Chapter 13. Using the command line productively
We’ve spent the past three lunches talking about the command line, focusing on the commands themselves. In this chapter, we’re going to talk about ways to be effective and productive when you’re using the terminal. This chapter will cover two alternative terminal interfaces: customizing your terminal and techniques to help you recall and reuse commands without having to retype them each time.
This chapter is about creating a command-line environment that makes you comfortable and gives you the information you need. As you saw in the previous chapters, the command line, at its core, is a way to save time. Rather than working through a GUI, you’re in essence talking directly to your system. It makes sense that in an environment where you’re trying to work efficiently, you’d want tools to help you be even more efficient. This chapter is about those tools. Let’s start with the most basic of tools—the terminal interface.