Discover 15 Fun Linux Commands That Turn Your Terminal Into a Playground

Linux offers many interesting commands that are simple to try and can add fun to your terminal.

1. rev

Reverses each input line character by character. rev Example: input shiyanlou produces uolonayhs.

2. asciiview

Install aview and imagemagick, then view images in the terminal.

sudo apt-get install aview

sudo apt-get install imagemagick

asciiview shiyanlou.png -driver curses

3. sl

Displays an animated train moving across the screen.

sudo apt-get install sl

sl

4. aafire

Creates a Matrix‑style fire animation in the terminal.

sudo apt-get install libaa-bin

aafire

5. cmatrix

Displays the classic Matrix falling characters effect.

sudo apt-get install cmatrix

cmatrix

Press Ctrl+C to stop.

6. factor

Factors an integer, useful for quick math checks.

factor 60

7. oneko

Shows a cat that follows your mouse pointer.

sudo apt-get install oneko

oneko

Press Ctrl+C to exit.

8. boxes

Wraps text or code in ASCII art boxes.

sudo apt-get install boxes

echo "gaoxiaoyunwei" | boxes

Or use a predefined style:

echo "gaoxiaoyunwei" | boxes -d dog

9. xeyes

Displays a pair of eyes that follow the cursor.

sudo apt-get install xeyes

xeyes

10. pv

Creates a typewriter‑like effect for text streams.

sudo apt-get install pv

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

11. yes

Continuously outputs a specified string until interrupted.

yes hello,world

12. bastet

Play Tetris in the terminal.

sudo apt-get install bastet

13. ninvaders

Space Invaders clone for the command line.

sudo apt install ninvaders

ninvaders

Use arrow keys to move and space to shoot.

14. pacman4console

Classic Pac‑Man game in the console.

sudo apt install pacman4console

pacman4console

15. greed

Navigate a numeric maze where your position is shown by a flashing “@”.

sudo apt install greed

greed

Control with the arrow keys.