A list of command line tools that are somewhat useful to most people
General#
| Name |
Why |
| rg |
Faster than grep |
| pdfgrep |
grep for pdf files |
| pdftk |
toolkit for pdf files |
| bat |
cat with syntax highlight |
| entr |
do something when a file changes |
| fd |
faster than find and easier interface |
| fzf |
quickly fuzzy search files |
| tree |
tree list directories |
| tmux |
screen but better |
| xsel |
better than xclip |
| festival |
better than espeak |
| hyperfine |
benchmarking tool |
Network#
| Name |
Why |
| rsync |
sync files between hosts |
| wget |
easy to use CLI downloader |
| curlie |
curl but interface is better for REST |
| httpie |
like curl with easier interface |
| tcpdump |
analyze network traffic from the CLI |
| torsocks |
use TOR from the CLI |
Data Processing#
| Name |
Why |
| sqlite |
easy to use SQL |
| visidata |
view/edit data in the terminal |
| ts |
add a timestamp to your output |
| sd |
sed but easier interface |
| parallel |
why do things in parallel (also remember to cite) |
| miller |
query csv/json files |
| jq |
process json files |
| jo |
create json objects |
| jc |
converts command output into json |
| gron |
makes json easier to grep |
If you have a tool to recommend, send me an e-mail