10 Useful Linux Commands You’ve Probably Overlooked

10 Useful Linux Commands You’ve Probably Overlooked

The Linux command line is full of small but mighty tools that often go unnoticed. While most users stick with common utilities like ls, grep, or top, there are lesser-known commands that can help you debug, automate, monitor, and streamline your workflow more effectively.

Here’s a curated list of powerful yet underutilized Linux commands—with examples to help you get started.

1. strace – Watch What a Program is Doing Behind the Scenes

strace allows you to observe all the system calls a program makes. Great for debugging, performance tuning, or understanding program behavior.

# For Debian-based distributions like Ubuntu
sudo apt-get install strace

# For RPM-based distributions like CentOS
sudo yum install strace

strace ls
strace -e openat curl https://google.com

Common Uses:

• Trace why a program isn’t working.
• See which config files or libraries are accessed.
• Monitor file permissions or missing dependencies.

2. disown – Keep Jobs Running After Closing the Terminal

Run a command in the background and prevent it from being terminated when you log out(SSH).

some_command & disown

Detach all background jobs:

disown -a && exit

Also try:

jobs       # List running jobs
disown %1  # Disown job number 1

Use nohup as an alternative to avoid disconnection:

nohup long_script.sh &

3. Terminal Clock Using tput, sleep, and date

Display a live clock in the top-right corner of your terminal:

while sleep 1; do tput sc; tput cup 0 $(($(tput cols)-29)); date; tput rc; done &

Adjust 29 to fit your terminal size. This command won’t interfere with your normal shell usage.

4. ASCII Clock with watch + figlet

Make your terminal fun and functional by turning it into a digital clock.

watch -t -n 1 "date +%T | figlet"

Install figlet if needed:

sudo apt install figlet        # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo dnf install figlet        # RHEL/Fedora

5. host & dig – DNS Lookup Utilities

Use these to troubleshoot DNS issues or gather domain info.

host

host google.com
host 8.8.8.8

dig

dig google.com
dig +short github.com

Why use them:

• Discover IPs and DNS records.
• Diagnose slow domain resolution.
• Perform reverse lookups.

6. dstat – Real-Time System Monitoring

An excellent all-in-one replacement for vmstat, iostat, and netstat.

sudo apt install dstat
dstat -cdngy

Use Cases:

• Monitor CPU, disk, and network activity.
• Check system behavior under load.
• Find performance bottlenecks quickly.

7. bind -p – Show Bash Key Bindings

Want to know what happens when you press Ctrl + something in Bash?

bind -p

Useful for:

• Customizing key behavior.
• Discovering hidden keyboard shortcuts.
• Creating more efficient terminal workflows.

Example:

"\C-l": clear-screen
"\C-a": beginning-of-line

8. touch /forcefsck – Trigger Filesystem Check at Reboot

Create this file to ensure a full file system check runs during the next boot.

sudo touch /forcefsck

Why do it?

• Detect and fix disk errors.
• Schedule preventive maintenance.
• Useful after improper shutdowns.

9. ncdu – Interactive Disk Usage Analyzer

A better, visual version of du.

sudo apt install ncdu
ncdu /

Features:

• Interactive file browser for disk usage.
• Easily find large files.
• Delete files directly from the interface.

10. shred – Secure File Deletion

Don’t just rm sensitive files—shred them:

shred -u confidential.txt

Why?

• Prevents file recovery by overwriting contents.
• Ideal for security-conscious environments.

More options:

shred -n 5 -z -u file.txt

• -n 5: Overwrite 5 times.
• -z: Final pass with zeros.
• -u: Delete after shredding.

Tips:

• Try bat instead of cat for syntax-highlighted file viewing.
• Use fzf for fuzzy search through history or files.
• Combine watch, grep, and curl for auto-updating logs.

Wrapping Up

These Linux commands may not be famous, but they are powerful, time-saving, and worth learning. Add them to your toolbox, and you’ll find yourself working more efficiently and solving problems faster.

Have a favorite hidden gem of your own? Let us know!

Thanks for reading!

—

Guneycan Sanli

Guneycan Sanli

A person who like learning, music, travelling and sports.

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