Post your favorite tips and tricks that help make your life in the shell easier.

for i in ls *gz ; do tar -zxvf $i ; done

decompresses all the archives in a directory.

ls = list files
ls -a = list all files, including hidden
ls -hal = list all files, including hidden, with details in a human readable format

rm = remove, for removing a file
rmdir = remove, for removing a directory
rm -rf [directory]/ = remove and format, for removing a directory with data.

-Ar -u[user] -p --auto-repair = have MySQL repair all databases.

service [service] restart = Restart specifide sevice
service [service] stop = Stop specifide service
service [service] start = Start specifide service

du -h --max-depth=1 = Check (by directory) where all your space is at.

su = change user
make && make install = install script

cd /home/virtual;for c in site*;do cat $c/info/current/ipinfo|grep ipaddrs;done = Check what IP's are linked to what user accounts (I work for a webhost, I have to know it)

EditVirtDomain -c ipinfo,namebased=0,ipaddrs=[1.2.3.4] -D domain.com = Change name based domain to IP based.

EditVirtDomain -c ipinfo,namebased=1,ipaddrs=[] -D domain.com = Change IP based site to Name Based.

ntpdate time.windows.com = Sync time with Microsoft

If you have subdomain issues or need to add one their located in /etc/httpd/conf/subdomains.conf

If user is having an issue with Perl or PHP interpreters within the ensim service do the following:

sitelookup -s [username]
sitelookup -d [domainname]

(be sure they match up, we're compairing the server validations of where the username belongs and where the domain name belongs to be sure we aren't working with the wrong account)

cd /home/virtual/[username]/fst/var/www
ls

(we're trying to see if the interpreters directory exists, which it should, otherwise skip this step and the next step's RM)

ls interpreters

(If interpreters show up then there isn't a problem, if not, continue)

rmdir interpreters
DisableVirtDomain [domain]
EnableVirtDomain [domain]

(Here you tell the system to remove the interpreters directory, disable the account on the system, enable the account on the system. Re-enabling causes the Ensim service to rebuild all data).

ls interpreters

(interpreters should now exist, user account should now be able to use their account once again)

tar -cvzf [archivename].tgz /path/to/archive/ = Archive path to a .tgz file.

tar -cvzf [archivename].tgz /path/to/archive/ --exclude=/path/to/archive/yet/leave/out/ = Archive path to a .tgz file BUT leave out second path of files.

./end sysadmin guide

lol, I have to memorise pretty much all of that for work ;-x...

su and sudo ....they are the biggest time savers in the universe

su [username] = change usernames. Some systems don't allow direct login to the root user so you need to su to the username.

sudo = used for giving users access to commands without actually giving them access to commands... Example: "sudo su -" can be set to log the user as root without needing password :glares at drak:

ok I wasnt really looking for a description of bash commands... more like combinations of them.
I think there is already a post here containing basic bash commands.
*rm -rf = remove recurisive and force

dmesg | grep [device name]

outputs boot hardware information about a specific device useful for troubleshooting kernel problems. If the device is CD it will spit out info about your CD roms if you use hd as the device it will tell you about your harddrives

cat /var/log/XFree86.0.log | grep EE

outputs any errors from your xconfig log. makes troubleshooting X hella easier or switch EE with WW to view warnings.

i always find myself using "locate [file] | grep [bin|png]" or whatever file i'm looking for
usually either when i'm looking for icons to use i'll do like "locate ethereal | grep png" or when trying to find where a program runs from, "locate mysql | grep bin"
enormous timesavers just b/c i don't pay as much attention as i should when i install stuff. well, i make sure i install it right, but about 4 hours later i forget where that was, lol
and of course, ps -aux | grep [program name]
speaking of which, i'm trying to find a way to pipe a process id into kill....but i can't figure it out. kill always comes back with an error everytime i try. i figure it'd be a huge timesaver if i can just write up a shell script where i just type in like "slackill [program]" and by going through ps and grep and cut and kill....it'll kill the process for me//

Okay this may soud ignorant, How do I restart my system from the commandline. I got rid of my GUI on my webserver and I just use bash now.

restart :x

or

# reboot

or

# shutdown -r now

shutdown -r now


that is the one I was thinking of. Thanx

just be careful...I did

shutdown now -r

once, and it shut down the server in Denver. My boss wasn't happy