5 Linux Command Line Tools That Can Save You Hours of Frustration

FROM A FACEBOOK POST In "Make Linux Easier" Group

5 Linux Command Line Tools That Can Save You Hours of Frustration

Linux is powerful, but sometimes it can leave you staring at the screen thinking, why is this happening? The good news is that you don’t always need complicated solutions. These five simple tools can help you solve common problems quickly.

htop

If your computer suddenly starts running slow, instead of blaming your hardware check which programs are using your CPU and RAM.

Open your terminal and run:

➜htop

It displays your running processes along with their CPU and RAM usage in real time, making it easy to spot which programs are consuming too many resources.

du

If your disk space is running low, but you have no idea what’s taking up all that storage? That’s where du comes in. 

Open your terminal and run:

➜du -sh *

It shows how much space each file and folder is using, helping you quickly find what’s taking up the most storage.

grep 

Searching through hundreds of lines of text to find one specific word can be frustrating sometimes. That’s where grep comes in. For example, if you want to find the word “error” in a log file, run:

➜grep "error" log.txt

It searches the file and shows you the lines containing that word, saving you from searching manually.

ping

If a website takes a lot of time to load, and you’re wondering whether the problem is your internet connection? That’s where ping can help. 

Open your terminal and run:

➜ping google.com

It checks whether your computer can reach the server and helps you identify basic network connectivity problems.

systemctl

If a Linux service is not working, and you have no idea whether it’s actually running or not? That’s where systemctl comes in. 

For example, to check the SSH service, run:

➜systemctl status ssh

It shows whether the service is running and provides useful information if something has gone wrong. See less

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