Dave McKay

stdin, stdout, and stderr are three data streams created when you launch a Linux command. You can use them to tell if your scripts are being piped or redirected. We show you how.

You can use GUI windows, sliders, radio buttons, progress bars, and more in your Bash scripts. Learn how to use the zenity toolkit and give your Bash scripts a facelift. We’ll show you how.

Need to string some Linux commands together, but one of them doesn’t accept piped input? xargs can take the output from one command and send it to another command as parameters.

The Linux look command races through a file and lists all the lines that begin with a particular word or phrase. But watch out! It behaves differently on different Linux distributions. This tutorial will show you how to use i...

Instead of flying blind, use the Linux pv and progress commands to track a command’s progress. These utilities will give you progress bars for commands that don’t normally have any. You’ll see an estimated t...

Need to SSH to an unreachable Linux computer? Have it call you, then burrow down that connection to get your own remote SSH session. We show you how.

Want to remotely access a Linux machine and launch a graphical application? PuTTY to the rescue, thanks to the “enable X11 forwarding” option. You can even do this from Windows—all you need to do is quickly ...

What does the tty command do? It prints the name of the terminal you’re using. TTY stands for “teletypewriter.” What’s the story behind the name of the command? That takes a bit more explaining....

Want to see the text inside a binary or data file?  The Linux strings command pulls those bits of text—called “strings”—out for you.

Use Linux’s ar command to create function libraries when you’re developing software. This tutorial will show you how to create a static library, modify it, and use it in a program, complete with sample code....

Want to find out about the people logged on to your Linux computer? Well, don’t lift a finger; raise your pinky instead.

Find out exactly what devices are inside your Linux computer or connected to it. We’ll cover 12 commands for listing your connected devices.

Linux offers six different ways to search, and each has its merits. We’ll demonstrate how to use find, locate, which, whereis, whatis, and apropos. Each excels at different tasks; here’s how to choose the right to...

Find out if a command resolves to an alias, a disk file, a shell function, a built-in command, or a reserved word. Use type to discover how your Linux commands are executed and understand your system better....

If everything in Linux is a file, there has to be more to it than just files on your hard drive. This tutorial will show you how to use lsof to see all the other devices and processes that are being handled as files....

Shred old data files for the same reason you shred old paper documents. We tell you what you need to know about securely deleting Linux files. This tutorial covers the shred command and the secure-delete suite of utilities....

Your Linux or macOS computer is using virtual memory. Discover how it’s affecting your system’s use of physical memory, CPU, and hard disk resources.