So far, https://tty1.blog has largely been tutorials on how to use particular commands or workflows. I'll keep doing that, but I also want to highlight some real-world problems that can easily be solved with some knowledge of shell scripting and the command line.
To start off, here's how I used the find command to create a script for @nantucketebooks to help them easily update the code for all of their books at once.
About a year ago, I stopped using Spotify for my music, instead moving to local audio files. I've never regretted that decision. When I started transitioning to a terminal-based workflow, though, I had to find good utilities to manage and play my collection.
I think that the results have been far more useful than the graphical apps I used to use were.
Have you ever noticed that there are certain directories everyone has? ~/Documents, ~/Downloads, ~/Desktop, and so forth? Some of them you don't need, some of them you might wish were named differently, but any time you rename or delete them, the originals reappear?
You see, these directories follow a standard so that all programs know where they are—with the right tools under your belt, you can customize them.
A file manager feels like an essential part of an operating system. In a blog where I talk largely about using terminal applications instead of GUIs, you might think I'd spend this article exploring some terminal-based file managers.
Not so. Spare me a moment of your time, friend, and I will endeavour to illuminate why you, master of command-line secrets, have no need for such a petty thing as a "file manager."
While there are hundreds of difficult-to-understand commands out there, few have acquired the notoriety of tar. Most guides are filled with abstruse commands such as tar -czvf archive.tar.gz ~/Downloads/ with little to no explanation. Based on conversations I've had, people who interact with tar tend to just memorize a basic command or two, like tar -xvf <filename> and hope for the best.
Let's take a closer look at tar and learn how it actually works.
I'm proud to present tty1, my new blog about everything to do with the Linux terminal! Check it out if you enjoy noodling around on the command line, spent all your time in your lovingly-configured terminal emulator, or simply want to learn some cool tricks, go check it out!