CATEGORIES

  1. System and Environment
  2. Network
  3. Public IP
  4. DNS Utilities
  5. Mounting Volumes
  6. General Linux Tips
  7. Ubuntu Tips
  8. Raspberry PI Tips
  9. Kali Tips
  10. Forensics Tools
  11. Western Digital NAS
  12. VMWare ESXi Tips
  13. NVIDIA Drivers
  14. AMD GPU Drivers

SYSTEM AND ENVIRONMENT

sudo hostnamectl set-hostname newHostName
id || (whoami && groups) 2>/dev/null
id -un
uname
uname -a
uname -r
uname -m
neofetch
inxi -F
w
last -aiF
lastb -adF
arch
lsb_release -rd
cat /proc/version
(cat /proc/version || uname -a ) 2>/dev/null
systemctl show-environment
env
set
uptime
lsblk
lsblk -f
lscpu
lsusb
lspci
lspci -vvv
lsmod
echo $SHELL
echo $HOME
reset
man commantName
tldr commandName
apropos commandName

History of commands:

history -c
history -r
set +o history
# history does not store this command
set -o history
history
!123
HISTTIMEFORMAT="%Y-%m-%d %T "
cat ~/.bash_history | fzf -i

Preventing a command to me logged in history if it starts with space (~/.bashrc):

HISTCONTROL=ignoreboth

List all available commands, aliases, bash built-ins, bash keywords, and bash functions:

compgen -c
compgen -a
compgen -b
compgen -k
compgen -A function

Display kernel’s ring buffer messages being sent to the syslog since last boot (human timestamp, watch as it happens, filter content, and clear buffer):

sudo dmesg -T
sudo dmesg -w
sudo dmesg | grep error
sudo dmesg | grep usb
sudo dmesg -c

List timers and services of the system:

systemctl list-timers --all
systemctl list-units --type=service
systemctl --all

Storage volume speed test:

sudo apt install hdparm
hdparm -tv -direct /dev/sdc1

Inodes:

ls -i
stat fileName
df -i
sudo apt install inotify-tools -y
inotifywait -m -q -e modify /var/log/applicationLogs

Note: there is a Kernel module called fanotify that is capable to monitor and intercept filesystem events.

List users, list super-users, who is logged, last logged users, the last login by users, and list all users and groups:

cat /etc/passwd | cut -d: -f1
awk -F: '($3 == "0") {print}' /etc/passwd
w
last
lastlog
for i in $(cut -d":" -f1 /etc/passwd 2>/dev/null);do id $i;done 2>/dev/null | sort
id userName

Get password policy:

grep "^PASS_MAX_DAYS\|^PASS_MIN_DAYS\|^PASS_WARN_AGE\|^ENCRYPT_METHOD" /etc/login.defs

Find files writeable by anybody or any group:

find / '(' -type f -or -type d ')' '(' '(' -user $USER ')' -or '(' -perm -o=w ')' ')' 2>/dev/null | grep -v '/proc/' | grep -v $HOME | sort | uniq
for g in `groups`; do find \( -type f -or -type d \) -group $g -perm -g=w 2>/dev/null | grep -v '/proc/' | grep -v $HOME; done
find . -mindepth 1 -type f -name "*.zip"
find . -mindepth 1 -type f -name "*.zip" -printf x | wc -c

Read a specific line number from a file:

awk 'NR==50' fileName
sed '50!d' fileName

Running processes:

ps aux
ps -ef
pgrep -l ssh
pgrep -u root
top -n 1

Running processes with a given priority and changing the priority of the running process:

nice -n 3 script.sh
renice +1 -p PID
renice 5 -p PID

Note: PID is the process ID that can be found out using the ps command. And the priority range is from -20 (high priority) to +19 (low priority).

Reparent a running program to a new terminal:

sudo reptyr PID
sudo reptyr -s PID

List detailed information about all PCI buses and devices:

lspci

Configure and update Grub:

sudo nano /etc/default/grub
sudo update-grub

See also the configuration files inside /etc/grub.d/.

Remove welcome banner:

touch .hushlogin

Comand-line calendar:

cal

Create a Linux password hash:

mkpasswd -m sha-512

Refresh the cloned instance/virtual machine:

apt purge cloud-init
apt install cloud-init
nano /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg
cloud-init clean
cloud-init init

Applications that work with core/distribution libraries to install software:

  • apt – Debian
  • pacman – Arch
  • yum – CentOS
  • dnf – Fedora
  • zypper – openSUSE
  • apk-tools – Alpine
  • snap – Ubuntu-based
  • flatpak – Multiple

Flatpak basic commands:

sudo apt install flatpak gnome-software-plugin-flatpak -y
flatpak remotes
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
flatpak remote-delete flathub
flatpak search firefox
flatpak update
flatpak list
flatpak list --app
flatpak history

Scheduling a shutdown:

shutdown -h 20
shutdown +20
shutdown -r 20
shutdown -r +20
shutdown -h 17:30

Canceling a scheduled shutdown

shutdown -c

Managing processes with Supervisor:

sudo apt install supervisor -y
sudo systemctl enable supervisor
sudo systemctl start supervisor
sudo nano /etc/supervisor/conf.d/app_name
[program:app_name]
command=/path/to/your/app
autostart=true
autorestart=true
startretries=3
stderr_logfile=/var/log/app_name.err.log
stdout_logfile=/var/log/app_name.out.log
environment=HOME="/home/user",USER="myuser"
  • sudo supervisorctl reread
    • Reload the configuration without restarting the processes.
  • sudo supervisorctl update
    • Apply the updated configuration.
  • sudo supervisorctl start app_name
    • Starts a process
  • sudo supervisorctl stop app_name
    • Stops a process
  • sudo supervisorctl restart app_name
    • Restarts a process
  • sudo supervisorctl restart all
    • Restarts ALL process
  • sudo supervisorctl status
    • List all managed processes and their statuses
  • sudo supervisorctl tail app_name
    • View logs for a specific process
  • sudo supervisorctl shutdown
    • Stop supervisor itself

NETWORK

hostname -I
ip address
ip route
ip neighbor
ip link
sudo ip route add default via 192.168.2.1 dev wlan0
sudo ip route add 10.0.0.0/24 via 192.168.2.1 dev eth0
sudo ip route del 10.0.0.0/24 via 192.168.2.1 dev eth0
ip route get 8.8.8.8
nmcli device status
nmcli con show 
nmcli connection show SSID
nmcli connection show "Wired connection 1"
nmcli -g ip4.address,ip4.dns connection show SSID
ss --tcp
ss --udp
ss --listening
ss -ltn
arp -e
arp -a
systemd-resolve --status
resolvectl
sudo systemctl restart systemd-resolved
nslookup example.com
nslookup -type=ns example.com
nslookup -type=mx example.com
nslookup -type=aaaa example.com
nslookup -type=txt example.com
nslookup 8.8.4.4

Measure throughput of a network connection between client and server:

iperf -s                   # for the server
iperf -c 10.0.0.1          # for the client

Check the process ID that is connected to a specific port and open ports:

lsof -i
lsof -i :22
(netstat -punta || ss --ntpu)
sudo ss -ltpn

Capture / Sniff TCP traffic:

tcpdump -D
tcpdump -i eth0 -c 10 host 8.8.4.4
tcpdump -i eth0 src host 8.8.4.4
tcpdump -i eth0 dst host 8.8.4.4
tcpdump -i eth0 net 10.10.10.0 mask 255.255.255.0
tcpdump -i eth0 net 10.10.10.0/24
tcpdump -i eth0 port 53
tcpdump -i eth0 host 8.8.4.4 and port 53
tcpdump -i eth0 port not 23 and not 22
timeout 1 tcpdump
timeout 1 tcpdump > output.txt
timeout 1 tcpdump | tee output.txt

Changing network interfaces metric:

sudo apt-get install ifmetric
sudo ifmetric wlx70f11c1927ef 599
ip route

Manage network connections over CLI:

nmtui

Check routing path using Trace Route (ICPM) and Trace Path (UDP)

traceroute 8.8.8.8
tracepath 8.8.8.8

PUBLIC IP

curl https://ipinfo.io/ip
curl http://ipecho.net/plain
dig +short myip.opendns.com @resolver1.opendns.com
dig -4 +short myip.opendns.com @resolver1.opendns.com
dig -6 +short myip.opendns.com @resolver1.opendns.com

DNS UTILITIES

sudo apt install dnsutils -y
dig example.com
whois dftorres.ca
nmcli dev show | grep 'IP4.DNS'

Using Systemd Resolved

systemd-resolve domain.com
systemd-resolve --status
systemd-resolve --flush-caches
sudo systemctl restart systemd-resolved

OR

resolvectl status
resolvectl flush-caches

To resolve any domain ending with .local to the same IP address:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install dnsmasq
echo 'address=/.local/10.10.10.100' >> /etc/dnsmasq.conf
echo 'server=8.8.8.8' >> /etc/dnsmasq.conf
echo 'server=1.1.1.1' >> /etc/dnsmasq.conf
sudo systemctl restart dnsmasq

The configuration above will resolve any domain that ends with .local to the IP 10.10.10.100. While any other that does not match this pattern will be forwarded to the upstream servers for Google and CloudFlare respectively.

Do not forget to change the system resolver (/etc/resolv.conf) to 127.0.0.1.


MOUNTING VOLUMES
Mounting volumes on the boot:

ls -l /dev/disk/by-uuid/
sudo nano /etc/fstab

Append a line according to the examples:

UUID=0e5accff-ddcb-46ac-bd52-94719086959b /mounting_point ext4 defaults 0 0

OR

/dev/sdb1 /mounting_point ext4 defaults 0 0

Apply changes without restarting:

sudo mount -a

FInd mounted volumes in the system:

findmnt
findmnt -l

To list all Samba/Windows shares in your workgroup:

nmblookup -S WORKGROUP

List and connect to SMB shares:

smbclient -L \\\\192.168.2.78
smbclient \\\\192.168.2.78\\IPC$

Show the tree of hosts and shares in the Windows Network:

smbtree

Manually mounting a private share with write privileges given to the user:

sudo mount -t cifs -o username=${USER},password=${PASSWORD},uid=$(id -u),gid=$(id -g) //server-address/folder /mount/path/on/ubuntu

Mount anonymous shares from SMB locally with all users read and write privileges on boot:

//192.168.254.254/Public /home/user/Public cifs rw,username=geek,password=geek,noperm 0 0

List NFS exports (locally and remotelly):

showmount -e
showmount -e 192.168.1.1

Check and repair file system:

sudo umount /dev/sdb1
sudo fsck -p /dev/sdb1
sudo mount /dev/sdb1

Note: the option -p will allow the tool to automatically repair problems that can be safely repaired without user intervention.

Using Bind Mount as a way to mount a directory in another directory (like an alias, a mirror or a mapping point):

sudo mount --bind /PATH/dataSource /PATH/mountLocation
sudo mount --rbind /PATH/dataSource /PATH/mountLocationRecursive

Check all real mounting points of the system:

sudo findmnt --real

GENERAL LINUX TIPS

Send messages to all active terminals sessions:

sudo wall "System under maintenance!"

App to get all hardware info:

sudo apt-get install -y hardinfo

Create a backup of a file while editing with Nano:

nano -B fileName

Ways to create a file with a certain size:

truncate -s 10M fileName
fallocate -l $((10*1024*1024)) fileName
head -c 10MB /dev/zero > fileName
head -c 10MB /dev/urandom > fileName
dd if=/dev/zero bs=10MB count=1 of=fileName
dd if=/dev/urandom bs=10MB count=1 of=fileName

Safe overwrite all unused space of the drive:

dd if=/dev/random of=big || rm big

Cleanly killing processes:

sudo sigterm PID
sudo sigkill PID
sudo sigstop PID

Overwrite files before deleting:

shred -f -n 5 -z -u -v filename

ARP Scan to find all devices in the network (replace wlan0 by the interface you want to perform the search):

sudo apt-get install arp-scan
sudo arp-scan --interface=wlan0 --localnet

Printing file content or output on the screen/terminal:

cat file.txt | more
cat file.txt | less
less file.txt

Shortcut to rename or copy a file, great for backup:

mv file.{conf,bkp}
cp file.{conf,local}

Execute a single command to many targets:

mkdir -p -v /home/josevnz/tmp/{dir1,dir2,dir3}

Making temporary file/directory that is unique (excellent to prevent collision in automation scripts):

TMPFILE=‘mktemp‘ || exit 1
echo "Temporary file name $TMPFILE"
TMPDIR=‘mktemp -d‘ || exit 1
echo "Temporary directory name $TMPDIR"

Measuring latency between your device and another:

sudo apt install mtr
mtr google.com

Check the ports that your server is listening to:

netstat -lt
netstat -lu
netstat -nr
netstat -tulpn
netstat -s
netstat -tp
netstat -an | grep ":22"

Run a script to check any shared outdated library is running in your server:

curl -s -L https://kernelcare.com/uchecker | sudo python

Alternative to wget (axel) but with multi-threads:

axel -a -n 1 "https://example.com/file.zip

Automate the response of a repetitive prompt of an application or script ()use it with caution):

yes | command
yes string | command

See also the command expect for more granular automation based on expected prompt and appropriated responses.

Record all session, from the issue commands to the output of them to a file that can be replayed for audit or training purposes:

script --timing=timeRecord.tm recordOutput
# commands_on_the_recorded_session
exit
scriptreplay --timing=timeRecord.tm recordOutput

You just used a command and you forgot to use “sudo” before. Try this:

ufw status
sudo !!

Reuse the last work from the previous command on the next:

mkdir NEW_DIRECTORY
cd !$

Adding one user to many groups:

sudo usermod -aG group1,group2,group3 user

Removing a user from a group:

sudo gpasswd -d user group

Changing the home directory and moving its content for a user:

usermod -d /home/newHome --move-home userName

Showing user’s password expiration information:

chage -l userName

Changing user’s password expiration:

sudo chage -M 90 userName
sudo chage -M 2030-12-31 userName

Watch multiple log files at the same time (alternative to tail -f):

sudo apt install multitail -y
multitail kern.log syslog

Watch for a directory, file, or any other command every second:

watch -n 1 "ls -l"

Search for an application:

which nmap
dpkg --get-selections
dpkg -l | grep sshfs
rpm -qa | grep sshfs

Install compilers and kernel header to meet application’s installation requirements:

sudo apt install gcc make build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r)

List kernel modules installed:

modprobe -h

Install and run 7ZIP to extract a .7z file:

sudo apt install p7zip p7zip-full p7zip-rar
7z e file.7z

Listing the content of a ZIP file:

zipinfo -1 file.zip
unzip -l file.zip

Mounting an archive file as a read-only volume.

archivemount fileName.tar.gz /Patch/MountingPoint

Place an executable file in this folder to be accessible from anywhere and any user:

echo $PATH
mv script.sh /usr/local/bin

See the history of the commands on CLI:

history

Check what the current user is allowed of executing with sudo.

sudo -l

Allow users to use the command sudo without a password prompt.

sudo nano /etc/sudoers.d/username

And add the following:

username ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL

Keep sudo without prompting for a password during the section:

sudo -l

Checkout the command run0as an alternative to sudo.

run0 commandName

Lock and unlock users:

usermod -L userNameToLock
usermod -U userNameToUnlock

OR

passwd -u userNameToLock
passwd -u userNameToUnlock

Creating directory symbolic link:

ln -d -s /target /link

Getting destination of a symbolic link:

readlink -m symbolicLinkName

Transform piped input into arguments for a command:

ls | xargs rm

Going to the home directory of a user:

cd ~ubuntu

Removing the repeated values and returning the unique ones:

cat listOfItems.txt | uniq

Piping output to clipboard:

echo "hi" | xclip

Coding and decoding BASE64:

echo "ABC" | base64
echo "QUJDCg==" | base64 -d
base64 <<< "ABC" 
base64 -d <<< "QUJDCg=="

Define variables in Bash then use them on commands:

export ip=10.0.0.1 port=53
nc -v $ip $port -e /bin/bash

Create an alias for a command (add to ~/.bash_aliases):

alias ll="ls -l"

Cutting and merging videos with FFMPEG:

ffmpeg -i video1.mp4 -ss 00:01 -to 01:18 output_1.mp4
ffmpeg -i video2.mp4 -ss 00:02 -to 01:01 output_2.mp4
ffmpeg -f concat -i list.txt -c copy output_merged.mp4

The list.txt would contain a list of the file to be merged as follows:

file output_1.mp4
file output_2.mp4

Change the default start mode to VMs in VirtualBox to headless:

VBoxManage modifyvm "vm name" --defaultfrontend headless
VBoxManage setproperty defaultfrontend headless

Run an application or script in the background but detached from the terminal or shell:

nohup appToRunInBg.sh &

Using the < operator. Inputting the content of a file to a command:

cat < fileName.txt

Using the << operator. It is excellent for scripting commands:

telnet server.com << EOL
firstCommand
secondCommand
EOL

Temporary file systems (tmpfs)

  • /dev/shm
    • always tmpfs (RAM).
  • /tmp
    • on-disk but can be tmpfs, does not retain files on reboots.
  • /var/tmp
    • never on tmpfs, retains files on reboots.

Automation of X via command line:

sudo apt install xautomation
xte "str Hello!"
xte "key Return"
xte "keydown Control_L"
xte "keyup Control_L"

Converting Markdown to PDF:

pandoc -o new.pdf original.md

Manipulating PDF files:

sudo apt install qpdf -y
qpdf --empty --pages cover.pdf pages*.pdf -- combined.pdf
qpdf --empty --pages book-one.pdf 2-7 book-two.pdf 3,5 -- selected-pages.pdf
qpdf book.pdf book-page.pdf --split-pages          # output file names: book-page-1.pdf book-page-2.pdf ...
qpdf --rotate=+90:1 original.pdf rotated.pdf
qpdf --encrypt userPassword ownerPassword 256 -- not-encrypted.pdf encrypted.pdf
qpdf --decrypt --password=userPassword encryted.pdf not-encrypted.pdf
    • It refers to the standard input of the shell if data in been piped.
  • –empty
    • Tells qpdf to do not expect an input file and use piped data. Requires using .
  • –encrypt
    • requires two entries, user and owner passwords. Both can be the same but if different, it will obey the security restrictions.

Emulate a KVM (keyboard + video + mouse) switch to control multiple systems [Link].


UBUNTU TIPS

Remove auto-mounted icons from the dock:

gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock show-mounts false

Linux CLI web browser:

links http://example.com

A very dangerous tool to configure your Gnome desktop (like Regedit on Windows):

sudo apt-get install -y dconf-editor

Find, enable, and disable the backlight of the keyboard (brightness from 0 to 3):

find /sys/class/leds -name '*kbd_backlight'
echo 2 | sudo tee /sys/class/leds/dell::kbd_backlight/brightness
echo 0 | sudo tee /sys/class/leds/dell::kbd_backlight/brightness

Set timeout for the keyboard backlight (in seconds):

sudo nano /sys/devices/platform/dell-laptop/leds/dell::kbd_backlight/stop_timeout

Setting timezone and adjusting the clock:

sudo timedatectl set-timezone America/Toronto
sudo date +%T -s "23:59:59"
sudo date +%Y%m%d -s "20220110"

Install ClipGrab (video download tool) in Ubuntu 20.04 (from Bionic repository):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:clipgrab-team/ppa    # edit the repository list and change distribution from focal to bionic
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install clipgrab

Change behavior when the laptop lid is closed in Ubuntu 20.04:

sudo gedit /etc/systemd/logind.conf

     HandleLidSwitch=lock/ignore/poweroff/hibernate

systemctl restart systemd-logind.service

Allow Ubuntu 20.04 system to Hibernate:

sudo systemctl hibernate

RASPBERRY PI TIPS

Set a different user to be the default auto login for Raspbian (autologin-user=pi, change pi by your desired username):

nano /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

List all USB devices connected to your machine:

lsusb

Removing line 8 from a text file:

sed -i '8d' ~/.ssh/known_hosts

Redirect output to null (useful with crontab):

> /dev/null 2>&1

Install all .deb files from the directory:

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

See used space in disk and RAM (try each and see how it works):

sudo free
sudo df -h
sudo du -sh /
sudo du -sh /*
sudo du -had 1 . | sort -rh
sudo du -Sh / | sort -rh | head -5
sudo ncdu /

See progress while copying or transferring big files:

pv file.zip > /tmp/file.zip

Block ping response in Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo nano /etc/sysctl.conf
net.ipv4.icmp_echo_ignore_all = 1
sudo sysctl -p

Online services to test your server’s IPv6 connectivity:

https://tools.keycdn.com/ipv6-ping
https://ipv6-test.com/validate.php

Keyboard oriented web browser for the CLI:

sudo apt install lynx
lynx http://www.google.com

Converting images in batches:

mogrify -format jpg *.png

Returning to the previous directory:

cd -
pushd /var
...
popd

Matrix screensaver on terminal:

sudo apt install cmatrix -y
cmatrix

Print input in columns:

mount | column -t

Terminal shortcuts:

  • ctrl+l – Clear screen.
  • ctrl+u – Clear line.
  • ctrl+r – Search in the history of commands.

KALI TIPS

Switches on and off a theme that makes Kali looks like a Windows 10 to “hide in plain sight”.

kali-undercover

Fixing Kali issue after Upgrade:

sudo apt install xfce4-settings -y

Manage the GNOME keyring:

sudo apt install seahorse -y

Then, go to the start menu and search for Passwords and Keys.

Disabling hardware beep (consider adding to /etc/rc.local):

#!/bin/bash
rmmod pcspkr
exit 0

Create the service file /etc/systemd/system/rc-local.service:

[Unit]
 Description=/etc/rc.local Compatibility
 ConditionPathExists=/etc/rc.local

[Service]
 Type=forking
 ExecStart=/etc/rc.local start
 TimeoutSec=0
 StandardOutput=tty
 RemainAfterExit=yes
 SysVStartPriority=99

[Install]
 WantedBy=multi-user.target

Flag as executable and enable the service on boot:

sudo chmod +x /etc/rc.local
sudo systemctl enable rc-local

Adjusting the vertical and horizontal position of the display:

xrandr
xrandr --output DP-1-3 --panning 1920x1080 --transform 1,0,-4,0,1,-5,0,0,1

The first command shows the names of the displays, then replaces DP-1-3 with the desired display to adjust.

Full upgrade:

sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade -y
[ -f /var/run/reboot-required ] && sudo reboot -f

Manage handlers for Lid, power, and other switches:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/logind.conf

Remote Desktop

sudo apt install -y novnc x11vnc
x11vnc -display :0 -autoport -localhost -nopw -bg -xkb -ncache -ncache_cr -quiet -forever
/usr/share/novnc/utils/launch.sh --listen 8081 --vnc localhost:5900
ss -antp | grep vnc

Create an SSH tunnel for the VNC:

ssh [email protected] -L 8081:localhost:8081

Other applications pre-installed in Kali:

pdftotext fileName.pdf output.txt
pdftohtml fileName.pdf output.html

FORENSICS TOOLS

Safe erase files in Linux with BleachBit (also available for Windows):

sudo apt install bleachbit
sudo bleachbit

=> Windows version available at https://www.bleachbit.org/.
=> Alternative, Eraser available at https://eraser.heidi.ie/.

Encrypt system, disk, and volumes in Windows:

VeraCrypt available at https://www.veracrypt.fr/.

Create 1GB file for download or any other test:

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=1gb.zip bs=1 count=0 seek=$[1024*1024*1024]

Using DD to write an ISO file into a USB drive:

sudo dd bs=4M if=file.iso of=/dev/sdX conv=fdatasync status=progress

OR

sudo dd if=Downloads/ubuntu-24.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso of=/dev/sda1 bs=1M status=progress

WESTERN DIGITAL NAS

Mount WD MyCloud Home in Linux manually:

sudo mount -t cifs //mycloud/Public /home/user/MyCloud/ -o username=geek,password=geek,uid=$(id -u),gid=$(id -g),forceuid,forcegid

Mount WD MyCloud Home in Linux automatically:

//mycloud/Public /home/user/MyCloud/ cifs username=geek,password=geek,iocharset=utf8,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777

WORKING WITH STRINGS AND FILES

Count the number of lines and the length of the longest line in a file:

wc -l /dirtectory/file.txt
wc -L /dirtectory/file.txt

Search for files that contain the “text”:

grep -l 'text' *.*

Search for a ‘text’ in compressed files:

zcat filename.gz | grep -l 'text'
zgrep -l 'text' *.*

See also zmore, zless, and zdiff.

Look for the position and line an occurrence of a byte (in hex) happens in a file:

grep -aob $'\x9d' fileName.txt
sed -n '/\x9d/=' fileName.txt

Grep with inverted match (returns if does not match the pattern):

cat fileName | grep -v 'string'

Searching for a file:

grep -R 'password' --include='*.py' --color /path

Sorte lines in the result of a command:

cat file.txt | sort

Print the content in reverse orders of the lines:

tac file.txt

Wrap up the output to fit in a specified width (default: 80 columns):

fold file.txt
fold -w60 file.txt
fold -s file.txt

Comparing files:

diff file1.txt file2.txt

Gathering information about a file:

file file.zip
stat file.txt

Print the content of a binary file:

strings binary_file

Looking inside binary files expressed as hex format:

xxd binaryFile
xxd -s 0x000123abc binaryFile | head -n 5

Note: on the second example, it seeks for the provided offset and only print 5 lines. It is particularly useful when searching for the content in an specific position that is in the middle of the file and perhaps broke an application/script.

Print numbers from 1 to 10 separated by space:

echo {1..10}

Usage of cut, -d ” ” informs that the delimiter between columns is the space character, and -f 4 inform the column you want o retrieve.

echo "a b c d e f g" | cut -d " " -f 4

Usage of tr, -d ” “ request to delete the spaces, replace each lowercase by uppercase, and replace spaces by return key (next-line), -s “a” squeezes the characters leaving only one occurrence of it, -d [:digit:] leave only digits, but -cd [:digit:] remove the digits and leave only the numbers.

echo "a b" | tr -d " "
echo "a b" | tr " " "\n"
echo "a b" | tr [a-z] [A-Z]
echo "a b" | tr [:lower:] [:upper:]
echo "aaa" | tr -s "a"
echo "a1b" | tr -cd [:digit:]
echo "a1b" | tr -d [:digit:]

Inverting the order of characters:

echo "ABC" | rev

VMWARE ESXi TIPS

Enabling external USB driver to become datastores:

/etc/init.d/usbarbitrator stop
chkconfig usbarbitrator off
ls /dev/disks/

Preparing the disk:

partedUtil mklabel /dev/disks/mpx.vmhba33:C0:T0:L0 gpt
eval expr $(partedUtil getptbl /dev/disks/mpx.vmhba33:C0:T0:L0 | tail -1 | awk '{print $1 " \\* " $2 " \\* " $3}') - 1
partedUtil setptbl /dev/disks/mpx.vmhba33:C0:T0:L0 gpt "1 2048 9999999999 AA31E02A400F11DB9590000C2911D1B8 0"
vmkfstools -C vmfs6 -S USB-Datastore /dev/disks/mpx.vmhba33:C0:T0:L0:1

Note: the mpx.vmhba33:C0:T0:L0 shall be replaced with the local USB direct-access of your disk and 9999999999 with the last sector calculated by the second command.


NVIDIA DRIVERS

Check the model, add the repositories, and run the installation.

lspci | egrep 'VGA|NVIDIA'

Check first if the specific model has an installer at the official NVIDIA website [Link].

For some modules, the following might be the installation route.

sudo apt-add-repository contrib && sudo apt-add-repository non-free && sudo apt update
sudo apt install nvidia-driver -y && sudo reboot

After rebooting, verify the if the kernel module(s) were loaded.

lsmod | grep nvidia

Drivers for legacy/old hardware can be installed as follows.

sudo apt install nvidia-legacy-390xx-driver -y
sudo reboot
nvidia-smi

Note: certain distributions might install the drivers during system installation.


AMD GPU Drivers

wget https://repo.radeon.com/amdgpu-install/latest/ubuntu/noble/amdgpu-install_6.2.60202-1_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i amdgpu-install_6.2.60202-1_all.deb
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo amdgpu-install -y --accept-eula --opencl=rocr --opengl=mesa --vulkan=pro

Checking installation:

sudo dmesg | grep -i amdgpu
sudo lshw -c video