You probably use less all the time, but do you use all its power? Jerry Peek shows you how to get the most out of less in the second part of his look at the less utility.

Developer Mark Nudelman has been working on less since version less-1, released in 1985. This month, let's cover the Linux version less-394 (yes, it's the 394th version), but you can also get less for other operating systems, including Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows — which makes it a great cross-platform choice for exploring files and viewing data from pipes.

Learn how to use diff3 to compare and merge files.

If a standard Linux utility doesn't do quite what you want, adapt it.

Cygwin utilities let you do what Windows programs don’t.

Here's the start of a series on little-known topics that wizards should know. Knowledge of the Harry Potter series not required.

More on GNU diffutils. A look into sdiff, which shows file comparisons side-by-side and lets you merge two files interactively.

Your favorite Linux shell — bash, zsh, ksh, and more — is probably part of the Cygwin package.

Linux gurus who also use Microsoft Windows can have Linux-like command-line tools to make life easier and less confusing.

Take a look at a few of the powerful new features that make vim Vi IMproved: a visual text-selection mode, moving the cursor to places without text (yet), incrementing and decrementing numbers, storing editing commands in registers, handling binary files and different end-of-line styles, line breaking, and screen scrolling.

>Here’s the first in a series about how vim (“ vi improved”) is improved.

Learn how to tune and extend SpamAssassin to catch more spam.

Here’s the first in a series about how vim (“ vi improved”) is improved.

Showing someone zsh for the first time can be a fun experience because it's a shell with many tricks. Usually, all it takes is a short demonstration of zsh's tab-completion powers to captivate your audience. Being able to type gcc -[TAB] to see a list of its command line options is something that most users could never imagine, but zsh is full of surprises when it comes to making interactive shells as functional as possible.

One especially impressive feature of zsh is its context-sensitive completion system. With zsh, you can use the tab key to complete file names, command flags, shell variable names, and even scripting language syntax.

This article shows you how to configure and compile PHP for maximum performance.

More about a sophisticated package of tools for creating and editing high-quality images.

The last of a three-part series on tools for creating and editing high-quality images.

Want to you stay in touch with family and friends? Two Linux applications can help you keep the lines of communication open.

ImageMagick is a package of tools for creating and editing images that’s not easy to get started with, but is well worth the effort. Here’s an introduction, just in time for processing those summer photos.

Learn how to install and configure the Alternative PHP Cache

When it’s just too hard to automate text conversion, try adding some human judgement using editing macros.

ImageMagick is a package of tools for creating and editing images that’s not easy to get started with, but is well worth the effort. Here’s an introduction, just in time for processing those summer photos.

Here’s the last in a series about new features of perennial utilities. This time: date, wc, du, and more.

Template Toolkit is great for dynamic sites, but it can also make the task of keeping a static site up-to-date. Perl Guru Randal Schwartz sings TT's virtues while building a site for budding karaoke stars.

What’s new with tar since it was written eons ago? A lot. Here’s the sixth of a series about new features of old utilities.

In the old days, disk space cost a pretty penny, so saving space was essential. But now that disk space costs about $0.50 per gigabyte, a lot of folks never worry about deleting files, let alone compressing them. However, if you're administering a large, shared server (such as for email), it seems that you can never have too much space.

Discover how to use bashpodder as a podcatching client.

What’s new with tar since it was written eons ago? A lot. Here’s the sixth of a series about new features of old utilities.

HTML Tidy cleans and pretty prints your HTML.

For decades, sort has been extended over and over again to make it more and more useful. Here’s the fifth in an ongoing series about new features in familiar utilities.

Learn how to manage your iPod with gtkpod and Linux.

For decades, sort has been extended over and over again to make it more and more useful. Here’s the fifth in an ongoing series about new features in familiar utilities.

The Friendly Interactive Shell, or fish, is" friendly" because it’s easier to use, not because it’s" dumbed down."

What’s better than Firefox? Firefox with extensions!

Who’s in your family tree? GRAMPS, a great piece of Linux software — and a model web site — can help you discover who you are.

Utility programs like cp have new features you may not have seen. Here’s the third in a series about some of the handiest.

Utility programs like grep have new features that you may not have seen. Here’s the second of a series of articles about some of the handiest.

vshnu is a “visual shell” that runs in a terminal window, combining navigation shortcuts with a standard shell and the power of Perl.

bash, tcsh, zsh, and their kin are all subspecies of the same beast. In search of something novel, let’s look at the first of a number of different breeds: Zoidberg.