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.

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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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