What's Your Command Line Judo?

lousyd asks: "We all have our CLI amor. That two- or three-letter command that fiddles our heartstrings. 'mv' is pedestrian, but 'mmv' is so cool. 'cp' can lug bits around all day to no applause, but 'cpio' will excite even the most jaded of command line linguists. 'How perfect!' you exclaim. So what's your poison? What turns you on? What little known command performs just the right function for you?"

Comments

ZTree and UnixTree

[Glonoinha]

Yea, Though I compute through the user interface of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for ZTree is with me.

No joke - ZTree is a character for character re-write of an old utility called XTree Gold v2.0 or 2.5 - and it is by far the most effective and influential interface between me and my data. The entire file system is but an extension of my mental processes, and I can slice and dice through the multi-dimensional (time, space, attributes, multi-layered directory structure, multi-drive architecture,) in effect creating a virtual directory within which I control the parameters driving what is listed, in what order - then copy, view, move, delete, diff (file compare), view in hex mode (and edit it in hex mode), search for text in lists of files, compare directory trees for like or different files (binary, time stamp, etc.)

It is totally CUI, about like Midnight commander but a ton better. Take time to get fluent in ZTree (UnixTree for Unix / Linux, a bit older with a few quirks, but still pretty damn good) and you will be like the guys in the Matrix sitting at their green screen terminals.

ZTree Don't leave $HOME without it.