25 Advanced Bash Commands Every Linux User Should Know

Oliver Bennet
6 min readNov 8, 2024

For Linux users aiming to maximize productivity, mastering advanced Bash commands is essential. These commands provide powerful ways to search, manipulate, and automate tasks, unlocking a world of efficiency for both system administration and development workflows. Here’s a deep dive into 25 of the most advanced Bash commands, essential for any serious Linux user.

1. grep - Advanced Text Searching

  • Usage: grep -r "pattern" /directory
  • Explanation: grep searches for text patterns within files and directories. With the -r (recursive) option, it looks through subdirectories as well. It supports regex patterns, allowing for complex search capabilities.
  • Example: grep -r "error" /var/log/ searches all logs for "error."
Output of grep command

2. awk - Text Processing and Data Extraction

  • Usage: awk '{print $1, $3}' file.txt
  • Explanation: awk is a powerful tool for text manipulation, allowing you to filter and reformat data. You can use it to extract columns and apply conditions on text files.
Oliver Bennet
Oliver Bennet

Written by Oliver Bennet

20 Years of Open-Source Experience. Currently I Write about DevOps, Programming and Linux Technologies.

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