Lesson 19: Advanced Tools & Power User

Goal: Discover modern CLI tools and advanced techniques that boost your productivity.

Table of Contents

1. Command History — history
2. Terminal Shortcuts
3. tmux — Terminal Multiplexer
4. Modern Replacements
5. Midnight Commander — mc
6. Clipboard — xsel & xclip
7. System Monitoring — neofetch & fastfetch
8. Terminal Browsers
9. Fun Tools
10. Power User Tips
11. Exercises

Command History — history

View history

# Show all history
history

# Show last 20 commands
history 20

# Search history
history | grep "docker"

Reuse history

# Repeat last command
!!

# Repeat with sudo
sudo !!

# Repeat command #542 from history
!542

# Repeat last command starting with "ssh"
!ssh

# Use last argument of previous command
echo "test" > file.txt
cat !$
# Equivalent to: cat file.txt

Interactive search — Ctrl+R

# Press Ctrl+R, then type part of the command
# Press Ctrl+R again to go to the next match
# Press Enter to execute
# Press Ctrl+G or Esc to cancel

History configuration

# Add to ~/.bashrc

# Large history
HISTSIZE=50000
HISTFILESIZE=100000

# Ignore duplicates and commands starting with space
HISTCONTROL=ignoreboth:erasedups

# Append to history file (don't overwrite)
shopt -s histappend

# Save multi-line commands as one entry
shopt -s cmdhist

# Add timestamps to history
HISTTIMEFORMAT="%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S  "

Clear history

# Clear current session history
history -c

# Clear history file
> ~/.bash_history

Terminal Shortcuts

Navigation

Editing

Control

tmux — Terminal Multiplexer

tmux lets you run multiple terminal sessions in one window, and they persist after disconnecting.

Install

sudo apt install tmux

Basic usage

# Start a new session
tmux

# Start a named session
tmux new -s mysession

# Detach from session
# Press: Ctrl+B, then D

# List sessions
tmux ls

# Reattach to a session
tmux attach -t mysession

# Kill a session
tmux kill-session -t mysession

tmux key bindings

All tmux commands start with the prefix key: Ctrl + B

Window management

Pane management (split screen)

tmux configuration

cat > ~/.tmux.conf << 'EOF'
# Enable mouse support
set -g mouse on

# Start window numbering at 1
set -g base-index 1

# Start pane numbering at 1
setw -g pane-base-index 1

# Increase history limit
set -g history-limit 50000

# Status bar
set -g status-style bg=black,fg=white
set -g status-left '[#S] '
set -g status-right '%H:%M %d-%b-%Y'
EOF

Practical: SSH + tmux workflow

# 1. SSH into server
ssh myserver

# 2. Start a tmux session
tmux new -s deploy

# 3. Run your long-running task
./deploy.sh

# 4. Detach: Ctrl+B, then D

# 5. Disconnect SSH (task keeps running!)
exit

# 6. Later, reconnect and reattach
ssh myserver
tmux attach -t deploy

Modern Replacements

bat — Better cat

sudo apt install bat
# On Ubuntu, the command might be 'batcat'

# Usage
bat script.py          # syntax highlighting
bat -n script.py       # with line numbers only
bat --diff file.txt    # show git changes

lsd — Better ls

# Install via cargo or snap
sudo snap install lsd

lsd                    # colorful icons
lsd -la                # detailed view
lsd --tree             # tree view

exa/eza — Better ls (alternative)

sudo apt install eza

eza                    # basic list
eza -la                # detailed with hidden
eza --tree --level=2   # tree view
eza --git              # show git status

fd — Better find

sudo apt install fd-find
# Command might be 'fdfind' on Ubuntu

fdfind "*.py"              # find Python files
fdfind -t d config         # find directories named config
fdfind -e log --size +1m   # find .log files > 1 MB

ripgrep (rg) — Better grep

sudo apt install ripgrep

rg "TODO" .                # search recursively (auto)
rg -i "error" /var/log/    # case insensitive
rg -t py "import"          # search only Python files
rg --hidden "config"       # include hidden files

Midnight Commander — mc

A two-panel file manager for the terminal.

sudo apt install mc
mc

Key shortcuts in mc

Clipboard — xsel & xclip

Copy and paste between terminal and GUI clipboard.

# Install
sudo apt install xsel xclip

Usage

# Copy command output to clipboard
echo "Hello" | xclip -selection clipboard

# Paste from clipboard
xclip -selection clipboard -o

# Copy a file's content to clipboard
cat file.txt | xclip -selection clipboard

# Copy your public SSH key
cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub | xclip -selection clipboard
echo "SSH key copied to clipboard!"

# Shortcut alias (add to .bashrc)
alias pbcopy='xclip -selection clipboard'
alias pbpaste='xclip -selection clipboard -o'

System Monitoring — neofetch & fastfetch

fastfetch (modern, fast)

sudo apt install fastfetch
fastfetch

neofetch (classic)

sudo apt install neofetch
neofetch

Both display system info with ASCII art — popular for screenshots and dotfile showcases.

Terminal Browsers

links2

sudo apt install links2
links2 https://example.com

lynx

sudo apt install lynx
lynx https://example.com

Useful for testing websites from servers without a GUI.

Fun Tools

# ASCII art text
sudo apt install figlet
figlet "Hello Linux"

# Colorful system info
sudo apt install lolcat
neofetch | lolcat

# Matrix rain
sudo apt install cmatrix
cmatrix

# Cowsay
sudo apt install cowsay
cowsay "I love Linux"

# Fortune + cowsay combo
sudo apt install fortune-mod
fortune | cowsay

# Train animation
sudo apt install sl
sl

# Internet speed test
sudo apt install speedtest-cli
speedtest-cli

Power User Tips

Brace expansion

# Create multiple files/dirs
mkdir -p project/{src,tests,docs}
touch file{1..5}.txt
echo {A..Z}
echo {01..12}

# Backup with rename
cp config.yaml{,.bak}
# Equivalent to: cp config.yaml config.yaml.bak

Process substitution

# Compare outputs of two commands
diff <(ls dir1/) <(ls dir2/)

# Compare sorted files without temporary files
diff <(sort file1.txt) <(sort file2.txt)

Quick calculations

# bc - calculator
echo "scale=2; 100/3" | bc
# Output: 33.33

# Bash arithmetic
echo $((256 * 1024))

# Python one-liner
python3 -c "print(2**32)"

Quick file server

# Serve current directory on port 8000
python3 -m http.server 8000

# Accessible at http://localhost:8000

Quick JSON formatting

# Pretty-print JSON
curl -s https://api.github.com | python3 -m json.tool

# Or with jq (install: sudo apt install jq)
curl -s https://api.github.com | jq .

Record your terminal session

# Start recording
script session.log

# Do your work...

# Stop recording
exit

# Replay
cat session.log

Exercises

Exercise 1: History mastery

# 1. Show last 10 commands
history 10

# 2. Search for a past command
history | grep "apt"

# 3. Use Ctrl+R to find a command
# Press Ctrl+R, type "ssh", press Enter

# 4. Repeat the last command with sudo
echo "test"
sudo !!

Exercise 2: Try modern tools

# 1. Install and try bat
sudo apt install -y bat
batcat ~/.bashrc    # Ubuntu uses 'batcat'

# 2. Install and try ripgrep
sudo apt install -y ripgrep
rg "alias" ~/.bashrc

Exercise 3: tmux basics

# 1. Start a named session
tmux new -s practice

# 2. Split the screen vertically
# Press: Ctrl+B %

# 3. Run 'htop' in one pane, navigate to the other
# Press: Ctrl+B (arrow key)

# 4. Detach
# Press: Ctrl+B d

# 5. Reattach
tmux attach -t practice

# 6. Kill the session
tmux kill-session -t practice

Key Takeaways

• history + Ctrl+R — never retype a command
• Terminal shortcuts (Ctrl+A/E/U/K/W) — edit commands blazingly fast
• tmux — persistent sessions, split panes, essential for remote work
• Modern tools: bat > cat, rg > grep, fd > find, eza > ls
• mc — visual file manager in the terminal
• python3 -m http.server — instant file server
• jq — parse JSON on the command line
• Fun tools add personality to your terminal setup

Congratulations!

You've completed the Linux Terminal Course! You now have a solid foundation in:

• Navigating the filesystem
• Managing files, directories, and permissions
• Searching and processing text
• Managing packages, processes, and services
• Networking, SSH, and remote file transfer
• Shell customization and advanced tools

Keep practicing, keep experimenting, and keep learning!