A data-oriented shell
Working with Pipeline Data
Once you have data in a Nushell pipeline (whether from an internal command, open
, or even an external command's output that you parse), you use a rich set of commands to manipulate it:
http get https://api.example.com/users | from json | where join_date > 2022-01-01 | get name
Overall, working with structured data in Nushell means you can treat your shell like a lightweight data processing engine. This is a huge productivity boost when dealing with JSON APIs, logfiles, CSV exports, and other types of data, during administration or development tasks.
Using Nushell for Sys Admin Tasks
Nushell's capabilities aren't limited to parsing data; they extend naturally to many system administration use cases. Because you can seamlessly integrate system commands with Nushell's structured pipeline, tasks that involve gathering system info, monitoring resources, or automating system changes become simpler and more robust.
Monitoring Processes and Resources
As shown earlier, ps
gives a live view of processes. A sys admin can easily build one-liners to find problematic processes. For example,
ps | where mem > 10mb | sort-by mem
filters the process list to anything using over 10MB of memory and sorts the result by memory usage (Figure 6).

Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
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.