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cli (136)

nano — Friendly Terminal Text Editor

GNU's small, on-screen-hinted terminal text editor — the default modal-free alternative to vi/emacs that you can drive without ever learning a command vocabulary.
nano editor cli text terminal configuration web-researched

caffeinate — Keep macOS Awake on Demand

Prevent display, idle, system, or user-active sleep for the duration of a command, a fixed time, or a process — without permanently changing pmset.
macos caffeinate cli power scripting pmset web-researched

codesign — macOS Code Signing, Notarization & Stapling

End-to-end macOS distribution pipeline — sign binaries and app bundles with codesign, notarize with notarytool, staple tickets with stapler, and verify Gatekeeper acceptance with spctl.
codesign macos security signing notarization gatekeeper distribution cli web-researched

diskutil — macOS Disk & APFS Management

Command-line front-end to Disk Utility on macOS — list, partition, format, repair, encrypt, and snapshot APFS containers, plus build and tear down software RAID volumes.
diskutil macos disk apfs sysadmin cli encryption web-researched

duti — Set Default Applications on macOS

Drive macOS Launch Services from the command line — assign default apps for UTIs, file extensions, and URL schemes; understand the viewer/editor/all/shell/none roles; bulk-load file associations from a settings file; rebuild the Launch Services database when changes refuse to stick.
duti macos cli launch-services default-apps uti automation web-researched

macOS CLI — Command Line Reference

Comprehensive macOS terminal reference covering file management, processes, networking, Homebrew, defaults, diskutil, launchctl, pbcopy/pbpaste, open, say, and power-user recipes.
macos osx terminal shell cli bash zsh brew homebrew system web-researched

mdfind — Spotlight Search From the Terminal

Query macOS's Spotlight index from the shell — fast name, content, and metadata search across the whole filesystem, with scope, attributes, and live-update modes.
mdfind macos search cli spotlight filesystem web-researched

networksetup — macOS Network Configuration

Script every aspect of macOS network configuration — Wi-Fi joining, DNS servers, proxies, locations, and service order — from a single first-party command-line tool.
networksetup macos networking wifi dns proxy sysadmin cli web-researched

osascript — Run AppleScript and JXA From the Shell

Drive macOS GUI apps, system events, dialogs, notifications, and Finder from the terminal using AppleScript or JavaScript for Automation (JXA).
osascript applescript jxa macos automation scripting gui web-researched

pbcopy & pbpaste — macOS Clipboard CLI

Pipe data into and out of the macOS pasteboard from the shell — multi-pasteboard targets, newline handling, shell aliases, and real-world copy-paste recipes.
pbcopy pbpaste macos cli clipboard pipes scripting web-researched

pmset — macOS Power Management

Inspect and configure sleep, wake, hibernate, and battery behaviour on macOS. Covers per-source profiles, scheduled wake, sleep-prevention diagnostics, battery reports, and hibernate modes.
macos pmset cli power sysadmin sleep battery web-researched

sips — Scriptable Image Processing

macOS built-in image processor covering format conversion, resizing, cropping, rotation, color profiles, metadata inspection, and batch processing recipes.
sips macos osx images convert resize batch heic jpeg png web-researched

softwareupdate — macOS Updates From the Terminal

Deep-dive on softwareupdate(8), Apple's CLI for macOS system updates — listing pending updates, installing recommended-only or specific items, scheduling, ignoring updates, installing Rosetta and Command Line Tools, and pairing with mas and brew for full system update automation.
softwareupdate macos sysadmin updates rosetta mas brew cli web-researched

system_profiler — macOS Hardware & Software Inventory

Deep-dive on system_profiler(8) — macOS's built-in inventory tool. Covers data types, text/XML/JSON output, piping into jq and plutil, common SP* probes (hardware, displays, memory, storage, USB, network, software), detail levels, and fleet inventory recipes.
system_profiler macos sysadmin inventory hardware json plutil jq cli web-researched

tmutil — Time Machine from the Command Line

Drive Time Machine backups, destinations, exclusions, local APFS snapshots, restores, and verification entirely from the terminal — without opening System Settings.
macos tmutil cli backup time-machine apfs snapshots sysadmin web-researched

xattr — Extended Attributes on macOS

Deep-dive on macOS extended attributes — listing, reading, writing, and removing xattrs with xattr(1); the Gatekeeper com.apple.quarantine flag; Spotlight metadata attributes; ACLs via ls -le and chmod +a; preserving attributes on copy with cp -p and rsync -X.
xattr macos cli filesystem security gatekeeper quarantine acl metadata web-researched

arp — ARP Cache Viewer and Editor

Display, add, and delete entries in the Windows ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) cache — map IP addresses to MAC addresses, detect IP conflicts, and diagnose Layer 2 connectivity issues.
arp windows cli scripting sysadmin web-researched

attrib — File Attribute Manager

View and modify Windows file attributes (hidden, read-only, system, archive) from the command line. Covers all attribute flags, recursive operations, and practical recipes for unhiding malware-hidden files and managing backups.
attrib windows cli filesystem scripting web-researched

bcdedit — Boot Configuration Data Editor

View and modify the Windows Boot Configuration Data store — manage boot entries, set default OS, change timeouts, enable debugging, and configure boot options from an elevated command prompt.
bcdedit windows cli scripting sysadmin web-researched

cd — Change Directory

Navigate the Windows command prompt's current working directory. Covers drive switching, absolute and relative paths, UNC paths, and path-with-spaces quoting.
cd windows cli filesystem scripting web-researched

certutil — Certificates, Hashing and Encoding

The dual-purpose Windows CLI for certificate-store management and as the most reliable built-in tool for file hashing, base64 encoding, and CRL/CTL handling — no install required.
certutil certificates security hashing encoding cli web-researched

chkdsk — Check Disk

Scan a FAT or NTFS volume for file system errors and bad sectors, optionally repairing them — the built-in Windows disk health and integrity tool for drives and volumes.
chkdsk windows cli scripting sysadmin web-researched

cls — Clear Console Screen

Clear all text from the cmd.exe or PowerShell console window and reset the cursor to the top-left — the single command for resetting a terminal session's visible output.
cls windows cli scripting batch web-researched

copy — Copy Files

Copy one or more files to a new location in the Windows command prompt. Covers single-file copy, wildcard batches, file concatenation, and binary vs ASCII modes.
copy windows cli filesystem scripting web-researched

defrag — Disk Defragmenter CLI

Analyze, defragment, and optimize volumes from the command line — consolidate free space on HDDs, issue TRIM on SSDs, and schedule or review optimization tasks.
defrag windows cli scripting sysadmin web-researched

del — Delete Files

Delete one or more files from the Windows command prompt. Covers wildcards, quiet mode, attribute overrides, recursive deletion patterns, and the distinction from rmdir.
del windows cli filesystem scripting web-researched

dir — List Directory Contents

Display files and folders in a directory with filtering, sorting, formatting, and recursive traversal options. The Windows cmd.exe equivalent of Unix ls.
dir windows cli filesystem scripting web-researched

diskpart — Disk Partition Manager

Create, delete, format, extend, shrink, and assign drive letters to disk partitions from the Windows command prompt using an interactive or scripted REPL interface.
diskpart windows cli scripting sysadmin web-researched

dism — Deployment Image Servicing and Management

Service Windows images and the running OS — enable/disable optional features, repair the component store, mount and edit WIM/ESD images, add drivers, and manage editions from an elevated command prompt.
dism windows cli sysadmin imaging components web-researched

driverquery — List Installed Drivers

Display all installed device drivers on a local or remote Windows machine — module name, type, link date, and driver file path — for hardware audits and troubleshooting.
driverquery windows cli scripting sysadmin web-researched

echo — Output Text and Control Command Echo

Print text to stdout, expand environment variables, write blank lines, redirect output to files, and toggle command-echoing in cmd.exe batch scripts.
echo windows cli scripting batch web-researched

fc — File Compare

Compare two text or binary files line-by-line or byte-by-byte and report their differences — the built-in Windows equivalent of Unix diff for quick file audits in cmd.exe.
fc windows cli scripting comparison web-researched

findstr — Search Text in Files

Search for string patterns inside files or piped input on Windows — the built-in grep equivalent for cmd.exe, with support for regular expressions, case-insensitive matching, and recursive directory searches.
findstr windows cli scripting regex web-researched

fsutil — File System Utility

Inspect and manage NTFS file system internals — query volume info, manage hard links, sparse files, reparse points, the USN journal, and the dirty bit — from an elevated command prompt.
fsutil windows cli scripting sysadmin web-researched

getmac — MAC Address Query

Display the MAC (hardware) addresses and associated transport names for all network adapters on a local or remote Windows machine — useful for asset inventory, DHCP reservation setup, and network access control.
getmac windows cli scripting sysadmin web-researched

gpresult & gpupdate — Group Policy Diagnostics and Refresh

Inspect the Resultant Set of Policy that applied to a user and computer with gpresult, then force a refresh with gpupdate — including HTML reports, scope filtering, and the classic 'why didn't my GPO take effect?' workflow.
gpresult gpupdate windows cli sysadmin group-policy security web-researched

hostname — Print Machine Name

Display the DNS hostname of the local Windows machine from the command prompt — useful in scripts to identify the machine without parsing systeminfo output.
hostname windows cli scripting networking web-researched

icacls — ACL Editor

Display and modify NTFS access control lists on files and directories — grant, deny, or remove permissions for users and groups, manage inheritance, and save or restore full ACL sets.
icacls windows cli scripting sysadmin web-researched

ipconfig — IP Configuration

Display and manage TCP/IP network configuration for all adapters on a Windows machine — covers full adapter details, DNS cache operations, and DHCP lease management.
ipconfig windows cli networking scripting web-researched

logman — Performance Monitor CLI

Create, start, stop, and manage Data Collector Sets for performance counters, event traces, and configuration data — the command-line interface to Windows Performance Monitor for scripted monitoring and automated log collection.
logman windows cli scripting sysadmin web-researched

mkdir / md — Make Directory

Create one or more directories from the Windows command prompt. Covers single and nested directory creation, batch patterns, and common scripting idioms.
mkdir windows cli filesystem scripting web-researched

mountvol — Volume Mount Point Manager

List, create, and remove NTFS volume mount points and display the unique volume GUID path for any drive letter or directory junction from the command prompt.
mountvol windows cli scripting sysadmin web-researched

move — Move and Rename Files

Move files to a new location or rename them within the Windows command prompt. Covers single files, wildcards, directory renames, overwrite control, and cross-drive behaviour.
move windows cli filesystem scripting web-researched

net localgroup — Local Group Manager

Create, delete, and modify local security groups on a Windows machine — add or remove members, list group memberships, and manage built-in groups from the command prompt.
net-localgroup windows cli scripting sysadmin web-researched

net user — Local User Account Manager

Create, modify, delete, and list local Windows user accounts from the command prompt — set passwords, manage account expiry, lock/unlock accounts, and control logon hours.
net-user windows cli scripting sysadmin web-researched

netsh — Network Shell

Configure network interfaces, firewall rules, wireless profiles, port proxies, and Winsock settings from an elevated command prompt — the comprehensive Windows network configuration CLI.
netsh windows cli scripting sysadmin web-researched

netstat — Network Connections and Statistics

Display active TCP/UDP connections, listening ports, routing tables, interface statistics, and per-connection process IDs from the Windows command prompt.
netstat windows cli networking scripting web-researched

nslookup — DNS Query Tool

Query DNS servers for A, AAAA, MX, TXT, NS, PTR, and other resource records from the Windows command prompt — the built-in tool for diagnosing name resolution issues.
nslookup windows cli networking dns web-researched

pathping — Combined Traceroute and Ping

Trace the route to a destination and measure per-hop packet loss and latency over a sustained sampling period — more diagnostic than tracert and more thorough than ping for identifying intermittent network problems.
pathping windows cli scripting sysadmin web-researched

ping — Test Network Connectivity

Send ICMP echo requests to a host to test reachability, measure round-trip latency, and detect packet loss from the Windows command prompt.
ping windows cli networking scripting web-researched

powercfg — Power Configuration CLI

Manage Windows power plans, enable or disable hibernation, diagnose battery health and sleep failures, and generate energy efficiency reports from the command prompt.
powercfg windows cli scripting sysadmin web-researched

PowerShell Essentials

Variables, operators, pipelines, Where-Object, ForEach-Object, Select-Object, sorting, grouping, remoting, jobs, CIM, registry, JSON, error handling, and common cmdlets.
powershell windows scripting cli web-researched

reg — Windows Registry from the Command Line

Query, add, modify, export, and import Windows registry keys and values with the built-in reg.exe — the scriptable, no-dependency tool for everything from one-off tweaks to full backup-and-restore.
reg registry cli scripting sysadmin web-researched

rmdir / rd — Remove Directory

Delete empty or entire directory trees from the Windows command prompt. Covers the /S and /Q flags, force-removing read-only trees, and safe deletion patterns.
rmdir windows cli filesystem scripting web-researched

robocopy — Robust File Copy

Production-grade file and directory synchronisation with mirroring, multi-threading, retry logic, logging, and exclusion filters. The go-to for backup scripts and deployment pipelines on Windows.
robocopy windows cli filesystem scripting backup sync web-researched

route — IP Routing Table Manager

Display, add, delete, and modify entries in the Windows IP routing table — control how packets are forwarded between subnets, add persistent static routes, and diagnose routing failures.
route windows cli scripting sysadmin networking web-researched

runas — Run as Different User

Launch a program in the security context of a different user account — elevate to Administrator, switch to a service account, or test application behaviour under a restricted identity.
runas windows cli scripting sysadmin security web-researched

sc — Service Control Manager CLI

Query, create, configure, start, stop, and delete Windows services from the command line — the scripting interface to the Service Control Manager, equivalent to the Services MMC snap-in but fully automatable.
sc windows cli scripting sysadmin web-researched

schtasks — Task Scheduler CLI

Create, query, run, end, and delete scheduled tasks on local or remote Windows machines from the command prompt — the scripting interface to Windows Task Scheduler.
schtasks windows cli scripting sysadmin web-researched

set — Environment Variables

Set, display, and delete cmd.exe environment variables within the current session, perform integer arithmetic with /A, and read interactive user input with /P.
set windows cli scripting environment web-researched

shutdown — Shutdown, Restart, and Logoff

Initiate, schedule, abort, or force a shutdown, restart, logoff, hibernate, or sleep on a local or remote Windows machine from the command line — essential for scripted maintenance, patch automation, and remote administration.
shutdown windows cli scripting sysadmin web-researched

ssh — Secure Shell Client for Windows

Connect to remote hosts, transfer files, and forward ports over an encrypted channel using the OpenSSH client built into Windows 10 and later.
ssh windows cli networking security scripting web-researched

Sysinternals — PsExec, Handle, ProcMon and the Sysadmin Toolkit

Bootstrap and drive the headless Sysinternals utilities — PsExec, Handle, PsList, Autoruns, ProcMon, ListDLLs — for process spelunking, file-lock hunting, autostart auditing and scripted system tracing on Windows.
sysinternals debugging sysadmin tools cli scripting web-researched

systeminfo — System Information

Display detailed OS, hardware, and network configuration for the local or a remote Windows machine. Covers output formats, remote querying, filtering, and parsing in scripts.
systeminfo windows cli sysadmin scripting hardware inventory reference web-researched

takeown — Take File Ownership

Transfer ownership of files and directories to the current user or the Administrators group from an elevated command prompt — a prerequisite for modifying ACLs on system-protected paths.
takeown windows cli scripting sysadmin ntfs acl permissions ownership security reference web-researched

taskkill — Terminate Processes

End one or more running Windows processes by PID or image name from the command prompt, with options for force termination, process tree killing, filtering, and remote targets.
taskkill windows cli scripting sysadmin web-researched

tasklist — List Running Processes

Display all running processes on a local or remote Windows machine with PID, memory usage, session, and optional service or module details — the cmd.exe equivalent of Task Manager for scripts.
tasklist windows cli scripting sysadmin web-researched

timeout — Pause Script Execution

Pause a batch script for a specified number of seconds with an optional keypress bypass — a reliable replacement for the ping-delay idiom and a safer alternative to sleep in Windows CMD scripts.
timeout windows cli scripting sysadmin reference web-researched

tracert — Trace Network Route

Trace the sequence of routers between your machine and a destination by sending probes with increasing TTL values — the go-to tool for locating where a network path breaks or introduces high latency.
tracert windows cli networking scripting icmp reference web-researched

tzutil & w32tm — Timezone and Windows Time

Read and set the system timezone with tzutil, then query, configure, and force-sync the Windows Time service with w32tm — including NTP peer configuration and Kerberos-clock-drift recovery.
tzutil w32tm windows cli sysadmin time ntp sync kerberos reference web-researched

wevtutil — Windows Event Log Manager

Query, export, clear, and manage Windows Event Log channels from the command line — the primary CLI for event log automation, log archiving, and scripted log analysis on Windows.
wevtutil windows cli scripting sysadmin event-log security reference web-researched

whoami — Current User Identity

Display the current user name, SID, group memberships, and privileges from the Windows command prompt — essential for auditing security context in scripts and support scenarios.
whoami windows cli scripting security sysadmin reference web-researched

wmic — Windows Management Instrumentation CLI

Query and manage Windows system information — hardware, software, processes, services, and more — from the command prompt using WMI classes and WMIC's SQL-like syntax.
wmic windows cli scripting sysadmin web-researched

wsl — Managing Linux Distros from the wsl.exe CLI

Install, list, export, import, configure, and clone WSL distributions using the wsl.exe command on Windows 10 and 11.
wsl linux virtualization cli sysadmin web-researched

xcopy — Extended Copy

Copy files and directory trees with attribute preservation, date filtering, exclusion lists, and verification. The step between copy and robocopy for most scripting needs.
xcopy windows cli filesystem scripting backup web-researched

GDG — Generation data groups for rolling datasets

Define, reference, and clean up z/OS generation data groups via IDCAMS — relative generations, rollover behaviour, model DSCBs, and the modern GDGEXTENDED mode.
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IEBCOPY — Partitioned dataset copy, compress, and unload

IBM utility for copying, merging, compressing, unloading, and reloading PDS and PDSE libraries on z/OS, including member selection, rename, and exclusion.
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JES2 — Operator commands and subsystem control

z/OS Job Entry Subsystem 2 operator slash-commands for jobs, initiators, output, classes, NJE, and spool — from the console and from SDSF.
zos mainframe jes2 operators sdsf web-researched

Zowe CLI — Modern z/OS DevOps from your laptop

Open-source command-line bridge into z/OS — manage datasets, jobs, USS files, consoles, TSO, and Db2 from Mac/Linux/Windows over z/OSMF or RSE-API.
zowe zos mainframe devops cli zosmf web-researched

Claude Code CLI — Complete Command-Line Reference

All claude CLI flags, startup modes, non-interactive usage, environment variables, keyboard shortcuts, subcommands, exit codes, and configuration file locations in one place.
claude-code cli reference commands

Bun — All-in-One JavaScript Runtime & Toolkit

Bun is a fast all-in-one JavaScript runtime, package manager, bundler, and test runner written in Zig — a drop-in replacement for Node.js and npm with built-in TypeScript and JSX support.
javascript runtime bun cli typescript tooling

Chalk — Terminal string styling for Node

Apply ANSI colours, backgrounds, and text styles to terminal output in Node.js using Chalk's chainable API, plus comparisons with picocolors and patterns for building polished CLI UX.
javascript node cli terminal library

Deno — Secure JavaScript & TypeScript Runtime

Deno is a secure, modern JavaScript and TypeScript runtime built on V8 with permission-based sandboxing, built-in TypeScript, a curated standard library on JSR, and a complete toolchain (fmt, lint, test, bench, compile).
javascript runtime deno typescript cli tooling

aria2c Download Utility

Fast, multi-protocol download utility supporting HTTP(S), FTP, SFTP, BitTorrent, and Metalink with resumption and parallel connections.
aria2c download http ftp torrent networking cli web-researched

awk / gawk — Text Processing

Pattern-action language for structured text. Field splitting, built-in variables, arithmetic, string functions, arrays, BEGIN/END blocks, and practical data-processing recipes.
awk gawk text-processing cli scripting data web-researched

Bash — Shell Scripting Reference

Comprehensive Bash scripting reference covering variables, parameter expansion, control flow, functions, arrays, string manipulation, arithmetic, traps, process substitution, and the Bash 5.3 in-shell command substitution forms.
bash shell scripting cli web-researched

bat — Better cat

A cat clone with syntax highlighting, Git integration, line numbers, paging, and diff support. Drop-in replacement with many quality-of-life improvements for viewing files in the terminal.
bat cat syntax-highlighting cli pager rust web-researched

cron — Scheduled Jobs

Time-based job scheduler on Unix. Covers crontab syntax, user vs. system crontabs, environment quirks, logging, anacron, and the modern systemd timer alternative.
cron scheduling sysadmin cli automation web-researched

curl — HTTP Client

Transfer data with URLs. Covers HTTP methods, headers, authentication, forms, TLS, cookies, proxies, timeouts, parallel downloads, and a comprehensive recipe collection.
curl http api networking cli rest download web-researched

cut, paste & join — Column Tools

Extract columns by delimiter or byte position (cut), merge files column-wise (paste), and join on a common key field (join). Essential for tab/CSV/field-delimited data.
cut paste join text-processing cli csv columns web-researched

df, du & duf — Disk Usage

Check filesystem free space (df), measure directory sizes (du), and view a colourful disk overview (duf). Covers all key flags, human-readable output, modern alternatives (dust, gdu, ncdu), and common sysadmin recipes.
df du duf dust ncdu gdu disk filesystem storage cli web-researched

dig — DNS Lookup Toolkit

Query DNS records of any type from any resolver — A, AAAA, MX, TXT, NS, SOA, SRV, CAA — with formatted output, reverse lookups, and full delegation tracing.
dig dns networking cli debug web-researched

eza / exa — Modern ls

A modern ls replacement with colour coding, Git status, icons, tree view, and rich metadata. eza is the actively maintained fork of the original exa project.
eza exa ls files cli rust git web-researched

fd — Fast File Finder

Modern find replacement written in Rust. Simpler syntax, respects .gitignore, supports regex and glob patterns, parallel execution, and coloured output.
fd find files search cli rust web-researched

FFmpeg — Multimedia Processing

Comprehensive FFmpeg reference covering transcoding, container conversion, scaling, filters, audio, subtitles, streaming, batch processing, and ffplay — with NVIDIA NVENC/NVDEC/CUDA alternatives, Vulkan compute codecs, VVC/H.266 decoding, and the FFmpeg 8.0 Whisper filter.
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ffprobe — Media Stream Inspection

Comprehensive ffprobe reference for inspecting media files — formats, streams, frames, packets, chapters, metadata — with output formats (default, json, csv, xml, flat, ini), select_streams, show_entries, and one-liners for duration, fps, codec, resolution, and bitrate.
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fish — Friendly Interactive Shell

Comprehensive fish shell reference covering syntax, variables, functions, abbreviations, completions, config files, path management, prompt customization, Fisher plugins, fish 4.x features (Rust rewrite), and migration from bash/zsh.
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fzf — Fuzzy Finder

Interactive fuzzy finder for the terminal. Covers key bindings, shell integration, previews with bat and tree, multi-select, popup/tmux mode, --listen IPC, and pipelines with git, kill, and vim.
fzf cli search productivity fuzzy pipes web-researched

gh — GitHub CLI

Complete GitHub CLI reference. Auth, configuration, repos, issues, pull requests, releases, Actions, attestations, projects, models, rulesets, caches, secrets, gists, search, API, extensions, and codespaces.
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git — Version Control

Complete Git reference. Setup, staging, committing, branching, merging, rebasing, stashing, remotes, tags, log inspection, undoing mistakes, submodules, and power-user aliases.
git version-control cli branching workflow devops web-researched

gpg — OpenPGP Encryption & Signing

Practical GnuPG cheat sheet — generate keys, sign and verify files, encrypt for a recipient, sign git commits and tags, and manage trust without the bureaucracy.
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grep — Pattern Search

Search files and streams using fixed strings, extended regex, or PCRE. Covers all major flags, context, recursive search, and pipeline patterns.
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htop — Interactive Process Viewer

Interactive process and resource monitor for the terminal. Covers function keys, sorting, filtering, signal sending, tree view, threads, and how to read load averages and memory correctly. Compares with top, btop, and bottom.
htop cli sysadmin monitoring processes web-researched

ImageMagick — Image Manipulation

Comprehensive ImageMagick 7 reference covering magick, identify, mogrify, composite, montage, format conversion, resize, crop, rotate, color adjustments, effects, drawing, text, PDF operations, policy.xml hardening, and batch processing.
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ip — iproute2 Networking

Modern replacement for ifconfig, route, and arp. Inspect and configure interfaces, addresses, routes, neighbour tables, and network namespaces with the iproute2 ip command.
ip iproute2 networking sysadmin cli routing web-researched

journalctl — systemd Journal Query

Query and follow systemd's structured journal. Covers unit filters, time ranges, priority levels, boot logs, namespaces, invocations, output formats, persistence, configuration, and disk-vacuum.
journalctl cli sysadmin logs systemd observability web-researched

jq — JSON Processor

Slice, filter, map, and transform JSON data from the command line. Covers all essential filters, built-in functions, select, map, reduce, streaming, jq 1.7/1.8 additions, and real-world API response processing.
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lsof & ss — Open Files and Sockets

Diagnose what's holding a port, which files a process has open, and the state of every TCP/UDP socket using lsof and the modern iproute2 ss utility.
lsof ss lsfd sockets networking processes debug cli sysadmin web-researched

make — Build Automation

Practical Makefile patterns: targets, prerequisites, automatic variables, pattern rules, parallel builds, and a working lint/test/build/clean workflow for any project.
make build automation scripting cli web-researched

permissions — chmod, chown, umask, ACLs

POSIX file permissions on Linux. Covers symbolic and octal chmod, ownership with chown, the meaning of r/w/x for files vs. directories, setuid/setgid/sticky bits, umask, ACLs, capabilities, and immutable attributes.
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ps, ss & netstat — Processes & Sockets

Inspect running processes (ps), list network connections and listening ports (ss / netstat). Covers output formats, filtering, process trees, and socket state analysis.
ps netstat ss processes networking sockets cli sysadmin web-researched

ripgrep (rg) — Fast Recursive Search

Modern grep replacement written in Rust. Respects .gitignore, searches hidden files optionally, supports PCRE2, and is significantly faster on large codebases.
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rsync — Fast Incremental File Sync

Copy and synchronise files locally or over SSH using a delta-transfer algorithm that only sends changed parts. Covers archive mode, deletion, filtering, progress, and snapshot backups.
rsync cli networking sync backup web-researched

sed — Stream Editor

Non-interactive text transformation. Substitution, deletion, insertion, address ranges, in-place editing, and multi-line patterns with practical recipes.
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shellcheck — Shell Script Linter

Catch quoting bugs, missing checks, and POSIX portability mistakes in shell scripts. Covers every flag, severity levels, inline directives, CI/pre-commit integration, and the most common rules.
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SoX — Swiss Army Knife of Audio

Comprehensive SoX reference covering file info, format conversion, synthesis, playback, recording, combining, effects (trim, reverb, compand, rate, pitch, tempo, noise gate), batch processing, spectrograms, and piping.
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tar — Archive & Compress

Bundle directory trees into a single archive file with optional compression. Covers create/extract/list, gzip/bzip2/xz formats, exclusions, transforms, and incremental backups.
tar cli archives compression backup web-researched

tmux — Terminal Multiplexer

Run multiple persistent terminal sessions, windows, and panes inside one shell. Covers the session/window/pane mental model, default keybindings, copy-mode, and a minimal tmux.conf.
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vim — Modal Text Editor

Bram Moolenaar's modal editor. Covers modes, verb-noun grammar, text objects, registers, marks, windows, search-and-replace, quickfix, macros, configuration, and a high-value baseline .vimrc.
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wget — File Downloader

Non-interactive network downloader. Covers single and batch downloads, recursive mirroring, authentication, resuming, rate limiting, and site archiving.
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xidel Web Scraping & Data Extraction

Extract data from HTML, XML, and JSON using XPath, CSS selectors, pattern matching, and JSONiq from the command line.
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argparse — Stdlib CLI Argument Parser

Parse command-line arguments with Python's stdlib argparse module. Covers positional/optional args, subparsers, nargs, validation, mutually exclusive groups, FileType, env-var fallbacks, and argcomplete.
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ts-node, tsx & Friends — Running TypeScript Without a Build Step

Compare ts-node, tsx, Node 22.6+ --experimental-strip-types, Bun, and Deno for running .ts files directly; pick the right tool, configure watch mode, and avoid the classic ESM / type-strip pitfalls.
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wrangler — Cloudflare Workers CLI

Cloudflare's official CLI for building, configuring, and deploying Workers, Pages, KV, R2, D1, Vectorize, Hyperdrive, Queues, Workflows, and Secrets.
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Bash Redirection & Pipes

stdin, stdout, stderr redirection operators and pipeline patterns in bash.
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diff2html-cli — Beautiful HTML Diffs from the Terminal

Convert unified diffs and git diff output into styled HTML side-by-side or line-by-line diff views from the command line.
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tqdm — Progress Bars

Add auto-updating progress bars to any Python loop or CLI pipeline with tqdm. Covers iterables, manual updates, pandas integration, nested bars, async, Jupyter, and byte-piping.
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typer — CLI Apps with Type Hints

Build command-line interfaces using Python type annotations with Typer. Covers commands, options, arguments, subcommands, callbacks, rich output, and testing.
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Python CLI Snippets

Short standalone Python scripts for common tasks — file I/O, JSON manipulation, HTTP requests, CSV processing, and data transformation.
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click — CLI Builder

Build command-line interfaces with click using decorators. Covers commands, options, arguments, groups, prompts, and progress bars.
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Python One-Liners

Useful Python one-liners runnable directly from the shell with python -c or python -m. No file creation needed.
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pathlib — Object-Oriented File Paths

Work with filesystem paths using Python's built-in pathlib module. Covers Path creation, navigation, reading/writing files, glob patterns, and stat.
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rich — Beautiful Terminal Output

Make terminal output beautiful with Rich. Covers styled print, Console, tables, progress bars, syntax highlighting, live displays, and the rich-cli command.
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find — File Search

POSIX file finder with powerful expression-based filters for name, type, size, time, permissions, and ownership. Covers exec actions, pruning, and real-world recipes.
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sort, uniq & wc — Counting & Ordering

Sort lines (numerically, by field, human-readable sizes), deduplicate with uniq, count lines/words/bytes with wc, and number lines with nl. With real-world pipeline recipes.
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tr & xargs — Transform and Execute

Translate, squeeze, and delete characters with tr. Build and execute command lines from stdin with xargs. Includes parallel execution, NUL safety, and pipeline recipes.
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