5 Linux Utilities That Will Make You Smile

Fun little gems to add to your repertoire

Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

Linux is not all fun and games, OK? This is serious business. System administration must never be humorous…just kidding.

When you have to dig through system logs, compile applications that only seem to spew errors, or recover a lost file you bet you’re going to need a little levity (maybe a lot) from time to time.

Why not build a little lightheartedness into your workflow? In this article, we’re going to take a look at some Linux programs that inject a bit of fun into everyday computing drudgery.

Let’s have a look.

1. The Fuck

When you forget the “h” in “echo”.

Have you ever typed a command wrong before? Missed out on hitting that one crucial character on the keyboard only to be left with the dreaded:

-bash: <insert_mistake_here>: command not found

Well, the aptly named thefuck utility won’t make all those troubles disappear completely, but it will let you correct them in a much more colorful way.

The next time you type a commonly used command wrong, simply type the following right after:

fuck

One of the built-in aliases will attempt to correct the mistake for you. If there isn’t a correction available you can also add your own custom aliases as well. Despite the vulgar name, this utility is really helpful and reduces the time you’ll spend re-typing commands.

You can get started by installing using the commands below, or check out the repository for more detailed build options:

# macOS
brew install thefuck
# Debian
sudo apt update
sudo apt install python3-dev python3-pip python3-setuptools
pip3 install thefuck --user

2. Pv

Echo “hello” but lets slow it down, yeah?