5 Linux Commands You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

You know ls, cd, and grep. But Linux has a treasure trove of hidden gems waiting to supercharge your terminal game.

5 Linux Commands You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

Hidden gems that make the terminal even more powerful.

If you’ve been using Linux for a while, you probably feel at home with ls, cd, grep, and sudo.

But the Linux terminal is a vast ocean—full of lesser-known tools that can save you time, boost your productivity, and make you feel like a true command-line wizard.

In this article, I’ll walk you through 5 underrated Linux commands that most users overlook.

These aren’t just trivia — they’re tools you’ll actually want to use.

1. tldr — Simplified Man Pages

Let’s be honest: man pages can be overwhelming. That’s where tldr comes in.

TLDR = Too Long; Didn’t Read

tldr provides community-curated, simplified explanations and examples for commands. It’s perfect when you just need a quick refresher.

tldr tar

Output:

tar 
 
> Archiving utility. 
> Often combined with a compression method, such as gzip or bzip2. 
 
- Create a tar archive from files: 
  tar cf target.tar file1 file2 file3

Install it using:

sudo apt install tldr 
 
# or 
 
npm install -g tldr

2. ncdu — Disk Usage, But Better

You’ve probably used du to check disk usage. But ncdu gives you an interactive, navigable UI right in the terminal.

ncdu /

You’ll get a clean, sortable list of directories and their sizes. Use arrow keys to navigate and see what’s hogging your space.

Install it:

sudo apt install ncdu

It’s especially handy on servers where you don’t have a GUI.

3. bat — A Better cat

If cat feels a bit too… minimal, try bat. It’s like cat on steroids, with:

Syntax highlighting

Git integration

Line numbers

Themes

bat script.py

It’ll show you a beautifully formatted version of your file — perfect for quickly viewing code.

Install it:

sudo apt install bat

Note: On some distros, the binary might be called batcat.

4. xargs — Build Commands from Output

xargs is one of those tools that quietly powers the magic behind many one-liners. It builds and executes commands using input from standard input (stdin).

Example: Delete all .log files found in a directory.

find . -name "*.log" | xargs rm

It’s smarter and more reliable than using backticks or subshells. You can also use -P to parallelize:

cat urls.txt | xargs -P 5 -n 1 curl -O

This downloads multiple files concurrently — great for speed.

5. ss — Modern Replacement for netstat

If you’re still using netstat, it's time to move on. ss (socket statistics) is its faster, more accurate successor.

Example: Show all listening ports:

ss -tuln

Want to find which process is using a port?

sudo ss -tulnp | grep 8080

It’s fast, detailed, and doesn’t require legacy dependencies.

Bonus: One-Liner to Install All

Here’s a neat trick to install all of the above at once (for Debian/Ubuntu):

sudo apt install tldr ncdu bat xargs iproute2

(ss comes with iproute2)

Final Thoughts

The terminal is a playground for those who love to explore. These 5 lesser-known commands may not be as famous as cd or ps, but they offer powerful capabilities that can seriously improve your Linux workflow.

If you’re a developer, sysadmin, or just a Linux geek — take 10 minutes today to try one of these out. You might just find your new favorite tool.

Which of these commands did you already know? Got another hidden gem to share? Drop it in the comments — I’m always hunting for cool new tools.

If you found this useful, don’t forget to clap, follow, and share it with your fellow terminal-loving friends.