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File Management & Terminal

This category covers file managers, terminal emulators, archiving tools, and modern CLI utilities.

Archiving & Compression

bzip2

bzip2 uses the Burrows-Wheeler algorithm for compression.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.bzip2 ];

Verified Usage

# Compress file with bzip2
bzip2 file.txt          # Creates file.txt.bz2

# Decompress file with bunzip2
bunzip2 file.txt.bz2    # Restores file.txt

# Decompress to stdout
bzcat file.txt.bz2

# View compressed file with pager
bzless file.txt.bz2
bzmore file.txt.bz2

# Search in compressed file
bzgrep "pattern" file.txt.bz2

gzip

gzip is a popular data compression program.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.gzip ];

Verified Usage

# Compress file with gzip
gzip file.txt       # Creates file.txt.gz

# Decompress file with gunzip
gunzip file.txt.gz  # Restores file.txt

# Decompress to stdout
zcat file.txt.gz

# View compressed file with pager
zless file.txt.gz
zmore file.txt.gz

# Search in compressed file
zgrep "pattern" file.txt.gz

p7zip

p7zip is a port of 7-Zip to Unix-like systems.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.p7zip ];

Verified Usage

# Create 7z archive
7z a archive.7z file1 file2 directory/

# Extract 7z archive
7z x archive.7z -o output_directory

# List contents of archive
7z l archive.7z

# Add files to existing archive
7z u archive.7z newfile.txt

# Test archive integrity
7z t archive.7z

tar

tar creates and extracts archive files.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.gnutar ];

Verified Usage

# Create tar archive
tar -cf archive.tar file1 file2 directory/

# Extract tar archive
tar -xf archive.tar

# List contents of archive
tar -tf archive.tar

# Append files to existing archive
tar -rf archive.tar newfile.txt

# Update files in archive
tar -uf archive.tar updated_file.txt

XZ Utils

XZ Utils provides high compression ratio using LZMA2 algorithm.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.xz ];

Verified Usage

# Compress file with xz
xz file.txt         # Creates file.txt.xz

# Decompress file with unxz
unxz file.txt.xz    # Restores file.txt

# Decompress to stdout
xzcat file.txt.xz

# View compressed file with pager
xzless file.txt.xz
xzmore file.txt.xz

# Search in compressed file
xzgrep "pattern" file.txt.xz

Zip

Zip is a file compression and archive utility.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [ zip unzip ];

Verified Usage

# Create zip archive
zip archive.zip file1.txt file2.txt

# List contents of zip file
unzip -l archive.zip

# Extract all files
unzip archive.zip

# View file information in zip
zipinfo archive.zip

# Search for pattern in zip files
zipgrep "pattern" archive.zip

Terminal Multiplexers

Screen

Screen is a terminal multiplexer.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.screen ];

Verified Usage

# Start a new named session
screen -S mysession

# Start a daemon session in detached mode
screen -dmS mysession

# List existing sessions
screen -ls

# Reattach to a detached session
screen -r mysession

# Kill a session
screen -S mysession -X quit

File Inspection

file

file determines file type by examining content.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.file ];

Verified Usage

# Determine file type
file filename.txt              # Basic file type detection
file document.pdf              # Identify PDF files
file image.jpg                 # Identify image files

# Detailed information
file -i filename.txt           # Show MIME type
file -b filename.txt           # Brief output (no filename)
file -L symlink                # Follow symlinks

Text Processing

bat

bat is a cat clone with syntax highlighting and Git integration.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.bat ];

Verified Usage

# Display file with syntax highlighting
bat file.txt

# Print only plain text (no color)
bat --plain file.txt

# Show line numbers explicitly
bat -n file.txt

gawk

gawk is the GNU implementation of Awk programming language.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.gawk ];

Verified Usage

# Use custom field separator
awk -F: '{print NR ": " $1}' /etc/passwd

# Print lines matching pattern
awk '/pattern/ {print}' file.txt

# Sum numbers in first column
awk '{sum += $1} END {print "Sum:", sum}' numbers.txt

sd

sd is an intuitive find-and-replace CLI tool.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.sd ];

Verified Usage

# Replace text in files
sd "old" "new" *.txt

sed

sed is the GNU implementation of stream editor.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.gnused ];

Verified Usage

# Print specific line numbers
sed -n '1,10p' file.txt

# Replace all occurrences with case insensitive
sed 's/old/new/gi' file.txt

# Delete specific line numbers
sed '1,5d' file.txt

# Insert text before line
sed '2i\New line inserted' file.txt

# Append text after line
sed '2a\Appended line' file.txt

# Replace entire line
sed '3c\Completely replaced line' file.txt

Search & Filtering

eza

eza is a modern replacement for ls.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.eza ];

Verified Usage

# List files in current directory
eza

# Long format including hidden files
eza -la

# List files only
eza -f

# List directories only
eza -D

fd

fd is a simple, fast alternative to find.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.fd ];

Verified Usage

# Find files in current directory
fd

# Find files containing a pattern
fd pattern

# Execute a command for each match
fd pattern -x rm

fzf

fzf is a command-line fuzzy finder.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.fzf ];

Verified Usage

# Print matches for the initial query and exit
find . -type f | fzf -f "pattern"

ripgrep

ripgrep is a fast line-oriented search tool.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.ripgrep ];

Verified Usage

# Search for pattern in files
rg "pattern" /path/to/directory

# Case-insensitive search
rg -i "pattern"

# Search for a literal string (no regex)
rg -F "literal string"

# Show only matching filenames
rg -l "pattern"

# Show files that do NOT contain the pattern
rg -l "pattern" --files-without-match

# Show 1 lines of context before and after matches
rg -C 1 "pattern"

The Silver Searcher

The Silver Searcher (ag) is a fast text search tool.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.silver-searcher ];

Verified Usage

# Search in current directory
ag "pattern"

# Limit to specific file types
ag --cc "main"

tree

tree displays directory structures in a tree format.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.tree ];

Verified Usage

# Show tree to depth 2
tree -L 2

# Show hidden files
tree -a

Security & Backup

age

age is a simple, modern encryption tool.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.age ];

Verified Usage

# Generate a key pair
age-keygen -o key.txt

# Encrypt and decrypt
age -r age1example... -o secrets.txt.age secrets.txt
age -d -i key.txt -o secrets.txt secrets.txt.age

crunch

crunch generates wordlists by pattern.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.crunch ];

Verified Usage

# Generate passwords from length 4 to 6
crunch 4 6 abc123 -o wordlist.txt

# Generate a fixed-length pattern list
crunch 8 8 -t @@@@%%%% -o pattern.txt

GnuPG

GnuPG provides OpenPGP encryption and signing.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.gnupg ];

Verified Usage

# Quick generate without passphrase protection
gpg --batch --passphrase-fd 0 --quick-generate-key "Test User <test@example.com>" rsa2048 sign never <<< ""

# List public keys
gpg --list-keys

# Export public key
gpg --export --armor test@example.com > public_key.asc

# Export private key (be careful!)
gpg --export-secret-keys --armor test@example.com > private_key.asc

# Sign with specific key
gpg --sign --local-user test@example.com file.txt

# Verify and extract the original file
gpg --verify file.txt.gpg
gpg --output file.txt file.txt.gpg

# Encrypt with passphrase from command line
gpg --symmetric --passphrase "mysecretpassword" --output encrypted.txt --batch file.txt

# Decrypt with passphrase from command line
gpg --decrypt --passphrase "mysecretpassword" --batch encrypted.txt > decrypted.txt

John the Ripper

John the Ripper is a password security auditing tool.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.john ];

Verified Usage

# Create test dictionary file
echo "password" > wordlist.txt
echo "123456" >> wordlist.txt
echo "admin" >> wordlist.txt
echo "welcome" >> wordlist.txt
echo "qwerty" >> wordlist.txt
echo "abc123" >> wordlist.txt
echo "password123" >> wordlist.txt

# Create a MD5 hash for testing
echo "482c811da5d5b4bc6d497ffa98491e38" > md5_hash.txt # Genuine MD5 hash of "password123"

# Basic password cracking with wordlist
john --wordlist=wordlist.txt --format=raw-md5 md5_hash.txt

restic

restic is a fast, secure backup program.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.restic ];

Verified Usage

# Initialize a repository
restic -r /tmp/restic-repo init

# Run a backup
restic -r /tmp/restic-repo backup ~/Documents

# List snapshots
restic -r /tmp/restic-repo snapshots

wipe

wipe securely erases files and directories.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.wipe ];

Verified Usage

# Force wipe with zero-out pass (single pass of zeros)
wipe -f -z filename.txt

# Force wipe with specific number of passes
wipe -f -p 8 filename.txt