Boost Your Productivity with Advanced Linux Command Tricks

As an IT professional, mastering Linux commands is essential; even on Windows or macOS you’ll encounter situations that require Linux, especially when working with Docker images or DevOps tasks.

This article shares a set of daily‑used, advanced commands for those new to Linux or looking to deepen their knowledge, deliberately skipping basic commands like

cd

or

ls

.

1. Custom Bash Prompt

Modify the

PS1

variable to simplify the prompt. Example:

<code>export PS1="[\u@\W]\$"</code>

Here

\u

shows the username and

\W

shows the current directory;

$

appears for non‑root users,

#

for root. Add the command to

~/.bashrc

for persistence.

2. Find Command Enhancements

Search files and directories, then count lines in each

.html

file:

<code># Find a file
find ~ -type f -name data-model.ts
# Find a directory
find ~ -type d -name angular15
# Count lines in all .html files
find src/app/ -name "*.html" -exec wc -l {} \;</code>

Using

+

instead of

\;

aggregates the total line count:

<code>find src/app/ -name "*.html" -exec wc -l {} +</code>

3. Change File and Directory Permissions

Permission bits follow the

rwx

model (read = 4, write = 2, execute = 1). Common examples:

<code># Share a folder (read/write/execute for owner, read/execute for group and others)
chmod 755 <path-to-your-folder>
# Share a non‑executable file
chmod 644 <path-to-your-file>
# Make a file executable
chmod +x <path-to-your-file></code>

4. Alias rm to Move Files to Trash

<code>alias rm='gio trash'</code>

5. Use Aliases to Simplify Long Commands

<code># Common aliases
alias dc="docker compose"
alias prettier="npx prettier -w"
alias eslint="npx eslint --fix"
alias pre="pre-commit run --files"
# Chain commands for container updates
alias update-container="docker-compose pull <service-name> && docker-compose stop <service-name> && yes | docker-compose rm <service-name> && docker-compose up -d <service-name>"</code>

6. Extract Data with awk

Example: ping

google.com

and print only the time values:

<code>ping google.com -c 2 | grep -iE 'time=.*ms' | awk 'BEGIN {FS="="} {print $NF}'</code>

Key points:

-iE

makes

grep

case‑insensitive;

BEGIN

runs before processing;

FS

sets the field separator;

$NF

returns the last field.

Simplified forms:

<code>ping google.com -c 2 | grep -iE 'time=.*ms' | awk -F"=" '{print $NF}'
ping google.com -c 2 | awk -F"=" '/time=.*ms/ {print $NF}'</code>

7. Chain Commands with xargs

<code># Show size of each file in current directory
ls | xargs -I % du -sh %
# Copy all JPEGs from Downloads to Pictures
find ~/Downloads/ -name "*.jpeg" | xargs -I {} cp {} ~/Pictures/
# Change permissions of all directories to 755
find . -type d | xargs -I {} chmod 755 {}
# Change permissions of all files to 644
find . -type f | xargs -I {} chmod 644 {}</code>

The

-I

option defines a placeholder (commonly

%

or

{}

).

8. Pass Variables to Scripts

<code># Inline variables
USERNAME=johndoe PASSWORD=12345 bash some_script.sh
# Load from a file
# variables.env
USERNAME=johndoe
PASSWORD=12345
# Run script with variables from file
env $(grep -v '^#' variables.env | xargs) bash some_script.sh</code>

9. Redirect STDOUT and STDERR

<code># Redirect STDOUT to a file
ls -al existing.txt >out.log
# Redirect STDOUT and STDERR to separate files
ls -al existing.txt non-existing.txt 1>out.log 2>error.log
# Combine both streams into one file
ls -al existing.txt non-existing.txt &>combined.log
# Discard all output
ls -al existing.txt non-existing.txt &>/dev/null</code>

Note: The > syntax is supported by Bash, not all shells.

10. Command‑Line Fuzzy Finder ( fzf )

Install

fzf

to enhance

CTRL‑R

history search.

<code># Linux
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/junegunn/fzf.git ~/.fzf
~/.fzf/install  # accept defaults
# macOS
brew install fzf
$(brew --prefix)/opt/fzf/install</code>

After installation,

fzf

provides an interactive, fuzzy‑searchable list of previous commands.

This collection of Linux commands aims to improve efficiency; while it cannot cover every possible command, it offers a practical reference for daily work.