Extended bash tab completion

Just install the package "bash-completion" in archlinux und you will get extended tab completion for the following programs: http://wklej.org/id/808581

*edit: Make sure  "/etc/bash.bashrc" is up-to-date otherwise it may not work.

Even tab completion for rsync and scp remote files structures works now.

Bash prompt shortener

Add this to your ~/.bashrc

# Bash shortener
_PS1 ()
{
    local PRE= NAME="$1" LENGTH="$2";
    [[ "$NAME" != "${NAME#$HOME/}" || -z "${NAME#$HOME}" ]] &&
        PRE+='~' NAME="${NAME#$HOME}" LENGTH=$[LENGTH-1];
    ((${#NAME}>$LENGTH)) && NAME="/...${NAME:$[${#NAME}-LENGTH+4]}";
    echo "$PRE$NAME"
}

PS1=' \[\e[0m\]\u\[\e[0;32m\]@\[\e[0m\]\h \[\e[0;32m\]$(_PS1 "$PWD" 30) \[\e[0m\]$ '

It will shorten the path in your bash prompt to 30 chars.

Start applications with the default app from console

Its as simple as. Add this to your ~/.bashrc

alias open='nohup xdg-open >/dev/null 2>&1'

 Now you can start, for example a textfile, like this "open textfile.txt". Because of nohop in the alias you can even close the console session and the text editor stays open.

Sync bash history between sessions on the fly

If you work with more then one bash terminal at a time, it can be annoying that the bash history is only available in the other session after you closed the terminal (default bash behavior).

You can fix it by adding this to your .bashrc

shopt -s histappend
export PROMPT_COMMAND="history -n; history -a"

More about it here: http://briancarper.net/blog/248/

*EDIT:
I found it confusing that the history is always synced, even in the current session. This can be confusing while working, so i changed the above a bit:

HISTSIZE=10000
HISTCONTROL=ignoreboth:ignoredups:erasedups
shopt -s cmdhist
shopt -s cdspell
shopt -s histappend
#PROMPT_COMMAND="history -n; history -a"
PROMPT_COMMAND="history -a"

Beside the obvious changes  there are some more variables changes . "HISTCONTROL=ignoreboth:ignoredups:erasedups" to prevents bash to add dups. So your .bash_history keeps clean. Beside that i have added some more fun stuff. "cdspell" fixes typos while changing directories (yeah) and HISTSIZE increases the history size to 10000 lines. 


Removing "history -n;" has the effect, that the history is still up to date when you open a new terminal but existing terminals will not get the changes immediately. You have to execute "history -n" manually if you need the changes in the current terminal.

Resetting screen resolution with xrandr

If a game or an other application messed up you resolution you can easiely reset it by executing:

$ xrandr -s 0

how to extract archives the simple way

Its easy as this.

*edit: Or you can use "atool". A script that covers the same functionality as the code below but supports even more complex operations. http://www.nongnu.org/atool/

Add this code to your .bashrc:

extract () {

   if [ -f $1 ] ; then

       case $1 in

           *.tar.bz2)   tar xvjf $1    ;;

           *.tar.gz)    tar xvzf $1    ;;

           *.bz2)       bunzip2 $1     ;;

           *.rar)       unrar x $1     ;;

           *.gz)        gunzip $1      ;;

           *.tar)       tar xvf $1     ;;

           *.tbz2)      tar xvjf $1    ;;

           *.tgz)       tar xvzf $1    ;;

           *.zip)       unzip $1       ;;

           *.Z)         uncompress $1  ;;

           *.7z)        7z x $1        ;;

           *)           echo "don't know how to extract '$1'..." ;;

       esac

   else

       echo "'$1' is not a valid file!"

   fi

 }

From now on you can extract the listes archives simply by calling "extract archive".

Spped up your linux system with cgroup

Here is a way described how to speed up your linux system.

I used the ubuntu way even on archlinux and it works.

http://www.webupd8.org/2010/11/alternative-to-200-lines-kernel-patch.html

Remove files recursively

Simple as this:

find mydir/ -iname "*.tmp" -exec rm {} \;

Rename file with special char in filename

Sometimes you cannot rename a file cause the filename contains a special char that cannot be recognized. In this case you can rename a file by its inode.

Its as simple as this:

ls -il (to get the inode)
find . -type f -inum "inode num goes here" -exec mv {} newfilename \; (find file by inode and rename it)

Advanced bash history completion

To extend the bash completion add this:

"\e[A":history-search-backward
"\e[B":history-search-forward

to /etc/inputrc or your ~/.inputrc

bind -f .inputrc

updates your config without logout/login.

If you type "man" and now press up or down on your keyboard only history entry's starting with "man" will be shown. Very useful.

bye