Questions tagged [coreutils]
GNU Core Utilities (coreutils) is a set of basic Unix command-line utilities
48
questions
34
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3
answers
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Why is xargs necessary?
Suppose I want to remove all files in a directory except for one named "notes.txt". I would do this with the pipeline, ls | grep -v "notes.txt" | xargs rm. Why do I need xargs if the output of the ...
34
votes
1
answer
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Why does the `ls` command sort files like this?
As I was trying to reverse engineer the ls command, I came upon an interesting behavior. When I make 3 files, foo.png, foopa.png, and fooqa.png, ls sorts them as foopa.png, foo.png, and fooqa.png. I ...
31
votes
1
answer
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Why does ls wrap some filenames in single quotes?
I've noticed that when I do ls in a terminal, some filenames are wrapped in single quotes and some aren't.
I don't like the way this looks as I prefer my terminal outputs to be nice and uniform. ...
30
votes
2
answers
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What is /usr/bin/[ and how do I use it?
I was looking at coreutils and found this as one of the files included as part of coreutils: /usr/bin/[. What is [ and what does it do?
It is an executable. I just don't know what it does or how to ...
19
votes
4
answers
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Display filesystem's free space available to the root user
By default, Linux reserves some fraction of a filesystem for the root user, at least on ext4 (to prevent ordinary users from filling the drive completely and crashing the system, and to reduce ...
18
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3
answers
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more recent build of GNU coreutils for win32?
Is there a more recent build of unxutils.zip? (The unix command-line utilities for Windows) The canonical downloads are at http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/ but they date from 1999-2003; in particular ...
13
votes
2
answers
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Can a file system's logical structure (including symlink targets) be represented in a single lightweight file (non-binary)?
After playing with multiple SQL and NoSQL databases over the years I feel the best way for me to ensure portability in my personal apps that are data-centric is to avoid all bonafide databases ...
13
votes
1
answer
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How can I install a more modern version of GNU utils (coreutils) on Debian Linux with no admin rights?
I would like to install a more modern version of GNU utils (coreutils) on a debian linux system where I have no admin rights. Is there a way to do that?
The rationale is that I need a more modern ...
12
votes
3
answers
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How does `wc -l` work?
I have to read a large file and before I start reading it, I need to know the total number of lines in the file (which are in millions).
I have implemented a lot of solutions and have found one. But ...
12
votes
4
answers
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/usr/bin/realpath not found in Centos 6.5
I'm trying to type 'realpath' in CentOS 6.5.
But it seems not installed.
I checked it is contained in coreutils (archlinux).
I double check the coreutils package which provide by CentOS, it lack the /...
11
votes
1
answer
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`locate` wildcard strange behavior - why?
locate "*.png" returns all files ending with .png, as expected.
locate "test.*" doesn't return anything, but there are files named test in my system.
locate "*test" returns all files ending with ...
11
votes
1
answer
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Linux: ls -l prints only question marks:
I have a problem with listing of some directory with ls -l:
$ ls -l ./directory
-????????? ? ? ? ? ? file001.txt
-????????? ? ? ? ? ? file002.txt
and just ls works good:
$ ls ....
6
votes
4
answers
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Where is the information retreived by "uname" stored?
Uname utility in *nix retrieves wonderful meta information about the machine. Where is this information stored?
5
votes
2
answers
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How can I have ls follow the content of a directory like tail -f does on a file
I want to basically continuously update the file list of a directory similar to how tail does with the -f flag on a file.
is there any reasonable way to do this?
4
votes
3
answers
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How to compare two files and output lines which do not appear in the first?
If I have a file A containing a list of fields:
2017-04-23
2017-04-30
2017-05-07
2017-05-14
2017-05-21
2017-05-28
2017-06-04
2017-06-11
2017-06-18
2017-06-25
And another file B containing a list of ...
4
votes
1
answer
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Device names in MSYS2 dd
Which is the equivalent of:
dd if=/dev/sda ...
dd if=/dev/sda1 ...
for dd.exe in MSYS2 in coreutils
Does Chrysocome syntax apply?
4
votes
1
answer
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In what order does GNU env print environment variables?
When invoked without arguments, the env and printenv commands from the GNU Coreutils print the value of every environment variable. What determines the order in which these variables are printed? It'...
4
votes
2
answers
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find: missing argument to `-exec' when using + form of find
I want to execute a command on the paths found with the find command and I want to use + to reduce the number of times the external command is launched.
Critically, the command has a fixed value ...
4
votes
0
answers
898
views
Is the shred utility effective when run in WSL2 for securely deleting files in windows NTFS partitions?
I want to securely delete a file in a Windows NTFS partition from WSL2
The file can be accessed in WSL from /mnt/c/path_to_file
will using shred /mnt/c/path_to_file actually perform a secure erase ...
3
votes
1
answer
324
views
What does GNU tar "--restrict" option actually restrict?
The manual of GNU tar only states that --restrict:
--restrict
disable use of some potentially harmful options
Can anyone elaborate on what are these "harmful" options? I could not find ...
3
votes
1
answer
439
views
Obtain chunk size in split --filter commands?
I'd like to compress a partclone backup on the fly using zstd. Instead of writing one large zstd Frame, the archive should be split into small chunks that allow semi-random access. The latter requires ...
2
votes
1
answer
260
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Linux: how to move a large file tree, deleting files during the copy (not after)
I'd like to encrypt a disk in-place, from clear to ecryptfs (not boot disk, just disk with lots of data files).
I've created the following structure:
/mnt/
clear/ # the source files
cipher/ #...
2
votes
1
answer
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Displaying unicode emoji in filenames on Ubuntu
I'd like to use emoji in filenames and access them on the command line, but I can't seem to get it to work with ls. Weird thing is, if I pipe into just about any other program, the emoji are correctly ...
2
votes
1
answer
93
views
How can I safely remove timeout from a script?
I started a script with
timeout --signal 2 --kill-after 10 14400
and now decided that it should rather run as long as it must,
so I need to remove that timeout from the running script.
top -p $(...
2
votes
1
answer
97
views
Prompt a user and wait for response
In GNUwin32 or UnxUtils, is there a way to prompt a user to "Press enter to continue" and wait for the enter key, such as the unix 'read' command. I used to have an old command 'ask' that would do ...
1
vote
1
answer
934
views
How to split a file in specific size and pass that to the named pipe
I have a file of size 2GB and want to read that in chunks and pass each chunk to named pipe.
Eg;
mkfifo /tmp/pipe
tail -c 200 myfile > /tmp/pipe & #last 200 bytes of file in the pipe.
use the /...
1
vote
1
answer
191
views
Recursively searching for specific text inside specific files but only in specific folders
I have a nested folder structure containing lots of folders and files.
How do I search inside files for a pattern eg "sampletext", but only if the filename matches a pattern (eg only search inside ...
1
vote
1
answer
202
views
A command to sort stdin in ASCII order
Sometimes, GNU sort does not behave as expected. Here's an example:
> bind | sort
(This assumes you're using fish. In bash, the equivalent is bind -p.) All of the non-alpha characters in the ...
1
vote
1
answer
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Using 'cut' command on Windows
I am trying to run this command line on Windows (I've installed GNU coreutils 8.24)
echo android:versionCode="3267" | cut -d \" -f 2
Expected output:
3267
However, I am getting error:
cut: the ...
1
vote
1
answer
163
views
How to make sort consider blanks (GNU coreutils)
How can I make sort consider blanks?
Original file:
n c
n b
n a
What I get with
sort file
is this:
n a
n b
n c
So how can I come to this order:
n b
n c
n a
Version: sort (GNU ...
1
vote
1
answer
384
views
Cygwin inside Windows container, coreutils do not work in volumes
I set up Cygwin inside a Windows Docker container and some common operations just fail when executed in Docker volumes.
Examples:
$ mkdir foo bar
$ mv foo bar
mv: cannot move 'bar' to a subdirectory ...
1
vote
0
answers
72
views
cp files from directories but abandon directory structure [closed]
As an example, I have this directory structure:
src
|- a
\- 1
|- b
\- 2
|- c
\- 3
I want to copy 1, 2, 3 to something like this:
dest
|- 1
|- 2
|- 3
My idea is to write a bash script that ...
1
vote
2
answers
862
views
GNU/Linux Date Command Ordinal Suffix
The PHP date function offers the ability to add an ordinal suffix for the day of the month, such as 'st', 'nd', 'rd', etc. Is it possible to achieve the same thing with the date command in Linux?
1
vote
0
answers
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ls command not working in the home directory
The ls command works fine for me in all other directories except my home directory, where I get the following error:
* Exit with code 1, no result found, command line was:?? locate -b -i [\^g]*g[\^a]*...
1
vote
1
answer
168
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Alternative to ls to group extensions before sorting
I'm looking for some way to modify/replace ls with a command that is capable of:
Grouping directories first (as ls does)
grouping files by user-defined extension groups (e.g., all image-type
...
1
vote
1
answer
581
views
using coreutils split file into pieces to different directories?
How can I use GNU's coreutils split command to split a large file into pieces of L number of lines each, but putting each of the different subfiles into different directories at the same time they are ...
0
votes
1
answer
72
views
Why does "head -3" give the same results as "head -n 3"?
I'm interested in why head works as it works with given parameters, i.e. head -3 produces the same output as head -n 3?
0
votes
2
answers
446
views
How to sort a list of numbers and null values in ascending order, with null values at the end?
I have a list of numbers and null values. How can I sort them in a way such that the null values come to the end of the list using sort in GNU coreutils?
Sample Input (input.data)
0.9000
23
1
2
5
-...
0
votes
2
answers
3k
views
ls *.pdf complains: ls: invalid option -- '_'
I'm used to using 'ls' as I would in Linux Mint, e.g. 'ls *.pdf', but in this Debian variant 'ls .pdf' complains. I find myself using a length 'find -maxdepth 1 -type f -name ".pdf" -print' instead.
...
0
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Unable to get ls to recognise LS_OPTIONS or LS_COLORS?
Trying to get --color=auto as the default ls argument.
$ ls --version
ls (GNU coreutils) 8.21
…
$ echo $LS_COLORS
no=00:fi=00:di=00;34:ln=01;36:pi=40;33:so=01;35:do=01;35:bd=40;33;01:cd=40;33;01:or=...
0
votes
3
answers
2k
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df -h showing wrong output in GB
If I list df output for KB, MB and GB, they do not match e.g.
$ df -k |grep xvdb
/dev/xvdb1 12796048 732812 11413172 7% /xxx
$ df -m |grep xvdb
/dev/xvdb1 12497 ...
0
votes
1
answer
74
views
df hide ifree etc (GNU)
(analogous to https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/263437/df-hide-ifree-iused-512-blocks-customize-column-format-dont-show-inode-info for BSD)
How can I hide the columns beginning with i (iused, ...
0
votes
2
answers
540
views
GNU sort file names with prefix and one or two digit
I would like to use GNU sort to have the file names from a find command sorted by the numbers in the name. The name of the file is "cycle" then the first number to sort by, then ".subset", then the ...
0
votes
1
answer
558
views
gnu coreutils split verbose flushed?
When using the GNU coreutils split command with verbose mode, how can I make the lines that appear in the STDOUT be flushed with respect to the time when the file has finally been created?
Fore ...
0
votes
2
answers
688
views
GNU `find` error: "find: failed to read file names from file system at or below ‘/’ : No such file or directory"
OS: macOS Big Sur 11.6
I'm trying to find all files on my system that match a pattern so I can delete extraneous files after removing an application. For this purpose the application is RStudio.
I'm ...
0
votes
1
answer
177
views
`openssl digest | head -c 10` gives strange results
I'm using salted hashes of some memorable words as login/pass for anonymous accounts and just now I've noticed that sometimes I get no result for my method and then I've discovered that it was not ...
0
votes
1
answer
938
views
Trying to install coreutils via MacPorts: "Error: Port coreutils not found"
I'm trying to use MacPorts to install coreutils.
I check that MacPorts was installed correctly,
$ port version
Version: 2.3.4
and try to install coreutils,
$ sudo port install coreutils
Error: ...
-3
votes
1
answer
867
views
linux ls show seconds for recent files only
linux coreutils ls command shows when using with "-l" option timestamps including hours and minutes for recent files and shows year instead for files older than six months and newer than now. I would ...