List of Favorite Computer Programming Commands

Windows cmd

Install programs on drives other than C:\. Useful when hard drives fail and programs need to be reinstalled; the old references block new installation. Also useful when the main C:\ drive is small, and the program installer does not offer the option of choosing the install location.

start someProgramInstaller.exe /DIR="D:\Programs\Folder\On\Another\Drive\ProgramName"

Source: https://knowledgebase.jam-software.com/7573

VSCode

Working with Python in VSCode 🐍

Setting up a new project

1. Create a new virtual environment, if needed. py -m venv .venv
2. Change the interpreter path, if needed. CTRL + SHIFT + P
3. Install pip-tools in the virtual environment, if starting for the first time:
   • .venv/Scripts/activate
   • pip install pip-tools

Working on the project

1. Start the virtual environment. .venv/Scripts/activate
2. Compile the requirements using pip. pip-compile requirements.in
3. Sync the requirements. pip-sync requirements.txt

Shortcuts 🪜

• 🛸 Select entire line: CTRL+L
• 🛸🛸🛸 Select all occurences: CTRL+SHFT+L
• Collapse the whole file: CTRL + K + 0
• Expand the whole file: CTRL + J + 0
• "There is a problem in this file": CTRL + SHIFT + M
• Comment or Uncomment: CTRL + /
• Quickly move lines or blocks up: ALT + UP ARROW
• Quickly move lines or blocks down: ALT + DOWN ARROW
• Find settings.json on Windows 10: $HOME/AppData/Roaming/Code/User/settings.json

Modify the PowerShell Prompt String 💲

PowerShell is the default terminal at least in my installation of VSCode. My favorite terminal appearance is to show the current folder, in a bold green, followed by the greater than sign, >. To do this, add a prompt function to your PowerShell profile. Choose your own colors, besides green.

Assumption: Get-ExecutionPolicy -List returns RemoteSigned for the current scope.

C:\Users\MyUserName\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\profile.ps1

function prompt {
    $Host.ui.rawui.foregroundcolor = "Green"
    "$([char]27)[1m" + $(Get-Location).Path.Substring((Get-Location).Path.LastIndexOf("\")+1) + " > " 
}

Linux

Linux on Windows

1. Install Windows Subsystem for Linux to get a Linux shell for Windows.
2. Enter wsl into PowerShell (or your shell of choice) to get started.

🔍 Search current directory and subfolders for specific text

The search term font-size: 12px is just an example; replace this text with the search pattern.

grep -Rnw . -e 'font-size: 12px';

Source: rakib and CodeWizard on StackOverflow

Sort Disc Usage for all Folders ≥ 1 GB 🗄️

du -h --threshold=1G

Sort disc usage by file size ♻️

du -sh -- * | sort -h

Display octal file permissions 🔢

Such as 644 or 777.

stat -c "%a %n" *

Adding SSH key(s) 🔑

eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"

ssh-add /mnt/c/Users/Username/.ssh/private_openssh

Remote Sync ⏭

rsync: Sync folders and files between a remote server and a local server.

Examples:

• Sync from a remote server to a local server.
• Sync between 2 remote servers.
• WordPress usage: Sync uploads, themes, and plugins.

Source (Remote): [email protected]:/www/path/public/shared/web/app/uploads/

Destination (Local): /mnt/c/destination/uploads/ (also known as C:\destination\uploads)

Remote Sync Dry-run ⏭❓

rsync -av --dry-run -e 'ssh -i /local/path/to/public_id_rsa -p 22' [email protected]:/source/home/username/domains/example.com/shared/web/app/uploads /mnt/c/destination/uploads/

Remote Sync Regular Run ⏭❗

Remove the --dry-run flag.

rsync -av --progress --delete -e 'ssh -i /path/to/id_rsa -p 22' /mnt/c/source/themes/my-theme/ username@IP:/destination/home/username/domains/example.com/path/to/themes/my-theme/

Notes:

• Add the --dry-run flag to test the SSH connection from the shell and show which files will be transferred.
• The $HOME variable will not be the same locally and remotely.
• The trailing / in uploads/ performs an inner copy, targeting all the files and folders inside of uploads. If the trailing forward slash "/" were omitted, then a new folder would be created inside of the destination uploads folder: /mnt/c/source/uploads/uploads/
• Consider adding the --progress flag.
• Carefully consider adding the --delete flag to delete files from the destination, which are not present in the source. Use --delete with caution to avoid losing data!
  • I generally only use --delete to sync development uploads with production so that it exactly matches production.
  • Another common use for --delete is backing up plugin folders before testing new versions. And if the new plugin files need to be overwritten, the --delete flag removes any new files.
• Use the --exclude tag to exclude files or directories; useful for --exclude={'composer.json', 'composer.lock'} and/or --exclude '.git/'

Git

Push to a remote subtree.

git subtree push --prefix=path/to/subdir remote-name ref

For example: A static site generator uses a separate remote repository for its theme files.

1. The path/to/subdir theme is installed at themes/theme-name.
2. The remote-name was established with git remote add -f theme-name https://github.com/username/theme-name.git
3. The ref could be master, main, or whichever branch on the remote to be targeted.

Modify the Bash Prompt String

Make the Bash prompt string a bold green, followed by a dollar sign.

Edit the ~/.bashrc file using your editor of choice.

Add an export statement to .bashrc, defining:

• green-text,
• the most current folder in path,
• a couple of spaces, and
• the $ sign.

export PS1="\[\033[01;32m\]\W \\$ \[$(tput sgr0)\]"

WP-CLI

Command Line Interface for WordPress.

Create new .env file with salts

Install this WP-CLI extension: wp-cli-dotenv-command

Use the wp dotenv init command to create a new environment file with salts:

wp dotenv init --template=".env.example" --with-salts

Check which plugins need update

wp plugin update --all --dry-run