Linux is a treasure trove of powerful tools, many of which remain undiscovered by casual users. While staples like grep, awk, sed, and top dominate tutorials and guides, there’s a second layer of utilities—lesser-known yet immensely powerful—that can dramatically improve your daily efficiency and control over your system.
In this article, we dive into 10 underrated Linux tools that can help you streamline your workflow, improve productivity, and unlock new levels of system mastery. Whether you’re a developer, sysadmin, or Linux hobbyist, these tools deserve a place in your arsenal.
1. fd: Find Files Fast with Simplicity
The traditional find command is incredibly powerful but notoriously verbose and complex. Enter fd, a modern, user-friendly alternative.
Why It Stands Out
Cleaner syntax (
fd patterninstead offind . -name pattern)Recursive by default
Colorized output
Ignores
.gitignorefiles for cleaner results
Example
fd ".conf"
Finds all files containing .conf in the name, starting from the current directory.
Use Case
Quickly locate configuration files, scripts, or assets without navigating nested directories or crafting complex expressions.
2. bat: cat on Steroids
bat is a drop-in replacement for cat with superpowers. It adds syntax highlighting, Git integration, and line numbers to your file viewing experience.
Why It Stands Out
Syntax highlighting for dozens of languages
Git blame annotations
Works as a pager with automatic line wrapping
Example
bat /etc/ssh/sshd_config
You’ll get a beautifully highlighted and numbered output, much easier to parse than with cat.
Use Case
Perfect for reading scripts, configs, and logs with visual clarity—especially helpful during debugging or code reviews.
3. ripgrep: Blazing-Fast Text Search
Also known as rg, ripgrep is a command-line search tool that recursively searches your current directory for a regex pattern, similar to grep—but much faster and more intuitive.
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