As a junior developer, I faced a common problem: my laptop was working slowly and I needed to free up system resources by terminating unnecessary processes.

However, I wasn’t sure how to identify which processes were running and which ones I could safely terminate in Ubuntu.

That’s when I started exploring some advanced commands that could help me identify and manage system processes more effectively.

Today, I will be sharing some commands that may be helpful in improving your knowledge and productivity.

The Linux operating system offers a vast array of powerful tools and commands that can be used to streamline workflows and enhance productivity.

While many developers may be familiar with common commands like ls, cd, and grep, there are many lesser-known commands that can provide valuable functionality for a variety of use cases.

Whether you’re struggling with system performance issues like I was, or simply looking to improve your productivity and efficiency, these commands will help you work more effectively on Linux systems.

Table of contents

1. tree - Learn directory structure
2. ncdu — NCurses Disk Usage
3. colordiff — The difference between two files
4. nohup — Run a script in the background
5. tac — Reverse of cat
6. units — Unit conversions
7. find — Searching files
8. locate — Quick searching files
9. xxd — Hex dumps of binary files
10. sed — Stream Editor
11. jq — Parse JSON data
12. awk — Data processing and extractions
13. strace — Diagnose program issues
14. scp — Secure copy

That’s it for today. If you have come across any other commands, that you find particularly useful, feel free to share them in the comments section.

For an in-depth exploration with examples, head over to our original blog post here.