Cheatsheets:LinuxCLI/FileOps - Revision history

Rongzhou: /* Text utilities */

2026-09-02T12:14:46Z

Text utilities

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:14, 2 September 2026
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	sd old_text new_text file.txt # replace every occurrence of old_text, in place		sd old_text new_text file.txt # replace every occurrence of old_text, in place
	sd old_text new_text file1.txt file2.txt # edit several files at once		sd old_text new_text file1.txt file2.txt # edit several files at once
			sd old_text new_text */.md # glob for all .md files in the directory and its subdirectories [1]
	sd 'foo\s+bar' 'baz' file.txt # regex find & replace (JS/Python-style syntax)		sd 'foo\s+bar' 'baz' file.txt # regex find & replace (JS/Python-style syntax)
	sd '(\w+) (\w+)' '$2 $1' file.txt # capture groups: swap two words		sd '(\w+) (\w+)' '$2 $1' file.txt # regex capture groups: the example swap two words
	sd -F 'a+b' 'axb' file.txt # -F: literal text, '+' is not regex "one or more"		sd -F 'a+b' 'axb' file.txt # -F: literal text, '+' is not regex "one or more"
	cat file.txt \| sd -A '\n' ',' # -A: pattern may match across line breaks (join lines)		cat file.txt \| sd -A '\n' ',' # -A: pattern may match across line breaks (join lines)
	sd -p old_text new_text file.txt # -p: preview the result, do not write		sd -p old_text new_text file.txt # -p: preview the result, do not write
	echo '~~old_text~~' \| sd old_text new_text # no file given: read stdin, write stdout		echo 'some_text' \| sd old_text new_text # no file given: read stdin, write stdout
	sd old_text -- '-new_text' file.txt # --: end of flags; new_text may start with a dash		sd old_text -- '-new_text' file.txt # --: declare end of flags so new_text may start with a dash
	</syntaxhighlight>		</syntaxhighlight>

	<blockquote>		<blockquote>
	'''sd replaces every occurrence and edits files in place''' ~~— no~~ <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>s/.../~~.../g~~<~~/syntaxhighlight~~> ~~delimiters and no~~ <~~syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline~~>-i</~~syntaxhighlight~~> ~~flag~~ to ~~remember, unlike sed~~. ~~Dry-run with~~ <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" ~~inline~~>-p</syntaxhighlight> ~~and keep files under version control — in-place edits are not reversible.~~		'''sd replaces every occurrence and edits files in place, which is non-reversible.'''Dry-run with <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-p</syntaxhighlight> and keep files under version control.
			</blockquote>

			<blockquote>
			[1]: You must enable globstar for <code>**</code> to be interpreted correctly.

			Add to <code><nowiki>~/.bashrc</nowiki></code>:

			<syntaxhighlight lang="bash" copy>
			shopt -s globstar
			</syntaxhighlight>
	</blockquote>		</blockquote>

Rongzhou: /* Text utilities */

2026-09-02T12:05:04Z

Text utilities

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:05, 2 September 2026
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	'''rg only prints — it never edits files.''' By default it skips hidden files, binary files and anything matched by <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>.gitignore</syntaxhighlight>; add <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-uu</syntaxhighlight> when results look incomplete. <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-r</syntaxhighlight> / <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>--replace</syntaxhighlight> rewrites the matched text in the output only — use it to preview what a replacement would look like, then apply the real edit with sd below.		'''rg only prints — it never edits files.''' By default it skips hidden files, binary files and anything matched by <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>.gitignore</syntaxhighlight>; add <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-uu</syntaxhighlight> when results look incomplete. <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-r</syntaxhighlight> / <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>--replace</syntaxhighlight> rewrites the matched text in the output only — use it to preview what a replacement would look like, then apply the real edit with sd below.
	</syntaxhighlight>		</syntaxhighlight>
			</blockquote>

	'''sd''' — search & displace: an intuitive regex find-and-replace, a friendlier <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>sed</syntaxhighlight> (install: <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>cargo install sd</syntaxhighlight>, <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>brew install sd</syntaxhighlight>):		'''sd''' — search & displace: an intuitive regex find-and-replace, a friendlier <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>sed</syntaxhighlight> (install: <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>cargo install sd</syntaxhighlight>, <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>brew install sd</syntaxhighlight>):

RonzzWikiCowriterAI: Text utilities: drop options tables, expand rg/sd example snippets with one example per option; sd args as old_text/new_text, file examples with .txt — AI-assisted (RonzzWikiCowriter) (via update-page on MediaWiki MCP Server)

2026-09-02T12:00:16Z

Text utilities: drop options tables, expand rg/sd example snippets with one example per option; sd args as old_text/new_text, file examples with .txt — AI-assisted (RonzzWikiCowriter) (via update-page on MediaWiki MCP Server)

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:00, 2 September 2026
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	<syntaxhighlight lang="bash" copy>		<syntaxhighlight lang="bash" copy>
	rg pattern # recursive search of the current ~~directory~~		rg pattern [path] # recursive search; path defaults to the current directory
	~~rg pattern path/ # recursive search of a specific~~ directory		rg pattern file.txt # search a single file
	rg pattern file.txt # search a single file		rg -i 'error\|warning' src/ # -i: case-insensitive
	rg -i 'error\|warning' src/ # case-insensitive regex ~~search~~		rg -n 'TODO' app/ # -n: include line numbers (on by default on a terminal)
	rg -l 'TODO' . # only filenames with matches		rg -v 'DEBUG' app/ # -v: lines that do NOT match
	rg -c ~~pattern .~~ # count matching lines per file		rg -w 'foo' app/ # -w: whole-word matches only
	rg -~~n pattern~~ # ~~force line numbers (default on a terminal)~~		rg -F 'a+b' app/ # -F: literal string, no regex metacharacters
	~~rg pattern~~ -C ~~3 # show 3~~ lines of context around each match		rg -l 'TODO' app/ # -l: only filenames with matches
			rg -c 'error' app/ # -c: count matching lines per file
			rg -C 3 'panic' app/ # -C N: N lines of context around each match
			rg -t py 'import' app/ # -t TYPE: only files of a type (py, js, rs, ...)
			rg -g '*.log' 'error' . # -g GLOB: only files matching the glob
			rg -g '!*.min.js' 'var' . # -g '!glob': exclude files matching the glob
			rg --hidden 'secret' . # --hidden: also search hidden dotfiles
			rg --no-ignore 'tmp' . # --no-ignore: ignore .gitignore / .ignore rules
			rg -uu 'pattern' . # -uu: also hidden files; -uuu also binary (each -u disables more filtering)
	</syntaxhighlight>		</syntaxhighlight>

	~~{\| class="wikitable"~~
	~~! Option !! Effect~~
	\|-
	~~\| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-i</syntaxhighlight> \|\| case-insensitive~~
	\|-
	~~\| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-n</syntaxhighlight> \|\| include line numbers (on by default when printing to a terminal)~~
	\|-
	~~\| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-v</syntaxhighlight> \|\| invert: lines that do NOT match~~
	\|-
	~~\| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-l</syntaxhighlight> \|\| only filenames with matches~~
	\|-
	~~\| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-c</syntaxhighlight> \|\| count matching lines per file~~
	\|-
	~~\| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-w</syntaxhighlight> \|\| whole-word matches only~~
	\|-
	~~\| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-F</syntaxhighlight> \|\| literal string: no regex interpretation~~
	\|-
	~~\| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-C N</syntaxhighlight> \|\| show N lines of context around each match~~
	\|-
	\| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-t TYPE</syntaxhighlight> \|\| only files of a type, e.g. <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>rg -tpy pattern</syntaxhighlight> or <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>rg -tjs pattern</syntaxhighlight>
	\|-
	\| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-g GLOB</syntaxhighlight> \|\| include/exclude files by glob, e.g. <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-g '.log'</syntaxhighlight>, <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-g '!.min.js'</syntaxhighlight>
	\|-
	~~\| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>--hidden</syntaxhighlight> \|\| also search hidden files (dotfiles)~~
	\|-
	\| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>--no-ignore</syntaxhighlight> \|\| ignore <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>.gitignore</syntaxhighlight> / <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>.ignore</syntaxhighlight> rules
	\|-
	\| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-u</syntaxhighlight> \|\| progressively disable filtering: <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-uu</syntaxhighlight> also searches hidden files, <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-uuu</syntaxhighlight> also binary files
	\|}

	<blockquote>		<blockquote>
	'''rg only prints — it never edits files.''' By default it skips hidden files, binary files and anything matched by <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>.gitignore</syntaxhighlight>; add <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-uu</syntaxhighlight> when results look incomplete. <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-r</syntaxhighlight> / <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>--replace</syntaxhighlight> rewrites the matched text in the output only — use it to preview what a replacement would look like, then apply the real edit with sd below.		'''rg only prints — it never edits files.''' By default it skips hidden files, binary files and anything matched by <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>.gitignore</syntaxhighlight>; add <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-uu</syntaxhighlight> when results look incomplete. <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-r</syntaxhighlight> / <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>--replace</syntaxhighlight> rewrites the matched text in the output only — use it to preview what a replacement would look like, then apply the real edit with sd below.
	</~~blockquote~~>		</syntaxhighlight>

	'''sd''' — search & displace: an intuitive regex find-and-replace, a friendlier <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>sed</syntaxhighlight> (install: <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>cargo install sd</syntaxhighlight>, <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>brew install sd</syntaxhighlight>):		'''sd''' — search & displace: an intuitive regex find-and-replace, a friendlier <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>sed</syntaxhighlight> (install: <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>cargo install sd</syntaxhighlight>, <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>brew install sd</syntaxhighlight>):

	<syntaxhighlight lang="bash" copy>		<syntaxhighlight lang="bash" copy>
	sd ~~before after~~ file.txt # replace every occurrence, in place		sd old_text new_text file.txt # replace every occurrence of old_text, in place
	sd 'foo\s+bar' 'baz' file.txt # regex find & replace (JS/Python-style syntax)		sd old_text new_text file1.txt file2.txt # edit several files at once
	sd '(\w+) (\w+)' '$2 $1' file.txt # capture groups: swap two words		sd 'foo\s+bar' 'baz' file.txt # regex find & replace (JS/Python-style syntax)
	sd -F 'a+b' '~~a+b~~' file.txt # -F: literal text, no regex ~~metacharacters~~		sd '(\w+) (\w+)' '$2 $1' file.txt # capture groups: swap two words
	sd -p ~~before after~~ file.txt # preview the result ~~without writing~~		sd -F 'a+b' 'axb' file.txt # -F: literal text, '+' is not regex "one or more"
	echo ~~"foo"~~ \| sd ~~foo bar~~ # no file given: read stdin, write stdout		cat file.txt \| sd -A '\n' ',' # -A: pattern may match across line breaks (join lines)
	~~cat file.txt \|~~ sd -A '\n' ~~','~~ # -A: ~~match across line breaks (join lines)~~		sd -p old_text new_text file.txt # -p: preview the result, do not write
	~~sd before after file1 file2 # edit several files at once~~		echo 'old_text' \| sd old_text new_text # no file given: read stdin, write stdout
			sd old_text -- '-new_text' file.txt # --: end of flags; new_text may start with a dash
	</syntaxhighlight>		</syntaxhighlight>

	~~{\| class="wikitable"~~
	~~! Option !! Effect~~
	\|-
	~~\| (none needed) \|\| replace all occurrences; files are edited in place~~
	\|-
	~~\| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-F</syntaxhighlight> \|\| fixed strings: treat the pattern as literal text, no regex~~
	\|-
	~~\| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-A</syntaxhighlight> \|\| across: let the pattern match across line breaks (e.g. <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>\n</syntaxhighlight>)~~
	\|-
	~~\| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-p</syntaxhighlight> \|\| preview: print the result, do not write to the file~~
	\|-
	~~\| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>--</syntaxhighlight> \|\| end of flags: lets the pattern or replacement start with a dash~~
	\|}

	<blockquote>		<blockquote>

RonzzWikiCowriterAI: Text utilities: add rg (fast recursive text search) and sd (intuitive find & replace) — AI-assisted (RonzzWikiCowriter) (via update-page on MediaWiki MCP Server)

2026-09-02T11:17:20Z

Text utilities: add rg (fast recursive text search) and sd (intuitive find & replace) — AI-assisted (RonzzWikiCowriter) (via update-page on MediaWiki MCP Server)

@@ Line 276: / Line 276: @@
 <blockquote>
 '''<syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>></syntaxhighlight> overwrites, <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>>></syntaxhighlight> appends''' — one character decides whether an existing file survives.
 </blockquote>

Rongzhou: /* Further reading */

2026-08-24T08:23:20Z

Rongzhou: /* Basic example */

2026-08-23T12:12:45Z

Basic example

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:12, 23 August 2026
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	New to the command line? Every command here has a built-in manual — try <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>man ls</syntaxhighlight> or [https://tldr.sh tldr] for short examples; [https://explainshell.com explainshell.com] annotates any command line.		New to the command line? Every command here has a built-in manual — try <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>man ls</syntaxhighlight> or [https://tldr.sh tldr] for short examples; [https://explainshell.com explainshell.com] annotates any command line.

	~~== Basic example ==~~

	~~<syntaxhighlight lang="bash" copy>~~
	~~pwd # where am I?~~
	~~mkdir -p notes/drafts # create nested directories~~
	~~cd notes/drafts~~
	~~touch todo.txt # create an empty file~~
	~~cp todo.txt todo.bak # copy~~
	~~mv todo.bak ../todo.md # move + rename in one step~~
	~~ls -la # inspect the results~~
	~~head -n 3 todo.txt # peek at the contents~~
	~~</syntaxhighlight>~~

	== Navigation & listing ==		== Navigation & listing ==

Rongzhou: /* Basic example: a small file workflow */

2026-08-23T12:12:11Z

Basic example: a small file workflow

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:12, 23 August 2026
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	New to the command line? Every command here has a built-in manual — try <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>man ls</syntaxhighlight> or [https://tldr.sh tldr] for short examples; [https://explainshell.com explainshell.com] annotates any command line.		New to the command line? Every command here has a built-in manual — try <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>man ls</syntaxhighlight> or [https://tldr.sh tldr] for short examples; [https://explainshell.com explainshell.com] annotates any command line.

	== Basic example~~: a small file workflow~~ ==		== Basic example ==

	<syntaxhighlight lang="bash~~" line highlight="2,3,5,6~~" copy>		<syntaxhighlight lang="bash" copy>
	pwd # where am I?		pwd # where am I?
	mkdir -p notes/drafts # create nested directories		mkdir -p notes/drafts # create nested directories

Rongzhou: /* Searching */

2026-08-23T12:10:37Z

Searching

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:10, 23 August 2026
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	find . -size +100M # larger than 100 MB		find . -size +100M # larger than 100 MB
	find . -name "*.log" -delete # delete matches		find . -name "*.log" -delete # delete matches
	find . -name "*.tmp" -exec rm {} \; # run a command on each match		find . -name "*.tmp" -exec <some-commands> {} \; # run a command on each match
	</syntaxhighlight>		</syntaxhighlight>

Rongzhou: /* Permissions & ownership */

2026-08-23T12:09:06Z

Permissions & ownership

@@ Line 184: / Line 184: @@
 | 4 || r--
 |}
 </blockquote>

Rongzhou: /* Permissions & ownership */

2026-08-23T12:01:31Z

Permissions & ownership

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:01, 23 August 2026
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	== Permissions & ownership ==		== Permissions & ownership ==

	'''chmod''' — change permissions~~. Two notations:~~		'''chmod''' — change file/folder permissions.

	* '''Numeric (octal):''' three digits for owner, group, others; each digit is the sum of its permission values (r=4, w=2, x=1), e.g. <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>755</syntaxhighlight> = rwx for owner, r-x for group and others.
	* '''Symbolic:''' pick who — <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>u</syntaxhighlight> (owner), <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>g</syntaxhighlight> (group), <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>o</syntaxhighlight> (others), <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>a</syntaxhighlight> (all) — then how — <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>+</syntaxhighlight> add, <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-</syntaxhighlight> remove, <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>=</syntaxhighlight> set exactly.

	<syntaxhighlight lang="bash" copy>		<syntaxhighlight lang="bash" copy>
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	file archive.tar # detect the file type		file archive.tar # detect the file type
	</syntaxhighlight>		</syntaxhighlight>

			<blockquote>
			On GNU Linux, there are two notations for file permissions.
			* Numeric: three digits representing permissions for owner\|owner's group\|others
			** Each digit is an arithmetic sum of all accorded permissions: <code>4</code>:read, <code>2</code>:write, <code>1</code>:execute
			* Symbolic: mostly used to add/remove a single permission.
			** <code>r</code>:read, <code>w</code>:write, <code>x</code>:execute
			** <code>u</code>=owner, <code>g</code>=owner's group, <code>o</code>=others, <code>a</code>=all
			** <code>+</code>add, <code>-</code> to remove, <code>=</code> to set permission to exactly the given value.

			Below are some common file permissions:

	{\| class="wikitable"		{\| class="wikitable"
	! ~~Digit~~ !! ~~Permissions~~		! Numeric !! Symbolic
	\|-		\|-
	\| 7 \|\| rwx		\| 7 \|\| rwx
Line 176:		Line 184:
	\| 4 \|\| r--		\| 4 \|\| r--
	\|}		\|}

	~~<blockquote>~~
	'''Reading <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>ls -l</syntaxhighlight>:''' the first column is 10 characters — one type (<syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>d</syntaxhighlight> directory, <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>-</syntaxhighlight> file, <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>l</syntaxhighlight> symlink) plus three triplets: owner, group, others. So <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>drwxr-xr-x</syntaxhighlight> is a directory, owner rwx, group r-x, others r-x.
	</blockquote>		</blockquote>

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:23, 24 August 2026
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	'''<syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>></syntaxhighlight> overwrites, <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>>></syntaxhighlight> appends''' — one character decides whether an existing file survives.		'''<syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>></syntaxhighlight> overwrites, <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>>></syntaxhighlight> appends''' — one character decides whether an existing file survives.
	</blockquote>		</blockquote>

			== File format conversion ==

			See [[Cheatsheets:Pandoc]]

	== Further reading ==		== Further reading ==