10 Must‑Have Linux CLI Alternatives to Boost Your Productivity

Introduction

On Linux, the cat command is frequently used to concatenate files and output them to the terminal. A modern alternative called bat provides syntax highlighting, Git integration, and automatic paging, making file inspection more readable.

Installing bat

Arch Linux: pacman -S bat Fedora: dnf install bat macOS (Homebrew): brew install bat Ubuntu 21.10 (deb package):

sudo apt-get install wget
wget https://github.com/sharkdp/bat/releases/download/v0.18.3/bat_0.18.3_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i bat_0.18.3_amd64.deb

Other distributions may require building from source or using the GitHub release page.

Using bat

Basic usage mirrors cat:

bat > jiaoben1.sh

bat jiaoben1.sh

bat jiaoben1.sh jiaoben2.sh

bat jiaoben1.sh jiaoben2.sh > test.txt

Adding -n shows line numbers without the table grid.

bat -n jiaoben2.sh

bat

also integrates with Git to display changes and can automatically pipe output to less for paging.

Custom Themes

Run bat --list-themes to view the 24 built‑in themes. To apply a theme, use bat --theme=Dracula file or set the environment variable export BAT_THEME="Dracula" for a permanent change. The --style option lets you control line numbers, file headers, grid borders, and Git changes (e.g., --style=numbers,changes).

Further details are available via man bat or bat --help, and the project’s GitHub repository.

duf – A Better Disk‑Usage Viewer

duf

is a cross‑platform tool written in Go that presents disk usage in a colorful, categorized table, supporting Linux, Windows, macOS, Android, and FreeBSD.

Installation

Ubuntu:

sudo apt install gdebi
sudo gdebi duf_0.5.0_linux_amd64.deb

macOS (Homebrew): brew install duf Windows (Chocolatey): choco install duf or scoop install duf Running duf without arguments lists all local and mounted devices. Useful flags include: --only local – show only local devices --sort size – sort output by size --json – output in JSON format --theme light – force a light theme

tldr – Simplified Man Pages

tldr

(Too Long; Didn’t Read) provides concise examples for common commands. Install via Node.js on Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get install nodejs
sudo apt-get install npm
sudo npm -g install tldr
 tldr --update

Usage is simply tldr <em>command</em>, which displays short examples with syntax highlighting.

htop – Interactive Process Monitor

htop

is a C‑based, cross‑platform replacement for top with a richer UI, mouse support, and easy process management. Install with:

apt install htop

glances – Comprehensive System Monitor

Written in Python, glances offers a curses or web UI, showing CPU, memory, network, disk usage, sensors, and the most resource‑intensive processes. It can run in client/server mode and export data via JSON or to external databases.

exa – Modern ls Replacement

exa

adds colors, grid view, tree view, Git status, extended attributes, and flexible sorting. Install on Ubuntu 21.10: apt install exa Common options:

-1, --oneline

-G, --grid

-l, --long

-R, --recurse

-T, --tree

--icons

fd – User‑Friendly find Alternative

fd

is a fast, color‑aware search tool that respects .gitignore and skips hidden directories by default. Install on Ubuntu: sudo apt install fd-find Because the binary is named fdfind, create an alias: alias fd=fdfind Example searches:

fd *.md

fd -H "pattern"   # include hidden files

ag – The Silver Searcher

ag

(and its predecessor ack) provide faster recursive text search than grep, with highlighted matches and file names. Install on Ubuntu 21.10:

apt-get install silversearcher-ag
apt install ack

Common flags: -g – list matching file names -i – case‑insensitive -A, -B, -C – show context lines -w – match whole words

axel – Multi‑Threaded Downloader

axel

speeds up downloads by using multiple connections. Install on Ubuntu: apt-get install axel Example:

# axel -n 10 -o /tmp/ https://mirrors.163.com/ubuntu/ls-lR.gz

pydf – Pretty df Output

pydf

presents disk usage in a concise, colored table. Install on Ubuntu 21.10: apt install pydf It replaces the traditional df output with a more readable format.

References

bat : https://github.com/sharkdp/bat

duf : https://github.com/muesli/duf

tldr : https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr

htop : https://github.com/htop-dev/htop

glances : https://github.com/nicolargo/glances

exa : https://github.com/ogham/exa

fd : https://github.com/sharkdp/fd/