Some helpful command line programs

This page lists some command-line tools that can significantly enhance your productivity and make working in the terminal easier and more efficient.

Tmux

Tmux (Terminal Multiplexer) allows you to create and control multiple terminal sessions within a single window.

Can be installed by running:

sudo apt-get install tmux

Tmux has a comprehensive cheat sheet for all of its commands. It's a great resource to keep handy.

Basic Usage:

To start a new Tmux session:

tmux

Tip

To detach from a session (leaving it running in the background): Press Ctrl+b followed by d.

To list existing sessions:

tmux list-sessions

To reattach to the most recent session:

tmux attach

To reattach to a specific session (replace 0 with the session number):

tmux attach -t 0

TLDR

Info

Shows simplified examples for command-line tools.

TLDR provides simplified, community-maintained examples for command-line programs. It cuts through lengthy man pages to give you just the common use cases.

Basic Usage:

To see examples for the tar command:

tldr tar

To see examples for the ls command with macOS options:

tldr ls --platform osx

htop

htop is an interactive process viewer for Unix-like systems. It provides a dynamic real-time view of processes running on the system, showing CPU usage, memory usage, swap usage, and tasks.

Can be installed by running:

sudo apt-get install htop

Basic Usage:

Simply run htop to launch the interactive viewer:

htop

Tip

Inside htop, you can use arrow keys to navigate and function keys (like F1 for Help, F3 for Search, F9 for Kill, F10 to Quit) for various actions.

Contributors: