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scripting (23)

defaults — macOS Preferences From the Command Line

Read, write, search, and delete macOS preference plists with the `defaults` CLI: data types, domains, current-host scope, the killall dance, finding undocumented keys via plist diffing, and a curated bootstrap recipe.
macos customization prefs web-researched

launchctl — Managing launchd Agents and Daemons

Bootstrap, bootout, kickstart, print, and enable/disable services with launchctl on macOS: agents vs daemons, plist anatomy, user/system domains, RunAtLoad vs KeepAlive vs StartInterval vs StartCalendarInterval, and recipes for periodic scripts and on-demand workers.
macos sysadmin services web-researched

macOS CLI — Command Line Reference

Comprehensive macOS terminal reference covering file management, processes, networking, Homebrew, defaults, diskutil, launchctl, pbcopy/pbpaste, open, say, and power-user recipes.
macos osx terminal shell cli bash zsh brew homebrew system web-researched

osascript — Run AppleScript and JXA From the Shell

Drive macOS GUI apps, system events, dialogs, notifications, and Finder from the terminal using AppleScript or JavaScript for Automation (JXA).
osascript applescript jxa macos automation scripting gui web-researched

pbcopy & pbpaste — macOS Clipboard CLI

Pipe data into and out of the macOS pasteboard from the shell — multi-pasteboard targets, newline handling, shell aliases, and real-world copy-paste recipes.
pbcopy pbpaste macos cli clipboard pipes scripting web-researched

sips — Scriptable Image Processing

macOS built-in image processor covering format conversion, resizing, cropping, rotation, color profiles, metadata inspection, and batch processing recipes.
sips macos osx images convert resize batch heic jpeg png web-researched

PowerShell Essentials

Variables, operators, pipelines, Where-Object, ForEach-Object, Select-Object, sorting, grouping, remoting, jobs, CIM, registry, JSON, error handling, and common cmdlets.
powershell windows scripting cli web-researched

PowerShell Built-in Variables — Automatic & Preference Variables

Complete reference for every automatic and preference variable built into PowerShell — $_, $Error, $MyInvocation, $PSCmdlet, $Host, $PSVersionTable, $ExecutionContext, and all preference variables that tune runtime behaviour.
powershell variables reference scripting web-researched

PowerShell Error Handling — try/catch, ErrorAction, and Strict Mode

Master terminating vs non-terminating errors, $ErrorActionPreference, try/catch/finally, throw vs Write-Error, transcripts, and strict mode.
powershell scripting errors debugging web-researched

PowerShell Modules — Packages, Profiles, and the Gallery

Install, discover, update, and author PowerShell modules: PowerShellGet, PSResourceGet, the Gallery, $PSModulePath, $PROFILE customisation, PSReadLine, SecretManagement, and the must-have module shortlist.
powershell modules ecosystem web-researched

PowerShell Pipelines — Objects, Not Text

Deep dive on PowerShell's object pipeline: Where-Object, Select-Object, ForEach-Object, Sort-Object, Group-Object, Measure-Object, Compare-Object, Out-GridView, parallel execution, and the two filter forms.
powershell scripting pipelines web-researched

PowerShell Remoting — Running Commands on Other Machines

Execute PowerShell against one or many remote hosts using WinRM or SSH transport, persistent sessions, credential management, and JEA.
powershell networking remoting sysadmin scripting web-researched

PowerShell Scripting — Functions, Parameters, and Control Flow

Author production-grade PowerShell: advanced functions with [CmdletBinding()], parameter validation, pipeline-bound parameters, splatting, switch parameters, .ps1 vs .psm1, and all the control-flow constructs.
powershell scripting web-researched

REXX Snippets

Practical REXX patterns for z/OS automation, TSO commands, and ISPF services.
rexx zos mainframe scripting web-researched

awk / gawk — Text Processing

Pattern-action language for structured text. Field splitting, built-in variables, arithmetic, string functions, arrays, BEGIN/END blocks, and practical data-processing recipes.
awk gawk text-processing cli scripting data web-researched

Bash — Shell Scripting Reference

Comprehensive Bash scripting reference covering variables, parameter expansion, control flow, functions, arrays, string manipulation, arithmetic, traps, process substitution, and the Bash 5.3 in-shell command substitution forms.
bash shell scripting cli web-researched

curl — HTTP Client

Transfer data with URLs. Covers HTTP methods, headers, authentication, forms, TLS, cookies, proxies, timeouts, parallel downloads, and a comprehensive recipe collection.
curl http api networking cli rest download web-researched

FFmpeg — Multimedia Processing

Comprehensive FFmpeg reference covering transcoding, container conversion, scaling, filters, audio, subtitles, streaming, batch processing, and ffplay — with NVIDIA NVENC/NVDEC/CUDA alternatives, Vulkan compute codecs, VVC/H.266 decoding, and the FFmpeg 8.0 Whisper filter.
ffmpeg video audio transcoding nvenc nvdec cuda vulkan hevc h264 av1 vvc h266 hls rtmp ffplay gpu whisper cli web-researched

fish — Friendly Interactive Shell

Comprehensive fish shell reference covering syntax, variables, functions, abbreviations, completions, config files, path management, prompt customization, Fisher plugins, fish 4.x features (Rust rewrite), and migration from bash/zsh.
fish shell terminal cli scripting zsh bash prompt functions config web-researched

ImageMagick — Image Manipulation

Comprehensive ImageMagick 7 reference covering magick, identify, mogrify, composite, montage, format conversion, resize, crop, rotate, color adjustments, effects, drawing, text, PDF operations, policy.xml hardening, and batch processing.
imagemagick magick convert mogrify images batch resize crop cli graphics pdf web-researched

jq — JSON Processor

Slice, filter, map, and transform JSON data from the command line. Covers all essential filters, built-in functions, select, map, reduce, streaming, jq 1.7/1.8 additions, and real-world API response processing.
jq json data cli api scripting web-researched

SoX — Swiss Army Knife of Audio

Comprehensive SoX reference covering file info, format conversion, synthesis, playback, recording, combining, effects (trim, reverb, compand, rate, pitch, tempo, noise gate), batch processing, spectrograms, and piping.
sox audio wav mp3 flac conversion effects synthesis recording cli sound batch web-researched

Bash Redirection & Pipes

stdin, stdout, stderr redirection operators and pipeline patterns in bash.
bash shell redirection pipes file-descriptors heredoc process-substitution tee fifo