Are you a command-line aficionado looking to level up your Unix skills? While commands like ls, grep, and awk are commonly used, did you know that there are lesser-known Unix tools that can add some 🎉 fun and 💡 utility to your command-line toolkit? In this blog post, we’ll uncover some hidden gems that can help you unleash your inner Unix ninja and elevate your command-line game!

rev - Reverse Lines Character-by-Character

Ever wanted to flip text upside down or reverse the order of characters in each line of a file? Enter rev! It’s a simple yet powerful tool that can come in handy for text manipulation tasks and pranks alike. 😄

Example usage:

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$ echo "Hello, World!" | rev
!dlroW ,olleH

yes - Output a Constant String

Feeling particularly agreeable? The yes command can help with that! It’s a simple tool that outputs a constant string, making it useful for automating tasks, generating test data, or just having some fun. 🤗

Example usage:

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$ yes "I love Unix!" | head -n 5
I love Unix!
I love Unix!
I love Unix!
I love Unix!
I love Unix!

factor - Factorize Numbers into Prime Factors

Need to break down a number into its prime factors? factor has got your back! It’s a handy tool for performing prime factorization and can be useful in math- related tasks or for understanding the prime factors of a number. 🧠

Example usage:

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$ factor 42
42: 2 3 7

shuf - Shuffle Lines of Text

Need to shuffle the lines of text in a file? shuf can help with that! It’s a versatile tool that can randomly shuffle lines, providing a quick and easy way to randomize data or create randomized lists. 🎲

Example usage:

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$ cat file.txt
apple
banana
cherry
date
$ shuf file.txt
cherry
banana
date
apple

nl - Number Lines of Text

If you need to number lines in a file, nl is your friend! It’s a handy tool that can add line numbers to text files, making it useful for tasks such as referencing line numbers in scripts or generating reports. 🔢

Example usage:

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$ cat file.txt
This
is
a
test
$ nl file.txt
     1  This
     2  is
     3  a
     4  test

Conclusion

Many of the Unix-like operating systems offers a rich ecosystem of command-line tools out of the box, including many lesser-known utilities that can add some 🎉 fun and 💡 utility to your toolkit. From text manipulation to ASCII art, encryption to shuffling, numbering to prime factorization, these tools can help you level up your command-line game and impress your fellow developers with your Unix skills!

Happy command-lining! 🚀🔥