.. title: Working on the command line .. slug: working-on-the-command-line .. date: 2020-06-01 15:00:13 UTC .. tags: linux,desktop .. category: .. link: .. description: .. type: text I was looking for an introduction like “Due to the Corona crisis, ...”, as everybody does these days. Unfortunately, that won't work with the subject I'm going to talk about, namely, command line (CLI) applications, which I've used and liked in the pre-SARS-CoV-2 world just as much as now. I'm convinced `since ages `_ that the CLI is, to state it with the words of `Luke, `_ “the most intuitive, most natural and easiest to grasp type of user interface we have invented so far”. But regardless of what I and others believe or not, lots of things *are* simply best done on the command line. There's a catch, of course: that statement is only true *if* *and only if* we are equipped with the right tools. An ancient /bin/sh without tab completion and history search and no access to my toolbox is nothing but a nightmare. Correctly configured, however, nothing beats the CLI in terms of speed and economy. In the following, I'll provide a brief overview of the command line applications I'm regularly using for everyday duties such as server administration and file management, as well as a few more enjoyable activities. Two of my `earlier `_ `posts `_ have a certain overlap with the present one, but a different focus. My list is of course by no means exhaustive: you can find many more interesting tools and gadgets, ranging from the useful to the bizarre (try `ternimal `_). Excellent starting points are the curated lists provided by `Adam `_ and `Marcel. `_ In addition, `Igor `_ (the guy behind `wttr `_) compiled a list of web services available via the command line. Shell """"" Work on the command line starts with the `shell `_. The default in most distributions is the `bash `_, and in a few the `zsh `_. Both require `extensive configuration `_ to offer all features I'd like to see, and not all distributions provide such a custom setup (meaning, you got to do it). In contrast, `fish `_ is very well configured out-of-the-box regardless of the distribution. For the typical bash one-liner copied from the interwebs, I usually follow this `advice `_. Terminal """""""" If we are not at the console, we need a `terminal emulator `_. I'm primarily using `Tilix `_ or, when resources are scarce, `Guake `_ and `Terminator `_, but there are plenty of other choices. Remote Shell """""""""""" A lot of my everyday duties involve connecting to a remote server. Wherever possible, I do that by using a combination of `mosh `_ and `tmux `_, the benefits of which have been described, for example, by `Filippo `_ and `Brian `_. For example, I'd use :: mosh pdes-net.org --tmux new-session -s default for connecting to and starting a new tmux session with the name 'default' on this server. I can detach with Ctrl+A-D and attach anytime again (also from an entirely different network) with :: mosh pdes-net.org --tmux a Note that mosh requires some open UDP ports that may require configuration of the firewall (for which I'm utilizing `ufw `_, so it's as easy as 'ufw allow /udp'). Navigation and file management """""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Everybody with a certain sense of order tends to get pretty long path names, which are a nuisance to type regardless of tab completion. That's basically why file managers were invented! But there's a faster way: `autojump. `_ Instead of typing the path, you could just jump to it: :: cobra at deepgreen in ~ ↪ j pra20_3 /home/cobra/ownCloud/MyStuff/projects/publications/uwe/pra20_1-3/pra20_3 cobra at deepgreen in ~/o/M/p/p/u/p/pra20_3 ↪ j portfolio /home/cobra/Documents/aur/portfolio cobra at deepgreen in ~/D/a/portfolio ↪ j pdes /home/cobra/ownCloud/MyStuff/Documents/pdes-net.org cobra at deepgreen in ~/o/M/D/pdes-net.org (blog) ↪ There are several tools similar to autojump, some more powerful, but in contrast to these, it's also officially available for Debian. And I'm used to it. ☺ On systems with an SSD, I like to use `broot, `_ which is neither yet another autojumper, nor a full-blown file manager, but something in between. It's also nice as a tool to get information on file dates and sizes. As an actual file manager, I much prefer `nnn, `_ although I always also install `ranger `_ as well as the good old `mc `_. Don't underestimate the latter – it may look oldfashioned and outdated, but none of its more fashionable cousins allows, for example, remote sftp connections (although I usually simply use scp for copying files between remote locations). And there's another small but decisive difference between mc and nnn/ranger that may simplify file selection and renaming for most people (see the appendix to this post below). Commands one googles sooner or later: **show/hide hidden files** :: nnn . ranger zh mc Alt+. **disk usage** :: broot :s nnn td or ta Editor and other utilities """""""""""""""""""""""""" There can only be one: `vim. `_ Well: `neovim `_. But that's it. 😉 In both cases, I use `vim-plug `_ as a plugin manager to load `nnn `_ as file opener (there is also a `ranger plugin `_) and optionally `vimtex `_ whenever it's appropriate (although vim is not my primary TeX editor – a subject to which I will return in a forthcoming post). And if you really, really can handle neither vim nor emacs: try `micro `_, it's the better nano. 😉 I put all documents that are still being edited under local version control. For this very simple task, I prefer `mercurial `_ over `git `_ because of the former's humanly readable version numbers (I just find it more natural and less demanding to address a commit with a natural number than with a hash). For LaTeX documents, I use `scm-latexdiff `_ to create diffs out of previous version managed by mercurial. And finally, I backup all of my documents and data with `borg `_ and `rsync `_ (and in future, also with `rclone `_) as described in detail in my `previous post `_. Whatever I'm working on, it surely involves quick check on numbers, some simple, some involved. A lot of these can be done by `qalc, `_ a very versatile general purpose calculator, which has replaced `calc `_ after I've discovered that `qalculate! `_ also has a CLI... System and network administration """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Very much up on my list for this tasks are two rather unexpected tools, namely, a mail client and a scheduler. In fact, I rely on `mutt `_ (“All mail clients suck. This one just sucks less.”) for reading the mails sent by `cronie. `_ Whether I'm interested in the status of my hourly backups on the desktop or in the results of daily security checks on a remote server, this combination of tools is truly indispensable for getting important system messages. In the same category are tools for receiving security news and advisories such as `newsboat `_ with the appropriate feeds (or `arch-audit `_ on Arch), and of course the security auditing tool `lynis `_. On servers, I often want to know who's logged in on a system and what this user is running. For this task, `htop `_ is the swiss army knife, offering an excellent overview of all system resources and activities and also the possibility to manage them. In particular, htop helps to find (and end) amok running applications consuming too many precious CPU cycles and RAM. Even more information offers `bashtop `_, a veritable system monitor for the command line. Applications running wild while accessing the mass storage can be easily identified by `iotop `_, and disk resources can be checked on a partition level by `pydf `_ and on a file level by `ncdu `_ (or by broot and nnn as mentioned above). For a more in-depth analysis of systems, tools such as `dstat `_ may become helpful, but my general experience has been rather that it either works, or is broken. When I have problems with the snappiness of the interwebs (which has become very rare), I first turn to `mtr `_ which often helps to find the culprit (although there isn't anything one can do if one of the hops is overloaded and suffers from package loss). Several helpful tools exist if the problem seems to be rather on my side, such as `dnstop `_, `iftop `_, `nethogs `_, `iptraf `_, and more, but I think that these tools merit a separate post. Spare time """""""""" `All work and no play makes Cob a dull snake `_. I stream videos using `mpv `_ and `youtube-dl `_, like everybody else. I used to listen music by `moc `_, but I've switched to `cmus `_ a few year ago. Similarly, I've exchanged `irssi `_ for `weechat `_ to talk to friends. When I feel like getting some news from the world outside, I fire up `newsboat `_ for a list of feeds that *I* find amusing. And for a quick reality check, nothing works better than `mop `_ displaying a ticker of *my* stocks. The very compact `ticker.sh `_ lured me into creating a permanent ticker on my desktop via `conky `_ integration, but I found that it distracts me way too much. Appendix: bulk rename ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ For sake of example, let's create 101 files with ``touch rha{0..100}.barber``, and let's rename them so that the numbers are all three digits (like, 004 instead of 4, 023 instead of 23). We can do that the easy or the hard way. **mc** gives us the choice, namely, between `shell patterns (globs) and standard regular expressions (regexes) `_. The file selection dialog (press +) has an option 'Using shell patterns'. Let's select that and perform our self-imposed task in three simple steps: first, we select all files with a single digit number (+ rha?.*), then rename them with ``F6`` / ``rha?.*`` / ``rha0?.*``, and then all with a two digit number with ``F6`` / ``rha ??.*`` / ``rha0??.*`` Now, that was easy, wasn't it? **ranger** doesn't understand globs, but allows the use of regexes with the :filter (zf) and :mark commands. The renaming is sourced out to the system wide editor, i.e., vim in my case, where we can use the substitute command (:s) and vim regexes (which are mostly identical to those used in, for example, sed and perl, but `not identical `_). So let's start with selecting all files with a single digit number: ``:mark -rft rha[0-9].b``, followed by ``:bulkrename``. The selected files can be easily renamed in vim by ``:%s/\([0-9]\)/0\1/g``, followed by ``ZZ`` to save the list and apply it. For the next bunch, we mark files again by ``:mark -rft rha[0-9]..b``, ``:bulkrename``, and repeat the above command in vim. Not quite as easy as with mc if one is not very familiar with regexes! **nnn** is very similar to ranger in this regard. We can select files by the filter function employing either strings (/) or regexes (\\). So we type ``\rha[0-9].b`` followed by ``r`` to open the selected files in vim. The rest is basically the same as for ranger.