15 Essential Linux Command-Line Tricks to Boost Your Productivity

Hello, I'm XiaoBang, this is my 14th original article.

Linux's power lies in the command line; by combining simple commands you can automate tasks and boost efficiency.

1. Quick ways to empty a file

The shortest method is: $ > access.log Other common methods include:

: > access.log

true > access.log

cat /dev/null > access.log

echo -n "" > access.log

echo > access.log

truncate -s 0 access.log

The : is a shell builtin representing a no‑op, effectively writing nothing to the file.

2. Generate a large file quickly

Use dd to create a 1 GB file:

$ dd if=/dev/zero of=file.img bs=1M count=1024

3. Securely erase a disk

Overwrite the whole disk with random data:

$ dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sda

4. Create a bootable system disk

Write an ISO image directly to a USB drive or disk:

$ dd if=ubuntu-server-amd64.iso of=/dev/sdb

5. Show a process’s elapsed time

Use ps -p PID -o etimes,etime to display the running time, or ps -p PID -o rss for memory usage.

$ ps -p 10167 -o etimes,etime

6. Monitor logs in real time

Tail a log file and stop when a pattern appears:

$ tail -f test.log

$ tail -f test.log | sed '/Failed/ q'

7. Convert timestamps

Turn a Unix timestamp into a readable date: $ date -d@1234567890 +"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S" Show the current timestamp:

$ date +%s

8. Measure program execution time

Use time to get real, user, and sys times: $ time ./test Explanation of the three fields is provided.

9. View ASCII table

$ man ascii

10. Delete files with garbled names

Find the inode and remove the file:

$ ls -i

$ find . -inum 132395 -exec rm {} \;

11. Get your public IP address

$ curl ip.sb

$ curl ifconfig.me

12. Batch download resources

$ wget -r -nd -np --accept=pdf http://fast.dpdk.org/doc/pdf-guides/

13. History command shortcuts

!!

– repeat the last command. !N – repeat command number N from history. !pw – repeat the most recent command starting with “pw”. !$ – use the last argument of the previous command.

14. Quickly search command history

Press Ctrl+R and type a keyword to search and execute a previous command.

15. Hide sensitive commands from history

Prefix a command with a space so it is not recorded, or clear the history with history -c.

These tips aim to make daily Linux work more efficient.