Practical tips for Debian users.
Practical Linux and Debian tips, tricks, and command references.
Browse by topic
- Package management Install, remove and manage software
- System administration Manage users, permissions and services
- Text processing Filter, transform and reshape text
- Files & directories Work with files and permissions
- Search & find Find files, text and data
- Networking Configure, transfer and diagnose
- Processes Monitor and control running processes
- Scripting Write and debug shell scripts
- Security Secure a system and manage access
Start here
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grep
Tested grep examples: recursive search, regex flavours, context lines, counting, scripting, and more.
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Pipes and redirection
How | connects commands together, and how >, >>, 2>&1, and <() route data to and from files, other commands, and each other.
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Variables and quoting
Why unquoted variables break bash scripts, when to use double vs single quotes, and how glob characters make it worse.
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Find the largest files on disk
Locate what is eating your disk space, from a whole filesystem down to one directory.
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APT essentials
The apt, apt-get, and dpkg commands that cover almost everything you'll do to manage packages on Debian, and how remove differs from purge.
Recently updated
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ls
Tested ls examples: the long format column by column, hidden files, sorting by time and size, symlinks, time styles, and why piped output looks different.
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xargs
Tested xargs examples: batching with -n, placeholders with -I, NUL-separated input from find -print0, parallel runs with -P, and what its exit codes mean.
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sed
Tested sed examples: substitution, addressing, deletion, in-place editing, and multi-command scripts.
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apt
Search, install, remove and upgrade packages with apt, including how to see what it will do before it does it, and which commands are safe in a script.
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dpkg
Query what's installed, find which package owns a file, inspect a .deb before trusting it, and repair a half-finished install: the layer beneath apt.
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systemctl
Tested systemctl examples: starting and stopping services, enabling them at boot, reading unit state, drop-in overrides, and diagnosing failures.
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curl
Tested curl examples: GET/POST/PUT/DELETE, headers, auth, cookies, uploads, redirects, retries, and scripting.
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awk
Tested awk examples: fields and records, patterns, BEGIN/END, arrays, printf, and practical one-liners.
Every example here was run, not remembered
Command references drift: the distribution moves on, output changes, and prose written from memory quietly stops being true. Every example on this site is run inside a throwaway Debian container, and what you see is what it printed. They are re-run on every change, and a page whose output no longer matches fails the build.