this post was submitted on 03 Jan 2025
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Which Linux command or utility is simple, powerful, and surprisingly unknown to many people or used less often?

This could be a command or a piece of software or an application.

For example I'm surprised to find that many people are unaware of Caddy, a very simple web server that can make setting up a reverse proxy incredibly easy.

Another example is fzf. Many people overlook this, a fast command-line fuzzy finder. It’s versatile for searching files, directories, or even shell history with minimal effort.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 days ago (1 children)

awk and sed have always been intimidating for me with that cryptic syntax.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

I agree with your sentiment regarding confusing syntax, however I think that confusion simply requires a calculated approach to dispell it.

It's a prime example of why I use scripts as reminders as much as I use them functionally. I work out the syntax once.. save it to an example script, then save myself 20 minutes of remembering by just $ cat ./path/to/script.sh and copying said syntax.

So if you can change your workflow such that learned things stay around as examples, I feel that you will pick it up much more quickly :)