Tag Archives: scripting

A Quick Introduction to sed(1)

Posted on July 29, 2017 by

The sed(1) stream editor is one of the most powerful tools from the classic Unix tool box. It is a close cousin to the ed(1) command line editor and a descendant of the ex(1) editor, the command line mode of … Continue reading →

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Checking Whether a Process Exists

Posted on December 31, 2016 by

On Linux/Unix systems, there’s occasionally the need to check whether a process is running. Some people use it for simple status checks or when building their own lifecycle scripts for startup and shutdown. I don’t think it’s a particularly good practice … Continue reading →

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Remote-Controlling a Sonos Device Using Python

Posted on February 23, 2014 by

I couple of months ago I bought a Sonos Play:1, a pretty cool wireless speaker that comes with free controller apps for major platforms (Android, Windows etc.). To give the speaker access to my music collection, I hooked up a … Continue reading →

Posted in linux | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Quick Tip #6: Triggering Actions on File Close

Posted on December 30, 2013 by

Sometimes it’s useful to trigger an action after a file is closed. Suppose you started a lengthy download on your notebook and you want to suspend it as soon as the download is done. There are several ways to achieve … Continue reading →

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Building a Web-Based Java API Search

Posted on July 7, 2013 by

From time to time I play with web technologies to keep up with recent developments. While I know my network protocols pretty well, I’m not a frontend developer so I’m pretty useless when it comes to JavaScript or CSS. I … Continue reading →

Posted in misc | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Bourne Shell Parameter Expansion

Posted on January 20, 2013 by

Classic Bourne Shell has a handy feature that many people don’t seem to know: Parameter Expansion. Stephen Bourne describes it in An Introduction to the UNIX Shell, which is part of the original Unix V7 manuals from 1978. Among other … Continue reading →

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Scripts That Just Don’t Work

Posted on July 22, 2012 by

Sometimes people ask for my help when their shell scripts don’t work. I’ve seen all kinds of problems, ranging from trivial to really, really weird. The one I’m describing in this article is definitely from the weird category, but I’ve … Continue reading →

Posted in shell | Tagged , , | 2 Comments