Tags » shell scripting

• Whose code am I running in GitHub Actions?

  I wanted to know what third-party code I was using in my GitHub Actions. I was able to use standard text processing tools and shell pipelines to get a quick tally.

• TIL: Debugging some confusing behaviour with find and xargs

  Use the --verbose flag to see what xargs is doing; don’t rely on find to return files in a consistent order.

• TIL: Use $_ to get the last argument to the previous bash command

  This allows you to write commands like mkdir myfolder && cd $_ or git init myrepo && cd $_.

• TIL: The open command can ask questions

  If you pass an argument that can’t be easily identified as a file or a URL, open will ask you what to do next. This may be a surprise if you were trying to use it in a script.

• TIL: Use the -n/-i flags to avoid overwriting files with cp and mv

• TIL: Using errexit and arithmetic expressions in bash

• TIL: Add the -v flag to see what rm is deleting

• TIL: Create a directory before you cp or mv a file to it

• Making the fish shell more forgetful

  A few commands that help me keep unwanted entries out of my shell’s autocomplete.

• Starting Docker just before I need it

  I don’t keep Docker running all the time, but intercepting the docker command means it’s always running when I need it.

• Checking lots of URLs with curl

  A bash script to check the HTTP status code of a bunch of URLs, for simple and portable uptime checking.

• How to do parallel downloads with youtube-dl

• Finding the latest screenshot in macOS Mojave

• TIL: How to use xargs for parallel processing

• A shell alias for tallying data

  A way to count records on the command-line.

• Safely deleting a file called ‘-rf *’

  If for some reason you create a file called -rf *, it’s possible to delete it safely. But really, don’t create it in the first place.

• Pretty printing JSON and XML in the shell

• Quick shell access for Docker containers

  A Bash function for quickly getting shell access to Docker containers.

• Useful Bash features: exit traps