My .bashrc file

export TERM="xterm-color" # xterm terminal emulation (with color -- be sure to put at top of file on Ubuntu)
export PYTHONSTARTUP="$HOME/.pythonrc.py" # python startup file
set -o vi # sets vi command-line editing mode
bind -m vi-command -r 'v' # so that every time you hit v in command mode, an editor doesn't launch
ulimit -c unlimited # dump core files, no matter how big they are
export EDITOR="vi" #use vi as the default editor for some commands, like "fc"

alias screen='TERM=screen screen' # workaround for screen backspace bug

alias d="date '+%r -- %A, %D'" # human-readable date output

alias ll="ls -lh" # long listing (with human-readable file sizes)
alias lr="ls -ltrh" # list by reverse modification time
alias la="ls -Ah" # list hidden files (except implied . and ..)

alias <name>="cd <important>" # get to important directories fast
alias <name>="ssh <login>@<important>" # log into oft-used remote machines fast

# prevent myself from doing stupid things with vi
function vi {
if [ ! -e "$1" ]; then
if [ "$1" == "" ]; then
vim
else
vim "$1"
fi
elif [ -d "$1" ]; then
cd "$1"
elif [[ -c "$1" || -b "$1" || -p "$1" || -S "$1" || ! -r "$1" ]]; then
file "$1"
else
vim "$1"
fi
}

The following I only enable on Solaris systems:
export PAGER="less" #uses less to view manpages instead of more

Links:

• HOWTO: Customizing bash prompts
  

Common Bash Tasks

I don't use Bash for much scripting. Usually, if I have to open up a file to write a script, it will be done in Python. However, the less I have to do that for mundane tasks that can be accomplished on the command line with Bash, the better. This entry may not have much in it now, but every time I do something cool/useful/time-saving in Bash from now on, it'll go on here.

Common Tasks

• Rename *.foo files to *.bar files: for i in *.foo; do mv $i ${i%.foo}.bar; done (BashFAQ)
• Rename foo.* files to bar.* files: for i in foo.*; do mv $i bar.${i#foo.}; done (also check out the perl regex-based rename Linux utility)
  
• Do something to multiple arguments: for i in arg1 arg2 arg3; do echo $i; done
  
• Print 0 through 9 on separate lines: for i in {0..9}; do echo $i; done
• Flatten output onto one line: <Multi-line output> | xargs (10 habits)
  

Links

• GNU Bash Reference Manual
• Bash Manpage
• BashFaq Bash FAQs and answers
• Bash Pitfalls common mistakes
  
• Advanced Bash Scripting Guide Everything you would want to know about Bash scripting
• Bash Guide for Beginners A beginner's guide to Bash, some shell examples
• 10 Good UNIX Habits Advanced tips on the command line