Unix as a Second Language

Tricks to play with vim

Unusual things you can do with the vim editor

Unix Meets Prime Numbers

Identifying and generating prime numbers on Unix is easier than you might imagine

Handy commands for profiling your Unix file systems

Using find commands to display important file system statistics

Combining arguments in a perl script

Using the join command to avoid quoting arguments

The best tools and techniques for finding data on Unix systems

There are only two times when you need to dig through piles of data to get your job done: When you know what you're looking for and when you don't. Here are the best tools and techniques for both situations.

Tracking down those connections

Finding Your Groups

Listing group members on Unix systems, including commands and a helpful script

What are Unix swap (.swp) files?

There's more than one kind of swap file -- this kind is is created by your system to help ensure that you don't lose important file content when something goes wrong.

Don’t let symbolic links mislead you

Bash History: Remembering what you did and when you did it

5 Unusual Unix Commands for Cinco de Mayo

Some slick awk Built-ins

Making good use of brace expansion

Making grep output easier to see

Bash tip: Extracting content from compressed files without the hassle

If you work with file archives that come in many different "flavors", you might find this little trick to be a handy one.

How to make your Unix prompts more useful and interesting

Using HTTP status codes in everyday life

Making use of HTTP status codes to make everyday life run more smoothly

Clamping down on users with rbash

One way to restrict what users can do on your Linux systems is by using rbash -- the restricted Bourne Again shell -- but only if you take some additional steps to ensure that your users can't break out of their cells

Improving your PuTTY connections

15 Unix tricks to get your new year off to a good start

The Unix command line provides numerous ways to make our work easier. Here are 15 "tricks" that I use often to make quick work of various tasks.

Best Unix time-savers

Unix: Tricks with history

I've heard that those who can't remember history are condemned to repeat it but for Unix users, repeating history is not only advantageous, it's something of a skill.

Mysteries of the unix kind

Sometimes, the simplest command line challenges can leave you leaning over your keyboard with that "What just happened?" look on your face. There's (almost) always a good explanation, but it might take a little head scratching before ....

Unix: Catching up with Unix errors

Unix errors often seem cryptic and sometimes even obtuse, but they're actually well designed and useful. A little insight into the whys and hows of common error messages might help you appreciate not just error messages, but why you're bum....

Unix: Beyond owner, group, and everyone else

Breaking out of the traditional owner/group/world way of managing file permissions, setfacl and getfacl provide a lot of flexibility and fair share of complexity.