Questions tagged [shell]
The shell is Unix's command-line interface. You can type commands in a shell interactively, or write scripts to automate tasks. Use this tag for questions applying to /bin/sh and most compatible shells (ash, bash, ksh, zsh, …). For shell scripts with errors, please check them in http://shellcheck.net before posting here.
11,763
questions
299
votes
14
answers
457k
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How to monitor CPU/memory usage of a single process?
I would like to monitor one process's memory / cpu usage in real time. Similar to top but targeted at only one process, preferably with a history graph of some sort.
- 3,786
56
votes
12
answers
37k
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make my zsh prompt show mode in vi mode
I use bindkey -v (for bash-ers set -o vi I think that works in zsh too) or vi(m) mode. but it bugs me that I don't have any visual cue to tell me whether I'm in insert mode or command mode. Does ...
- 56.8k
93
votes
15
answers
91k
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Best way to search through shell's history
Is there a better way to search my history file for a command than grep? I do have some idea what the command starts as, but I don't know how far back in the history it is.
update: was formerly zsh ...
- 56.8k
12
votes
7
answers
6k
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Practical tasks to learn shell scripting [closed]
I'm looking for some common problems in unix system administration and ways that shell scripting can solve them. Completely for self-educational purposes. Also I'd like to know how would you go about ...
- 1,456
87
votes
3
answers
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The 'less' command-line equivalent of 'tail -f'
I would like to open up a file using less, and have it automatically scroll the file similar to tail -f.
I know that I can do less file, and then hit Shift-F to forward forever; like tail -f.
I need ...
- 18.9k
24
votes
7
answers
14k
views
Unix equivalent of PowerShell?
I've always found it awkward when complex shell commands involve parsing text output with AWK. Basically we're converting structured data into text, then parsing the text again to get back at the ...
- 1,263
251
votes
11
answers
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Allow setuid on shell scripts
The setuid permission bit tells Linux to run a program with the effective user id of the owner instead of the executor:
> cat setuid-test.c
#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
int ...
- 90.1k
308
votes
25
answers
901k
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Colorizing your terminal and shell environment?
I spend most of my time working in Unix environments and using terminal emulators. I try to use color on the command line, because color makes the output more useful and intuitive.
What options exist ...
- 18.9k
12
votes
3
answers
368
views
Which less popular shells do you use and what are their advantages? [closed]
Apart from what you can (arguably?) call the more popular shells (bash, csh, Korn, zsh) what other ones do you know and use and what unique features do they have?
ps - One answer per shell would be ...
- 220
93
votes
63
answers
51k
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What are your favorite command line features or tricks?
Share your command line features and tricks for Unix/Linux. Try to keep it shell/distro agnostic if possible. Interested in seeing aliases, one-liners, keyboard shortcuts, small shell scripts, etc.
8
votes
1
answer
478
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What is Linux for VMS DCL "ON ERROR"?
Using VMS DCL command scripts one can catch errors by using the on error command:
$ on error then goto MyErrorHandler
$ directory samiam.txt
$ delete x.txt
$ exit
$MyErrorHandler:
$ print "Something."...
- 3,632
512
votes
15
answers
301k
views
Turn off buffering in pipe
I have a script which calls two commands:
long_running_command | print_progress
The long_running_command prints progress but I'm unhappy with it. I'm using print_progress to make it nicer (namely, I ...
- 5,808
5
votes
2
answers
7k
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What is Linux for $DECK and $EOD?
In VMS DCL one may embed data in a command file using $DECK and $EOD. What is Linux for this?
- 3,632