11 Lesser Known Useful Linux Commands

Linux command line attracts most of the Linux Enthusiastic. A normal Linux user generally posses a vocabulary of roughly 50-60 commands to carry out their day-to-day task. Linux commands and their switches remains the most valuable treasure for a Linux-user, Shell-script programmer and Administrator. There are some Linux Commands which are lesser Known, yet very useful and handy irrespective of the fact whether you are a Novice or an Advanced User.

This very article aims at throwing light on some of the lesser known Linux commands which surely will help you to handle your Desktop/Server more efficiently.

1. sudo !! command

Running the command without specifying sudo command will give you permission denied error. So, you don’t need to rewrite the whole command again just put ‘!!‘ will grab the last command.

$ apt-get update

E: Could not open lock file /var/lib/apt/lists/lock - open (13: Permission denied) 
E: Unable to lock directory /var/lib/apt/lists/ 
E: Could not open lock file /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (13: Permission denied) 
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), are you root?

$ sudo !!

sudo apt-get update 
[sudo] password for server: 
…
..
Fetched 474 kB in 16s (28.0 kB/s) 
Reading package lists... Done 
server@localhost:~$

2. python command

The below command generates a simple web page over HTTP for the directory structure tree and can be accessed at port 8000 in browser till interrupt signal is sent.

# python -m SimpleHTTPServer

3. mtr Command

Most of us are familiar with ping and traceroute. How about combining the functionality of both the command into one with mtr command. In case mtr is not installed into your machine, apt or yum the required package.

$ sudo apt-get install mtr (On Debian based Systems)

# yum install mtr (On Red Hat based Systems)

Now run mtr command to start investigating the network connection between the host mtr runs on and google.com.

# mtr google.com

4. Ctrl+x+e Command

This command is very much useful for administrator and developers. To Automate day-to-day task an administrator needs to open editor by typing vi, vim, nano, etc. How about firing instant editor (from terminal).

Just Press “Ctrl-x-e” from the terminal prompt and start working in editor.

Download Linux Command Line Cheat Sheet

5. nl Command

The “nl command” number the lines of a file. Number the lines of a file say ‘one.txt‘ with lines say (Fedora, Debian, Arch, Slack and Suse). First list the content of a file “one.txt” using cat command.

# cat one.txt 

fedora 
debian 
arch 
slack 
suse

Now run “nl command” to list them in a numbered fashion.

# nl one.txt 

1 fedora 
2 debian 
3 arch 
4 slack 
5 suse

6. shuf Command

The “shuf” command randomly select lines/files/folder from a file/folder. First list the contents of a folder using ls command.

# ls 

Desktop  Documents  Downloads  Music  Pictures  Public  Templates  Videos

#  ls | shuf (shuffle Input)

Music 
Documents 
Templates 
Pictures 
Public 
Desktop 
Downloads 
Videos

#  ls | shuf -n1 (pick on random selection)

Public

# ls | shuf -n1 

Videos

# ls | shuf -n1 

Templates

# ls | shuf -n1 

Downloads

Note: You can always replace ‘n1‘ with ‘n2‘ to pick two random selection or any other number of random selection using n3, n4.…

7. ss Command

The “ss” stands for socket statistics. The command investigates the socket and shows information similar to netstat command. It can display more TCP and state informations than other tools.

# ss 

State      Recv-Q Send-Q      Local Address:Port          Peer Address:Port   
ESTAB      0      0           192.168.1.198:41250        *.*.*.*:http    
CLOSE-WAIT 1      0               127.0.0.1:8000             127.0.0.1:41393   
ESTAB      0      0           192.168.1.198:36239        *.*.*.*:http    
ESTAB      310    0               127.0.0.1:8000             127.0.0.1:41384   
ESTAB      0      0           192.168.1.198:41002       *.*.*.*:http    
ESTAB      0      0               127.0.0.1:41384            127.0.0.1:8000

8. last Command

The “last” command show the history of last logged in users. This command searches through the file “/var/log/wtmp” and shows a list of logged-in and logged-out users along with tty’s.

#  last 
server   pts/0        :0               Tue Oct 22 12:03   still logged in   
server   tty8         :0               Tue Oct 22 12:02   still logged in   
…
...
(unknown tty8         :0               Tue Oct 22 12:02 - 12:02  (00:00)    
server   pts/0        :0               Tue Oct 22 10:33 - 12:02  (01:29)    
server   tty7         :0               Tue Oct 22 10:05 - 12:02  (01:56)    
(unknown tty7         :0               Tue Oct 22 10:04 - 10:05  (00:00)    
reboot   system boot  3.2.0-4-686-pae  Tue Oct 22 10:04 - 12:44  (02:39)    

wtmp begins Fri Oct  4 14:43:17 2007

9. curl ifconfig.me

So how do you obtain your External IP address? Using google?. Well the command output your external IP address right into your terminal.

# curl ifconfig.me

Note: You might don’t have curl package installed, you have to apt/yum to install package.

10. tree command

Get the current directory structure in tree like format.

# tree

. 
|-- Desktop 
|-- Documents 
|   `-- 37.odt 
|-- Downloads 
|   |-- attachments.zip 

|   |-- ttf-indic-fonts_0.5.11_all.deb 
|   |-- ttf-indic-fonts_1.1_all.deb 
|   `-- wheezy-nv-install.sh 
|-- Music 
|-- Pictures 
|   |-- Screenshot from 2013-10-22 12:03:49.png 
|   `-- Screenshot from 2013-10-22 12:12:38.png 
|-- Public 
|-- Templates 
`-- Videos 

10 directories, 23 files

11. pstree

This commands shows all the processes running currently along with associated child process, in a tree like format similar to ‘tree‘ command output.

# pstree 
init─┬─NetworkManager───{NetworkManager} 
     ├─accounts-daemon───{accounts-daemon} 
     ├─acpi_fakekeyd 
     ├─acpid 
     ├─apache2───10*[apache2] 
     ├─at-spi-bus-laun───2*[{at-spi-bus-laun}] 
     ├─atd 
     ├─avahi-daemon───avahi-daemon 
     ├─bluetoothd 
     ├─colord───{colord} 
     ├─colord-sane───2*[{colord-sane}] 
     ├─console-kit-dae───64*[{console-kit-dae}] 
     ├─cron 
     ├─cupsd 
     ├─2*[dbus-daemon] 
     ├─dbus-launch 
     ├─dconf-service───2*[{dconf-service}] 
     ├─dovecot─┬─anvil 
     │         ├─config 
     │         └─log 
     ├─exim4 
     ├─gconfd-2 
     ├─gdm3─┬─gdm-simple-slav─┬─Xorg 
     │      │                 ├─gdm-session-wor─┬─x-session-manag─┬─evolution-a+ 
     │      │                 │                 │                 ├─gdu-notific+ 
     │      │                 │                 │                 ├─gnome-scree+ 
     │      │                 │                 │                 ├─gnome-setti+ 
     │      │                 │                 │                 ├─gnome-shell+++ 
     │      │                 │                 │                 ├─nm-applet──+++ 
     │      │                 │                 │                 ├─ssh-agent 
     │      │                 │                 │                 ├─tracker-min+ 
     │      │                 │                 │                 ├─tracker-sto+ 
     │      │                 │                 │                 └─3*[{x-sessi+ 
     │      │                 │                 └─2*[{gdm-session-wor}] 
     │      │                 └─{gdm-simple-slav} 
     │      └─{gdm3} 
     ├─6*[getty] 
     ├─gnome-keyring-d───9*[{gnome-keyring-d}] 
     ├─gnome-shell-cal───2*[{gnome-shell-cal}] 
     ├─goa-daemon───{goa-daemon} 
     ├─gsd-printer───{gsd-printer} 
     ├─gvfs-afc-volume───{gvfs-afc-volume}

That’s all for now. In the next article of mine I would cover certain other lesser known Linux commands which would be fun. Till then stay tuned and connected to Tecmint. Like and share us and help us get spread.

Read Also:

1. 10 Lesser Known Linux Commands – Part 2
2. 10 Lesser Known Commands for Linux – Part 3
3. 10 Lesser Known Effective Linux Commands – Part IV
4. 10 Lesser Known Useful Linux Commands- Part V