{"id":778857,"date":"2026-05-07T04:51:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T04:51:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/778857\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T04:51:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T04:51:30","slug":"i-tried-these-5-command-line-tools-on-my-samsung-phone-heres-the-ones-that-are-worth-using","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/778857\/","title":{"rendered":"I tried these 5 command line tools on my Samsung phone\u2014here’s the ones that are worth using"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the day I ditched my old LG phone, I’ve been a regular user of Samsung phones. This year, I made the switch to Linux Mint as a daily driver on my PC, and that gave me the idea to try running a few of my favorite Linux apps on my Galaxy Z Fold.<\/p>\n

So I launched a hobby project to experiment with the command line, some of my favorite command line tools (you can call them Linux apps if you like, but that’s not really accurate), and make a few weird projects from my Android device instead of my computer.<\/p>\n

Choosing the right apps and using the terminal are critical<\/p>\n

\"Some<\/p>\n

Installing Linux apps on an Android phone<\/a> is pretty natural, fun, and easy. Right out of the gate, I installed Termux via the Google Play Store. It would serve as my terminal for this project. I’m relatively new to the home lab\/Android experimentation scene and made it my mission to learn more about how these things work and run a few experiments with Termux on my phone.<\/p>\n

I took on this project for four reasons:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n It seemed like a good way to implement some of the things I’ve learned Linux-wise recently.\n <\/li>\n
  2. \n The apps offer useful features for work and hobby stuff I might do on my phone.\n <\/li>\n
  3. \n Because using a CLI on Android is fun and efficient.\n <\/li>\n
  4. \n I want to learn and develop my skills with the tech I’m interested in.\n <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    My criteria for choosing apps were also pretty simple: I wanted some productivity apps that would help me create, study, manage files, and learn. Then, it was just a matter of selecting my apps and installing them via the command line. I chose six that make the most sense for the kind of work and hobby projects I like to do.<\/p>\n

    Midnight Commander (MC)<\/p>\n

    A text-based app for managing files<\/p>\n

    \"Midnight<\/p>\n

    Midnight Commander is a dual-pane file manager that makes managing files from the terminal easier. Install it with this command:<\/p>\n

    pkg install mc<\/strong> Midnight Commander, aside from having a killer name, makes navigating folders easier with its dual-pane system. I have some old articles from TTRPG days I needed to organize, so I used them to test the program.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. \n I used the program to quickly make a new directory using mkdir<\/strong>.\n <\/li>\n
    2. \n Then. I used rename and move <\/strong>to transfer each file to the new directory.\n <\/li>\n
    3. \n After that, I selected view file<\/strong> from the top menu to take a look at some details of “Document.docx.”\n <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      And that was it. I used it to create a few more folders and started organizing my phone. I tend to find organizing files in Android tedious, but I like the simple interface offered by MC. It seemed faster for my personal organization, although your experience may vary. It works well for my stray, uncategorized files you’ve accumulated, and it is a bit faster (for me, anyway) than moving them and making directories via the command line if you’re not quite sure where they’re located in storage.<\/p>\n

      CMUS<\/p>\n

      My new favorite music player<\/p>\n

      \"The<\/p>\n

      CMUS is a music player that lets you create playlists, organize music, and play it back with simple keyboard commands. Install it with the command:<\/p>\n

      pkg install cmus<\/strong> I’m a big music listener, and as much as I love VLC media player, I found CMUS to be easier to play back some of my files. By hitting a number, I can add files to a playlist or play them back through the software. It’s a simple list format without any album art, but I found it intuitive and useful for finding the radio shows I wanted to hear faster. I cannot overstate how much I adore this program and, aside from ffmpeg and nano, it’s one of my favorite Linux-like command line apps.<\/p>\n


      \n \"A<\/p>\n

      <\/a><\/p>\n

      Related<\/p>\n

      \t\t
      \n\t\t\t4 Free Offline Music Player Apps For Android With No Ads
      \n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

      Less skipping, more listening.<\/p>\n

      Wget<\/p>\n

      The essential file-grabber for Linux<\/p>\n

      \"An<\/p>\n

      Wget is a vital tool for grabbing files from the internet without needing to interact with websites<\/a>. You can also use it to download an entire website<\/a> if you want to. Install it with this command:<\/p>\n

      pkg install wget<\/strong> On my Samsung phone, I decided to use it to download a few titles from Project Gutenberg for some light reading (I chose Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein since I haven’t read it in a while) on my Kindle or in ReadEra. To download a file, you just have to execute this command string in a specific format rather than visiting the website itself:<\/p>\n

      wget [site URL containing the file] -0 [filename]<\/strong> And just like that, I had my wife’s least favorite book (but it’s still a classic) ready to read right on my Z Fold 5! I’ve used it quite a bit on my desktop, but now it’s a significant part of my Android workflow.<\/p>\n

      Nano<\/p>\n

      Only the finest text editor in your distro<\/p>\n

      \"A<\/p>\n

      Nano is a command-line-based text editor built around keyboard use. Install it with this command:<\/p>\n

      pkg install nano<\/strong> As far as text editors go, you can’t get simpler and more elegant than nano. It had more features than Pico and fewer frills than notepad (or any of those confounded notes apps<\/a> built into the phone).<\/p>\n

      It’s better on a desktop, obviously, but let’s say you need to make some quick notes or want to throw some commands in a bash file to run on your phone. It works great for that. Even though it’s keyboard-oriented, Termux has a mini-keypad on its interface so you can still use commands like CTRL + O<\/strong> to write files or CTRL + X<\/strong> to edit the program.<\/p>\n

      For this experiment, I created a quick plan for a guitar-related project I’m doing later this year, which you can see in the picture above. I regularly use nano for ideas, outlining, drafts, etc., and I’m delighted I can now do it from my Samsung whenever I please.<\/p>\n

      ffmpeg<\/p>\n

      Editing videos from a command line is super efficient<\/p>\n

      \"An<\/p>\n

      ffmpeg is a powerful video editor for Linux. It can be a bit tricky to get the hang of at first, but once you understand the commands and what they do, you can be creating neat videos in just a few minutes. Naturally, I have been predominantly creating cat videos with my own musical experiments added as a soundtrack (and a retro-inspired overlay). Install it with this command:<\/p>\n

      pkg install ffmpeg<\/strong> As much as I love Shotcut for video editing, I must say ffmpeg is fantastic for quick projects.<\/p>\n

      Their official website and the built-in help file list most of the commands you need. Spending some time with their learning library<\/a> and Stack Overflow<\/a> helped fill in the gaps. I used a mix of the official website and decade-old Stack Overflow threads to learn some of the specific commands for this project.<\/p>\n

      For this experiment, I decided to transform an old video of my cat into something new and combine it with another video to create something totally new using the following parameters:<\/p>\n