Useful things in (gentoo) linux

This is just a collection of some commands and tricks that I keep forgetting

  • Search and replace in multiple files, using perl
    perl -p -i -e 's/search/replace/g *.txt
  • Change the color of a (gentoo) bash prompt
    export PS1="

    \[\]

    \u@\h

    \[\]

    \w \$

    \[\]

    "

    \[\]

    \u@\h

    \[\]

    \w \\(\) "

  • Operations on multiple files using bash (in this example: something interesting is done with every tex file in the current directory)
    for f in *.tex
    do
      echo "doing something interesting to file $f"
    done
  • Redirect both standard error and stdout to /dev/null
    2>&1 >/dev/null
  • Syntax highlighting in openoffice (for presentations, for example)
    Athough it seems a bit inefficient, this is the way to do it:

    • open the file in kate and export it as html
    • open the file in a web-browser and copy the text
    • paste the text in an openoffice writer document
    • save the file als .odt or export it as .rtf for use in impress
  • Change the display of the "top" command, and save it for next time
    • change the settings, for example like this: start top, press i, 1, d 1
    • press W to save the current settings to ~/.toprc
  • to use an end-of-line character to a vim search query: ctrl-V ctrl-M
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