https://nick-liu.com/tags/rust/ Recent content in Rust on Nick Liu - Software Engineer Hugo -- gohugo.io en nickboy@users.noreply.github.com (Nick Liu) nickboy@users.noreply.github.com (Nick Liu) 2026 Nick Liu Fri, 10 Jul 2026 20:05:23 -0700 https://nick-liu.com/posts/modern-cli-tools-replacing-unix-classics/ Sun, 01 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000 nickboy@users.noreply.github.com (Nick Liu) https://nick-liu.com/posts/modern-cli-tools-replacing-unix-classics/ <div class="lead text-neutral-500 dark:text-neutral-400 !mb-9 text-xl"> I've been gradually replacing classic Unix tools with modern alternatives, mostly written in <span class="flex cursor-pointer"> <span class="rounded-md border border-primary-400 px-1 py-[1px] text-xs font-normal text-primary-700 dark:border-primary-600 dark:text-primary-400"> Rust </span> </span> . After a year of daily use, these aren't experiments anymore. They're muscle memory. </div> <h2 class="relative group">The Replacements <div id="the-replacements" class="anchor"></div> <span class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100 select-none"> <a class="text-primary-300 dark:text-neutral-700 !no-underline" href="#the-replacements" aria-label="Anchor">#</a> </span> </h2> <table> <thead> <tr> <th>Classic</th> <th>Modern</th> <th>Why</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td><code>cat</code></td> <td><span class="flex cursor-pointer"> <span class="rounded-md border border-primary-400 px-1 py-[1px] text-xs font-normal text-primary-700 dark:border-primary-600 dark:text-primary-400"> bat </span> </span> </td> <td>Syntax highlighting, line numbers, git integration</td> </tr> <tr> <td><code>ls</code></td> <td><span class="flex cursor-pointer"> <span class="rounded-md border border-primary-400 px-1 py-[1px] text-xs font-normal text-primary-700 dark:border-primary-600 dark:text-primary-400"> eza </span> </span> </td> <td>Icons, git status, tree view, color-coded</td> </tr> <tr> <td><code>grep</code></td> <td><span class="flex cursor-pointer"> <span class="rounded-md border border-primary-400 px-1 py-[1px] text-xs font-normal text-primary-700 dark:border-primary-600 dark:text-primary-400"> ripgrep </span> </span> </td> <td>10x faster, respects <code>.gitignore</code>, smart case</td> </tr> <tr> <td><code>find</code></td> <td><span class="flex cursor-pointer"> <span class="rounded-md border border-primary-400 px-1 py-[1px] text-xs font-normal text-primary-700 dark:border-primary-600 dark:text-primary-400"> fd </span> </span> </td> <td>Simpler syntax, respects <code>.gitignore</code>, colored output</td> </tr> <tr> <td><code>cd</code></td> <td><span class="flex cursor-pointer"> <span class="rounded-md border border-primary-400 px-1 py-[1px] text-xs font-normal text-primary-700 dark:border-primary-600 dark:text-primary-400"> zoxide </span> </span> </td> <td>Learns your habits, fuzzy matching</td> </tr> <tr> <td><code>sed</code></td> <td><span class="flex cursor-pointer"> <span class="rounded-md border border-primary-400 px-1 py-[1px] text-xs font-normal text-primary-700 dark:border-primary-600 dark:text-primary-400"> sd </span> </span> </td> <td>Intuitive regex syntax, no escaping nightmare</td> </tr> <tr> <td><code>du</code></td> <td><span class="flex cursor-pointer"> <span class="rounded-md border border-primary-400 px-1 py-[1px] text-xs font-normal text-primary-700 dark:border-primary-600 dark:text-primary-400"> dust </span> </span> </td> <td>Visual directory size with a tree view</td> </tr> <tr> <td><code>df</code></td> <td><span class="flex cursor-pointer"> <span class="rounded-md border border-primary-400 px-1 py-[1px] text-xs font-normal text-primary-700 dark:border-primary-600 dark:text-primary-400"> duf </span> </span> </td> <td>Colorful, filterable disk usage</td> </tr> <tr> <td><code>top</code></td> <td><span class="flex cursor-pointer"> <span class="rounded-md border border-primary-400 px-1 py-[1px] text-xs font-normal text-primary-700 dark:border-primary-600 dark:text-primary-400"> btop </span> </span> </td> <td>Beautiful TUI with mouse support, per-core graphs</td> </tr> <tr> <td><code>ps</code></td> <td><span class="flex cursor-pointer"> <span class="rounded-md border border-primary-400 px-1 py-[1px] text-xs font-normal text-primary-700 dark:border-primary-600 dark:text-primary-400"> procs </span> </span> </td> <td>Colorized, searchable, tree view</td> </tr> <tr> <td><code>history</code></td> <td><span class="flex cursor-pointer"> <span class="rounded-md border border-primary-400 px-1 py-[1px] text-xs font-normal text-primary-700 dark:border-primary-600 dark:text-primary-400"> atuin </span> </span> </td> <td>Encrypted sync, full-text search, workspace filtering</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <h3 class="relative group">Setting Up Aliases <div id="setting-up-aliases" class="anchor"></div> <span class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100 select-none"> <a class="text-primary-300 dark:text-neutral-700 !no-underline" href="#setting-up-aliases" aria-label="Anchor">#</a> </span> </h3> <p>In my <code>.zshrc</code>, I alias the classics to their replacements so the transition is invisible:</p>