    output is shown in columns which makes
  • 00:28:51
    it a lot easier to read
  • 00:28:53
    and it's not specific to the mount
  • 00:28:54
    command any command that produces output
  • 00:28:57
    that's a little jumbled might actually
  • 00:28:58
    benefit from being piped into the column
  • 00:29:00
    command like i'm doing here
  • 00:29:03
    if nothing else piping mount into column
  • 00:29:06
    t is useful oven by itself so if that's
  • 00:29:08
    all you take away from this then i guess
  • 00:29:10
    that's fine too
  • 00:29:13
    so hopefully you've learned something
  • 00:29:15
    new with today's video
  • 00:29:17
    go ahead and let me know in the comments
  • 00:29:19
    down below what your favorite command
  • 00:29:21
    line trick or time saving shortcut
  • 00:29:23
    happens to be i look forward to reading
  • 00:29:26
    what you guys have to say and maybe i'll
  • 00:29:27
    learn something new myself
  • 00:29:30
    anyway as always thank you so much for
  • 00:29:32
    watching and i'll see you again very
  • 00:29:33
    soon
  • 00:29:41
    [Music]
  • 00:29:49
    you
Tags
  • Linux terminal
  • command line
  • shortcuts
  • efficiency
  • directory navigation
  • terminal reset
  • background tasks
  • command history
  • chaining commands
  • system logs