The moreutils collection
Charly's Column – moreutils
This month, sys admin columnist Charly dumps the moreutils toolbox on his workbench and takes combine and vidir for a spin.
In the March 2013 issue, I wrote about ifdata, which gives you information about networks in a way that is great for scripting. I had taken the tool from the moreutils package at the time; this toolbox comes with almost every flavor of Linux, and, if not, you can download it [1]. Further investigation of the package reveals even more laser-sharp tools. For instance, combine is really practical for comparing stuff. You need to pass in the names of two text files and a logical operator: and, not, or, or xor (exclusive or).
As an example, I created two text files with IP addresses and networks. Some of the addresses and networks are included in both files, while others are not. Now I let combine compare the files, first with the and operator:
combine iplist-a.text and iplist-b.text
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Linux Mint 22.2 Beta Available for Testing
Some interesting new additions and improvements are coming to Linux Mint. Check out the Linux Mint 22.2 Beta to give it a test run.
-
Debian 13.0 Officially Released
After two years of development, the latest iteration of Debian is now available with plenty of under-the-hood improvements.
-
Upcoming Changes for MXLinux
MXLinux 25 has plenty in store to please all types of users.
-
A New Linux AI Assistant in Town
Newelle, a Linux AI assistant, works with different LLMs and includes document parsing and profiles.
-
Linux Kernel 6.16 Released with Minor Fixes
The latest Linux kernel doesn't really include any big-ticket features, just a lot of lines of code.
-
EU Sovereign Tech Fund Gains Traction
OpenForum Europe recently released a report regarding a sovereign tech fund with backing from several significant entities.
-
FreeBSD Promises a Full Desktop Installer
FreeBSD has lacked an option to include a full desktop environment during installation.
-
Linux Hits an Important Milestone
If you pay attention to the news in the Linux-sphere, you've probably heard that the open source operating system recently crashed through a ceiling no one thought possible.
-
Plasma Bigscreen Returns
A developer discovered that the Plasma Bigscreen feature had been sitting untouched, so he decided to do something about it.
-
CachyOS Now Lets Users Choose Their Shell
Imagine getting the opportunity to select which shell you want during the installation of your favorite Linux distribution. That's now a thing.