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Development
Utilities
Productivity
What are the best shell powertools?
14
Options
Considered
111
User
Recs.
Nov 6, 2023
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Updated
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13
Options
Considered
Best shell powertools
Price
License
Supported platforms
73
Tmux
-
ISC license
-
61
fzf
-
-
-
--
ripgrep
-
MIT/Unlicense
Windows, MacOS, Linux
53
The Silver Searcher (Ag)
-
-
-
--
Byobu
-
GPLv3
-
See Full List
73
Tmux
My Rec
ommendation
for
Tmux
My Recommendation for
Tmux
All
10
Pros
8
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Preserve the state
As long as you don't close your session, you may even lose your SSH connection, it'll keep your state just as it was. So you can resume where you left off (via tmux attach).
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Top
Con
•••
Bad scrolling support
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Specs
License:
ISC license
Top
Pro
•••
It just feels natural for a developer when dealing with a terminal
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Top
Pro
•••
Frequently updated
Tmux is in a state of constant development. Updates are frequent and bug reports usually get an answer within days.
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Top
Pro
•••
Easily split panes
There is a keyboard shortcut that makes it easy to split a window and create more panes.
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Top
Pro
•••
Mouse support
Mouse support can optionally be enabled, allowing e.g. scrolling with the mouse wheel, or switching panes with mouse clicks.
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Top
Pro
•••
No need for mouse
Being rodent free keeps you in the flow of what your doing.
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Top
Pro
•••
Windows linked to sessions
tmux calls the individual shell instances windows. They are displayed like tabs in the status line. These windows can be shared between different sessions, so that any given shell instance can be in any number of tmux sessions used for different purposes or by different users. This allows configurations like the following example: User A: wAB, wA1, wA2; User B: wB1, wAB, wB2.
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Top
Pro
•••
Maximize screen space
As a tiling window manager, it'll make use of all the space. As you have multiple workspaces and you can resize, etc. you can adjust to see what matters most.
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Get it
here
Recommend
31
61
fzf
My Rec
ommendation
for
fzf
My Recommendation for
fzf
All
1
Pros
1
Top
Pro
•••
Many improvements for bash
Has many useful bash improvements like fuzzy CD, fuzzy insert path to file, etc.
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Hide
Get it
here
Recommend
19
--
ripgrep
My Rec
ommendation
for
ripgrep
My Recommendation for
ripgrep
All
8
Pros
7
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Fast
ripgrep has performance similar to raw grep but provides similar level of usability as The Silver Searcher or ACK.
See More
Specs
License:
MIT/Unlicense
Supported platforms:
Windows, MacOS, Linux
Written in:
Rust
Threaded:
Yes
See All Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Speedy even with Unicode (UTF-8) searches
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Top
Pro
•••
Supports VCS ignore files
ripgrep can speed up by ignoring files matched by pattern in ".rgignore" (deprecated), ".ignore" (since rg-v0.2.0), and VCS ignore files (e.g., currently only ".gitignore").
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Top
Pro
•••
Fastest search available
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Top
Pro
•••
Lock-free parallel recursive directory search
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Top
Pro
•••
ripgrep lets you only search certain types of files via file type whitelist
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Top
Pro
•••
Cross-platform
ripgrep has first class support on Windows, Mac and Linux, with binary downloads available for every release.
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Hide
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Get it
here
Recommend
11
53
The Silver Searcher (Ag)
My Rec
ommendation
for
The Silver Searcher (Ag)
My Recommendation for
The Silver Searcher (Ag)
All
11
Pros
6
Cons
5
Top
Pro
•••
Ultrafast searching speed
The Silver Searcher is extremely fast when compared to grep.
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Top
Con
•••
You have to remember commonly used options and add them as flags everytime
You are not able to define options in a config file as there is none. (You have to use a shell alias or wrapper script to get your default options.)
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Top
Pro
•••
Really fast
It is written in C. It is up to 10 times faster than ack.
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Top
Con
•••
Cannot add custom file types
All file types ag is able to search for are baked into the executable. There is no way to add new ones neither via command line nor via (the not existing) config file. The only way is a pull request on github and waiting for a new release.
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Top
Pro
•••
Simple syntax
Ack-compatible.
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Top
Con
•••
Suppress printing of long lines by default
By default lines longer than 2k characters aren't printed. This may be confusing for unaware users.
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Top
Pro
•••
Ignores files in .gitignore by default
It ignores file patterns from your .gitignore, .hgignore and .ignore. This can be a bit buggy though.
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Top
Con
•••
Directory search is limited to specific depth
Default value is 25 directories, to search down recursively. It may be confusing.
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Top
Pro
•••
No need to manage another config file or learn a new config syntax
Everything is managed with command line args, meaning you can store commonly used options through .bashrc aliases, bash scripts, and/or autocompletion. There is no config file format to learn or extra dotfiles to manage.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Only built-in types
Only supports file types (file extensions) which are baked into the program. It does this silently, producing unexpected results if the user isn't aware. Moreover, man page for Ag does not tell this explicitly in the description (you need to look into options). Adding one requires a pull request on GitHub.
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Top
Pro
•••
Supports PCRE RegExp
Supports RegEx like look-ahead/behind (only fixed length lookbehind however).
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here
Recommend
13
1
--
Byobu
My Rec
ommendation
for
Byobu
My Recommendation for
Byobu
All
5
Pros
4
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Abstracts tmux and screen with a single user interface
See More
Specs
License:
GPLv3
Top
Pro
•••
Easy to get started
All of byobu's functionality is conveniently mapped to F1 to F12. It has a help menu to see keybindings and offers window tabs in an easy to interpret format. All this makes it easy to get started (can get in the way of power users, though).
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Top
Pro
•••
apt-get or yum install byobu
If neither tmux nor screen are already installed, installs tmux. Both screen and tmux can be installled at same time. Switch between either easily.
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Top
Pro
•••
Abstracts tmux and screen with a single user interface.
See More
Hide
See All
Get it
here
Recommend
5
--
Autojump
My Rec
ommendation
for
Autojump
My Recommendation for
Autojump
All
1
Experiences
1
EmbiggenedAlLat's Experience
Not as good as vim.
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Hide
Get it
here
Recommend
5
1
--
Emacs
My Rec
ommendation
for
Emacs
My Recommendation for
Emacs
All
15
Experiences
1
Pros
7
Cons
6
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Run shell inside text editor and having output as a simple text is what gives real power of terminal user experience
You can search, copy and edit output of the console programs. Shell-mode, terminal-mode or eshell-mode, are some terminal modes.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Stallman Sux
RMS is an insufferable hipster zealot.
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EmbiggenedAlLat's Experience
Vim is better.
See More
Specs
License:
GPL-3.0-or-later
Platforms:
Unix-like, macOS, Windows, Cygwin
Multi Language Support:
Yes
Auto Complete:
Yes
See All Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Extremely customizable
Emacs is really an interpreter for its specialized Lisp dialect, Emacs Lisp. As such, it is very possible to manipulate the very fabric of the way things work in Emacs to your liking. The possibilities of what you can do with Emacs as compared to other software tools in general is quite staggering.
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Top
Con
•••
A lot of jokes in this serious software
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Top
Pro
•••
Vi keybindings through Evil mode
Evil mode emulates vim behaviors within Emacs. It enables Vi users to move inside the Emacs universe.
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Top
Con
•••
Chorded keyboard combinations can be baffling
For example, for navigation it uses the b, n, p, l keys. Which for some people may seem strange. But don't worry, you can change it.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Self documenting
Emacs has extensive help support built-in as well as a tutorial accessed with C-h t.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Hard customization
For customization, you need to learn Lisp.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
It's also an IDE
You can debug, compile, manage files, integrate with version control systems, etc. All through the various plugins that can be installed.
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Top
Con
•••
Sometimes the extensibility can distract you from your actual work
If you ever want to lose half a day, start by tweaking your .spacemacs config file.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Keyboard-focused, mouse-free editing
Emacs can be controlled entirely with the keyboard. While true, you may find the mouse and menus handy for those lesser-used commands. An aide-memoir.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Vim better
Vim is a better option.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Its age has led to many tools and an active community
Even though Emacs was created in the '70s, it is still in fairly wide use today and has a very broad range of tools and packages that are readily available for download and usage. The community is, even now, quite active and continues to create new tools that make the Emacs environment even more versatile and capable of just about anything.
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Recommend
5
2
--
cmus
My Rec
ommendation
for
cmus
My Recommendation for
cmus
Hide
Free
Recommend
3
1
--
fasd
My Rec
ommendation
for
fasd
My Recommendation for
fasd
All
2
Pros
2
Top
Pro
•••
Great substitute for tools like autojump, z and v
fasd consists of all functions of autojump, z and v.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
the name 'fasd' serves as a mnemonic for its recommended aliases / arguments
'f' for files 'a' for 'any' (files or directories) 's' for 'search / select / show' 'd' for directories. (i find that helpful)
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Hide
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here
Recommend
3
--
z - jump around
My Rec
ommendation
for
z - jump around
My Recommendation for
z - jump around
All
3
Experiences
1
Pros
2
Top
Pro
•••
Zero configuration
See More
Evgeny Oskin's Experience
It's the best tool to speed up the routine of opening the working directory in a terminal.
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Top
Pro
•••
Fast
See More
Hide
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Get it
here
Recommend
3
--
zoxide (smarter cd command)
My Rec
ommendation
for
zoxide (smarter cd command)
My Recommendation for
zoxide (smarter cd command)
Hide
0
Recommend
2
--
Mutt
My Rec
ommendation
for
Mutt
My Recommendation for
Mutt
All
11
Pros
10
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Active development
Even though it was first released in 1995, Mutt still enjoys an active community following it and having new releases constantly.
See More
Specs
License:
GPLv2+
Platforms:
Windows, macOS, Linux
Technology:
C
Search:
Yes
Top
Pro
•••
Small and efficient
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Good filtering
Allows to filter (called "limit") mailbox by various patterns using regular expressions. Filtering also can be used to mass-tag mails and apply certain operations on them, like deleting or saving.
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Top
Pro
•••
Supports many mailbox formats
Supports maildir and mbox, but also others like MH and MMDF.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Customizable
Colors and keybindings can be fully customized.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
MIME support
Has support for integration of PGP, GnuPG and S/MIME.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Threaded conversations
View can be switched to threaded mode to display replies under initial mail. Allows common operations on threads, like delete, mark as read, tag, collapse/expand or delete.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Runs from command line
Can be run remotely.
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Top
Pro
•••
Fast
Quick startup which allows it to be run only when needed.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Lightweight
Uses less resources than graphical mail clients.
See More
Hide
See All
Get it
here
Recommend
1
3
--
nq
My Rec
ommendation
for
nq
My Recommendation for
nq
Hide
Get it
here
Recommend
1
Don't see your favorite option? Add it.
--
newsbeuter
My Rec
ommendation
for
newsbeuter
My Recommendation for
newsbeuter
Get it
here
Recommend
1
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