10 Fun Linux Commands to Play with Your Terminal

Linux offers many interesting commands that are simple to try.

1. rev command

Reverses the input string line by line. $ rev Example: input shiyanlou produces uolnayihs.

2. asciiview command

Displays images as ASCII art in the terminal.

$ sudo apt-get install aview

$ sudo apt-get install imagemagick

$ asciiview shiyanlou.png -driver curses

3. sl command

Shows an animated train moving across the screen.

$ sudo apt-get install sl

$ sl

4. aafire command

Displays a fire effect in the terminal.

$ sudo apt-get install libaa-bin

$ aafire

5. cmatrix command

Shows a Matrix‑style falling characters animation.

$ sudo apt-get install cmatrix

$ cmatrix

Press Ctrl+C to stop.

6. factor command

Factorizes an integer, useful for math practice.

$ factor 60

7. oneko command

Shows a cat that follows the mouse pointer.

$ sudo apt-get install oneko

$ oneko

Press Ctrl+C to quit.

8. boxes command

Wraps text or code in ASCII art boxes.

$ sudo apt-get install boxes

echo "shiyanlou.com" | boxes

echo "shiyanlou.com" | boxes -d dog

9. xeyes command

Displays a pair of eyes that follow the mouse cursor.

$ sudo apt-get install xeyes

$ xeyes

10. pv command

Shows a progress bar while piping data, useful for creating typewriter‑like effects.

$ sudo apt-get install pv

echo "welcome to shiyanlou.com, you can learn IT by doing" | pv -qL 10

Feel free to share any other interesting Linux commands you discover!