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.

  • Count Regal Inkwell
    12·
    2 days ago

    batcat

    It’s like cat but better. Great for when you just want to look at the contents of a file, without loading a whole text editor.

    Oh also, tldr

    My procedure for learning how to use a cli command goes tldr page -> --help if the tldr fails to help me -> THEN the full manpage

    • markstos@lemmy.world
      6·
      2 days ago

      I like batcat aka bat, but nominate the humble ‘cat’ instead.

      Want to copy a disk image to a device? You can use cat for that: cat file.iso>/dev/sdf

      What to copy local stdout over ssh? Use cat.

      ls -l | ssh myhost 'cat >out.txt'

      That’s simple and surprisingly powerful.