Terminal Productivity Tricks

Line Editing Motions

• [C-a] beginning of the line
• [C-e] end of the line
• [C-b] back one character
• [C-f] forward one character
• [A-b] back one word (Configure alt to +ESC in iterm profile)
• [A-f] forward one word
• [C-u] delete to beginning of line
• [C-w] delete word
• [C-y] paste
• [A-d] delete word in front

Shell Tricks

• $_ or [ESC].

  • Grabs the last arg from the last command.
  • example:

  vim ~/.bashrc
  source $_
  

  ls ~/workspace/lumos_rails/config/
  cat $_/[TAB]file.txt
  

• ^replace^word

  • replaces the very first occurrence of the first characters with the second
  • example:

  memroy show production lumosity
  -bash: memroy: command not found
  ^ro^or
  memory show production lumosity
  ...
  

• command subtitution: $(cmd), `cmd`

  • Executes the command and uses the output of it as args
  • Can be used like xargs
  • example:

  VAR=`ls`
  echo $VAR
  

  seq 1 10
  for n in `seq 1 10`; do echo "loop $n"; done;
  

• !!, ![NUMBER]

  • execute the last command / command at history number
  • example:

  vim /etc/hosts
  [readonly]
  sudo !!
  

  which memory
  /Users/mleung/bin/memory
  vim `!!`
  

• Curly Brace Expansion

  • Specify multiple similarly named args
  • example:

  cp /etc/hosts{,.bak}
  sudo !! # <-- see what i did thar
  

  touch ~/workspace/long_filename_with_bad_file_extensiont.xt
  mv ~/workspace/long_filename_with_bad_file_extension{t.xt,.txt}
  

• reverse-i-search [C-r]

  • search for a matching command previously entered

• cd -

  • change to directory you were previously in
  • example:

  [~] cd ~/workspace/
  [~/workspace] cd -
  /Users/mleung
  [~]
  

• [C-x][C-e] (in-terminal editor only)

  • opens your currently typed command in an editor
  • saving and quitting will execute the command
  • example:

  for f in `ls ~`; do [C-x][C-e]
  echo "file: $f";
  done;
  

• [C-z], fg

  • suspends the current process / foregrounds the process
  • example:

  vim some_script.rb
  [C-z]
  ruby some_script.rb
  fg
  

Aliases

• alias lock='/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu\ Extras/User.menu/Contents/Resources/CGSession -suspend'

  • lock your computer from the terminal
  • does not kill network connections

• alias git=hub

  • see command section on hub

• alias ls='ls -F'

  • Adds symbols that makes it easier to distinguish types of files

• Better cd. Find yourself running cd; ls all the time?

  • Add to ~/.bashrc:

  c() { cd "$@" && ls; }
  

• alias hgrep="history | grep -i"

  • Quickly search your terminal history for a command
  • Use in conjunction with ![NUMBER]
  • Add these to your ~/.bashrc:

  export HISTSIZE=500000
  export HISTFILESIZE=100000
  export HISTIGNORE="&:exit:bg:fg:clear"
  export HISTTIMEFORMAT="%m/%d/%y %T "
  export HISTCONTROL=ignoreboth:erasedups # ignore commands starting with a space, and ignore duplicates
  

• Get current branch

  • Add to ~/.bashrc:

  alias tgb='git symbolic-ref --short HEAD'
  

  • example:

  gpo `tgb`
  

• My git aliases

  • Add to ~/.bashrc:

  alias pull="git pull origin"
  alias gb="git branch"
  alias gl="git log"
  alias glp="git log -p"
  alias gs="git status"
  alias gc="git commit -m"
  alias ga="git add"
  alias gck="git checkout"
  alias gd="git diff"
  alias gdc="git diff --cached"
  

Useful Commands

• pbcopy, pbpaste (mac exclusive)

  • Copies STDIN into your clipboard / pastes your clipboard
  • example:

  grep alias ~/.bashrc | pbcopy
  pbpaste > /tmp/my_aliases
  pbpaste | wc -l
  

• watch

  • continuously executes a command
  • example:

  gem install iStats # <-- capital S
  istats all --no-graphs
  watch -n1 !!
  

• hub

  • GitHub's wrapper around git
  • brew install hub
  • be sure to alias hub over git
  • example:

  git clone lumoslabs/knife_memory
  git checkout -b test_hub_command
  echo "test" > TEST
  git add TEST
  git commit -m 'Testing hub'
  git push origin `tgb`
  git browse
  git pull-request
  

• curl ifconfig.co

  • obtain your public IP
  • useful on a remote server or checking your proxy

• htop

  • the modern top
  • brew install htop

• reset

  • restores your terminal
  • example:

  [32605:mleung-mbp][~] cat /sbin/* # <-- for whatever reason I can only reproduce in terminal
  s7???b4Y6)??E????F?.??ö?å;f?N???̡?;????"?q-s?*j??zr?Ä??Å??bäh&?6??YgÅ"?
                                                                        ??Dg???-ö6?? ??.)?掲å?Ä?ÅV?3?fÄ32605:mleung-mbpÅÄüÅ 1;2c
  Ä32605:mleung-mbpÅÄüÅ reset