All Questions
489,619
questions
2407
votes
7
answers
3.0m
views
How do I make a POST request using curl?
How do I make a POST request using cURL's command-line tool?
Laurie Young
2146
votes
3
answers
249k
views
Why does Windows think that my wireless keyboard is a toaster?
I've inherited an old PC from my girlfriend's dad and when setting up the printer I got a bit of a surprise:
Two questions spring to mind here:
Why does Windows think my wireless keyboard is a ...
- 11.7k
1854
votes
14
answers
1.3m
views
How do I scroll in tmux?
How do I scroll with either the keyboard or mouse? The tmux man page indicates one must enter copy-mode to scroll. Is there a way to quickly scroll without manually entering copy-mode?
- 18.7k
1681
votes
10
answers
1.4m
views
How can I sort the output of 'ls' by last modified date?
How can I sort the output of ls by last modified date?
nearly_lunchtime
1573
votes
6
answers
163k
views
How do I make a machine "blank screen" for a period of time (as a penalty) if certain noise levels are reached?
My kids (4 and 5) yell a lot when playing games on the computer. I found an effective cure for this. When I hear loud noises, I ssh into the game computer and do:
chvt 3; sleep 15; chvt 7
This ...
- 8,433
1310
votes
19
answers
1.9m
views
Getting curl to output HTTP status code?
I'm using curl at the command line on Linux to issue HTTP requests. The response bodies are printed to standard out, which is fine, but I can't see from the man page how to get curl to print the ...
- 13.8k
1158
votes
13
answers
1.5m
views
Find out which process is locking a file or folder in Windows
How can I find out which process is locking a file or folder in Windows?
For instance, when trying to delete a folder, Windows reports this:
The action can't be completed because the folder is ...
- 20.7k
1057
votes
25
answers
1.3m
views
How to tell git which private key to use?
ssh has the -i option to tell which private key file to use when authenticating:
-i identity_fileSelects a file from which
the identity (private key) for RSA or DSA authentication is read.
The ...
- 12k
1045
votes
17
answers
1.0m
views
How to clear/flush the DNS cache in Google Chrome?
As you probably know Google Chrome has its own internal DNS cache. Is there a way to clear it without having to wait for the time out or close the browser?
- 10.6k
1002
votes
19
answers
516k
views
What are the Windows A: and B: drives used for?
In Windows you have a C-drive. Everything labeled beyond that is with the following letter.
So your second drive is D, your DVD is E and if you put in a USB stick it becomes F and the following ...
860
votes
3
answers
176k
views
Transatlantic ping faster than sending a pixel to the screen?
John Carmack tweeted,
I can send an IP packet to Europe faster than I can send a pixel to the screen. How f’d up is that?
And if this weren’t John Carmack, I’d file it under “the interwebs being ...
- 7,591
803
votes
31
answers
983k
views
Is there a built-in checksum utility on Windows 7?
Is there a built-in checksum/hash utility on Windows 7?
- 8,357
742
votes
12
answers
758k
views
What does 'source' do?
$ whatis source
source: nothing appropriate.
$ man source
No manual entry for source
$ source
bash: source: filename argument required
source: usage: source filename [arguments]
It exists, and it is ...
- 8,078
739
votes
10
answers
582k
views
How to recursively chmod all directories except files?
How to chmod 755 all directories but not files (recursively)?
Inversely, how to chmod only files (recursively) but no directories?
- 9,807
721
votes
8
answers
2.2m
views
How can I display the contents of an environment variable from the command prompt in Windows 7?
In Windows 7, when I start the Command prompt, is there any command to display the contents of an environment variable (such as the JAVA_HOME or PATH variables)?
I have tried with echo $PATH, echo ...
- 26.1k
718
votes
14
answers
284k
views
macOS keeps asking my ssh passphrase since I updated to Sierra
It used to remember the passphrase, but now it's asking it to me each time.
I've read that I need to regenerate the public key with this command, which I did:
ssh-keygen -y -f id_rsa > id_rsa.pub
...
- 7,301
698
votes
5
answers
100k
views
Why does this PNG image display differently in Chrome & Firefox than in Safari and IE?
Check this image out:
On Chrome and Firefox it will show as a pear. Now, try to save it and look at it saved on your desktop. Also, try viewing in Safari or Internet Explorer. It will display as ...
- 3,709
683
votes
18
answers
82k
views
How are pseudorandom and truly random numbers different and why does it matter?
I've never quite got this. Just say you write a small program in any language at all which rolls some dice (just using dice as an example). After 600,000 rolls, each number would have been rolled ...
644
votes
19
answers
381k
views
How to *disable* automatic reboots in Windows 10?
Windows 10 lets you 'schedule' a reboot for later. I want to disable it.
Evidently Windows scheduled itself for a reboot last night when I wasn't looking and just closed everything I had been working ...
- 11.7k
642
votes
12
answers
686k
views
View list of files in ZIP archive on Linux
How can I view the list of files in a ZIP archive without decompressing it?
- 6,963
631
votes
5
answers
830k
views
How can I get the same SSID for multiple access points?
I need to upgrade my existing wireless infrastructure and this time I want 2 access points to cover my house, since I get blind spots no matter what with a single AP. I have physical cabling to my ...
- 6,717
621
votes
41
answers
499k
views
How to execute a command whenever a file changes?
I want a quick and simple way to execute a command whenever a file changes. I want something very simple, something I will leave running on a terminal and close it whenever I'm finished working with ...
- 12.5k
617
votes
17
answers
660k
views
How to copy with cp to include hidden files and hidden directories and their contents?
How can I make cp -r copy absolutely all of the files and directories in a directory
Requirements:
Include hidden files and hidden directories.
Be one single command with an flag to include the ...
- 15.1k
605
votes
14
answers
516k
views
How do I convert a video to GIF using ffmpeg, with reasonable quality?
I'm converting a video to GIF file with ffmpeg:
ffmpeg \
-i input.flv \
-ss 00:00:00.000 \
-pix_fmt rgb24 \
-r 10 \
-s 320x240 \
-t 00:00:10.000 \
output.gif
It works great, but output ...
- 6,161
604
votes
10
answers
859k
views
How to stop an automatic redirect from “http://” to “https://” in Chrome
I had something set up wacky in our DNS setup which is now resolved.
The remaining problem is that chrome has cached the incorrect setup.
Specifically, when using Chrome http://example.com is now ...
- 6,149
600
votes
11
answers
238k
views
From a quality perspective, what is better: turning volume up in the software, in the OS, or on the speakers?
If music isn't loud enough, how do I get the best quality (even if the difference is in fact so small it's negligible)?
By making the music louder in my music player, game or other sound-producing ...
- 4,367
598
votes
24
answers
271k
views
How do I reorder tmux windows?
In screen, I can just type C-a :number 0 to move a window to the top of the window list and push all the other windows down one. What's the equivalent command sequence for tmux? I looked at the man ...
- 6,987
596
votes
8
answers
744k
views
Permissions on private key in .ssh folder?
I changed my permissions in my .ssh folder and now when I use a piece of software that uses my private key, I have to type my password each time. What should my permissions be on my id_rsa file to ...
Jody G
587
votes
5
answers
276k
views
How do you reload your .vimrc file without restarting vim?
Can you edit your .vimrc file and reload it without having to restart Vim?
- 5,981
566
votes
5
answers
1.3m
views
How to find a directory on linux?
I have a VPS with Suse Linux 10.3.
I've logged in via SSH/putty and am trying to find where my web files are located.
Since I'm uploading via FTP in a directory called httpdocs, I assume that this ...
- 13.4k
563
votes
13
answers
3.3m
views
Windows 7 SP1 Windows Update stuck checking for updates
I installed Windows 7 fresh and installed SP1. Now, when I try to check manually for Windows Updates it just hangs on the Checking for updates screen.
I tried running the tools in How do I reset ...
- 6,133
559
votes
9
answers
754k
views
Using ffmpeg to cut up video
I am using ffmpeg to cut out a section of a large file like this:
ffmpeg -i input.wmv -ss 60 -t 60 -acodec copy -vcodec copy output.wmv
The -ss part works fine but the -t is ignored. It correctly ...
- 5,719
554
votes
12
answers
551k
views
Automatically answer 'Yes' when using apt-get install
Is there a way to make apt-get install automatically choose "yes" upon the Do you want to continue [y/N]? confirmation dialog?
- 6,517
551
votes
6
answers
198k
views
Difference between .bashrc and .bash_profile
What's the difference between .bashrc and .bash_profile and which one should I use?
- 8,913
550
votes
17
answers
299k
views
When reading a file with `less` or `more`, how can I get the content in colors?
When I read a file in Linux with the command less or more, how can I get the content in colors?
- 7,969
544
votes
7
answers
705k
views
What is the "You have new mail" message in Linux/UNIX?
Sometimes, when I log into a box and 'su' to root, I get a cute little message saying I have mail (thank GOD it's not AOL).
Where is this mail?
What does it contain?
Who/What sent it?
How important ...
- 16.2k
544
votes
4
answers
200k
views
How to turn off word-wrap in less
Short version:
How can I make the less utility in Linux not wrap lines?
Long version:
Often I need to view huge CSV files using less with hundreds of columns. I frequently only care about the first ...
- 8,932
532
votes
3
answers
356k
views
"directory junction" vs "directory symbolic link"?
In the context of NTFS:
MKLINK [[/D] | [/H] | [/J]] Link Target
/D Creates a directory symbolic link. Default is a file symbolic link.
/H Creates a hard link instead of a symbolic link.
/J ...
- 26.2k
529
votes
16
answers
415k
views
Reload a Linux user's group assignments without logging out
When assigning a user's secondary group list using:
# usermod -G <grouplist> <user>
is it possible to force this group assignment to take effect without logging out all running sessions?
...
- 5,782
512
votes
12
answers
303k
views
Create/rename a file/folder that begins with a dot in Windows?
Many programs needs folder names that starts with a dot, like .emacs.d, .gimp-2.2, .jedit etc. How do I create such a folder?
When using the Windows Explorer in Windows 2000 (and other versions), I ...
Adventure10
510
votes
5
answers
645k
views
How do I run multiple commands on one line in PowerShell?
In a cmd prompt, you can run two commands on one line like so:
ipconfig /release & ipconfig /renew
When I run this command in PowerShell, I get:
Ampersand not allowed. The `&` operator is ...
- 8,894
507
votes
9
answers
56k
views
Did I just get hacked?
I am developing a consumer product, and it is supposed to be connected to the Internet, so as expected, it is connected to the Internet so that I can properly develop it.
I went away for an hour or ...
- 3,519
506
votes
7
answers
59k
views
How does a computer restart itself?
How can a computer restart itself? After it's off, how does it tell itself to come back on again? What kind of software is it that can do this?
- 4,159
502
votes
14
answers
452k
views
How do I make rm not give an error if a file doesn't exist?
I'm writing a makefile that will clean up some useless files at the end of the compilation. If a target has already been made, it will of course skip that target and the useless file may not be there....
- 8,102
500
votes
6
answers
1.2m
views
How to decompress a .bz2 file
I have a file as: filename.bz2 I need to decompress.
I have tried the command: tar xvjf filename.tar.bz2, but it didn't work as the file is not a tar file.
How do I decompress this file?
- 5,145
498
votes
17
answers
815k
views
Is there any 'sudo' command for Windows?
I always work on a non-administrator account on my Windows computer. Sometimes I need to install programs which requires administrator access. As I mostly use the Windows command prompt, is there a ...
- 10.5k
495
votes
9
answers
750k
views
Can I delete the folder C:\ProgramData\Package Cache\?
There is a new folder full of installers located at C:\ProgramData\Package Cache\. I believe this is from Visual Studio 2012 RC.
Can I delete these gigabytes of data without consequences? Are they ...
- 5,320
482
votes
20
answers
370k
views
How can I make Chrome stop caching redirects?
I am working on a web application that is using redirects (for pretty URLs).
I am trying to debug logic in the way the redirects are working. However Google Chrome keeps remembering the redirects and ...
- 8,244
482
votes
11
answers
260k
views
Can I make cURL fail with an exitCode different than 0 if the HTTP status code is not 200?
I was always assuming that when curl got an HTTP 500 response it was returning an exit code that meant failure (!= 0), but that seems to be not the case.
Is there a way I can I make cURL fail with an ...
- 5,085
477
votes
28
answers
409k
views
How to check if a binary is 32 or 64 bit on Windows?
Is there an easy way to check if a binary is 32 or 64 bit on Windows? I need to check before I move the program to a 32bit machine and experience a spectacular failure.
- 5,228