Five Terminal Tips I Use Every Day

Small habits that compound over time:

1. Jump back to the previous directory

cd /var/log
cd ~/projects
cd -    # back to /var/log

2. Reuse arguments from the previous command

mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
cd !!:1

3. Search shell history incrementally with Ctrl+R.

4. Fix a long command with fc — it opens the last command in your editor.

5. Watch a file instead of re-running a command

watch -n 2 'df -h /'

None of these are fancy, but together they save real time every day.