10 Essential Linux Command-Line Tricks to Boost Your Productivity

As online systems become more complex, mastering common Linux commands can dramatically improve daily efficiency for developers and operations engineers.

TOP-1: Fast Cursor Movement Shortcuts

Recommendation: ★★★★★

Scenario: Editing long commands where quick navigation is needed.

Methods:

Ctrl + a  // Move cursor to the beginning of the line
Ctrl + e  // Move cursor to the end of the line
Ctrl + w  // Delete the word before the cursor
Esc + b   // Move left one word
Esc + f   // Move right one word

TOP-2: Vim Quick Operations

Recommendation: ★★★★★

Scenario: Editing configuration files.

All actions are performed in Vim's command mode (press Esc first if unsure).

:set nu          // Show line numbers
:20              // Jump to line 20
:%s/aaa/bbb/g    // Replace all "aaa" with "bbb"
ddp              // Swap current line with the next line
ci"              // Delete content inside double quotes (use ci' for single quotes)

TOP-3: Return to Previous Directory

Recommendation: ★★★★★

Scenario: Quickly toggle between two directories.

Command: cd - Running this command swaps the current directory with the last one you visited.

TOP-4: Cross‑Server File Transfer Without Password

Recommendation: ★★★☆☆

Scenario: Copy files between servers when you cannot use scp due to missing passwords.

Method 1 – Using nc:

# On source machine
nc -l 10017 < abc.sh
# On target machine
nc 1.1.1.1 10017 > abc.sh

Method 2 – Using a simple Python HTTP server:

# On source machine
python -m SimpleHTTPServer 10010
# On target machine
wget http://1.1.1.1:10010/abc.sh

TOP-5: Simplify Commands

Recommendation: ★★★★★

Scenario: Quickly clear a file or create an empty one.

Command: > a.log When a.log exists, this truncates the file; when it does not exist, it creates an empty file.

Quickly repeat the last command’s final argument (space‑separated) by pressing Esc followed by ..

TOP-6: Query Local Intranet IP

Recommendation: ★★★★☆

Scenario: Retrieve the machine’s internal IP address.

Command: hostname -i Note: Works only on machines with DNS resolution; hostname changes the host name, while host queries DNS records.

TOP-7: Quick Redis Connection via Telnet

Recommendation: ★★★★☆

Scenario: When no Redis client is installed.

Command: telnet 127.0.0.1 6379 Use telnet <redis_host> <port> to connect, but for production prefer a proper Redis client such as redis-cli.

TOP-8: Send Current Task to Background

Recommendation: ★★★★★

Scenario: Temporarily suspend a foreground process (e.g., editing in Vim) to run another command.

Press Ctrl+Z to suspend, then run your command (e.g., python aaa.py), and return with fg.

TOP-9: Locate Process Working Directory

Recommendation: ★★★★★

Scenario: Find the directory of a running process.

Command (replace pid with the actual process ID): pwdx pid Useful for identifying where a script like python test.py is executing from.

TOP-10: Save Command Output While Viewing It

Recommendation: ★★★★★

Scenario: Log script output and monitor it in real time.

Command: python test.py | tee a.log This streams output to the terminal and simultaneously writes it to a.log, eliminating the need for separate tail -f sessions.

These tips aim to make your Linux workflow smoother and more efficient.