If I had to pick a single utility, it would be pv[0]. It's very simple, but I find myself using it all the time. Basically you stick it in a pipeline of command

If I had to pick a single utility, it would be pv[0]. It's very simple, but I find myself using it all the time. Basically you stick it in a pipeline of commands to get a progress bar. The simplest usage is just to replace cat or input redirection with a call to pv. Saves a lot of time when I can quickly find out if the command I wrote is going to take 30 seconds or 30 minutes. https://www.ivarch.com/programs/pv.shtml https://www.ivarch.com/programs/pv.shtml