Add Keep A Tally With collections.Counter as a Python TIL

Was fetching remote then checking out stale local branch

README.md

@@ -6,11 +6,11 @@ A collection of concise write-ups on small things I learn day to day across a
 variety of languages and technologies. These are things that don't really
 warrant a full blog post. These are things I've picked up by [Learning In
 Public™](https://dev.to/jbranchaud/how-i-built-a-learning-machine-45k9) and
-pairing with smart people at Hashrocket.
+working across different projects via [VisualMode](https://www.visualmode.dev/).
 
 For a steady stream of TILs, [sign up for my newsletter](https://visualmode.kit.com/newsletter).
 
-_1715 TILs and counting..._
+_1745 TILs and counting..._
 
 See some of the other learning resources I work on:
 
@@ -131,6 +131,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 - [Clean Up Your Brew Installations](brew/clean-up-your-brew-installations.md)
 - [Configure Brew Environment Variables](brew/configure-brew-environment-variables.md)
 - [Export List Of Everything Installed By Brew](brew/export-list-of-everything-installed-by-brew.md)
+- [Install From Nonstandard Brewfile](brew/install-from-nonstandard-brewfile.md)
 - [Install Go Packages In Brewfile](brew/install-go-packages-in-brewfile.md)
 - [List All Services Managed By Brew](brew/list-all-services-managed-by-brew.md)
 
@@ -157,8 +158,10 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 
 ### Claude Code
 
+- [Allow Edits From The Start](claude-code/allow-edits-from-the-start.md)
 - [Monitor Usage Limits From CLI](claude-code/monitor-usage-limits-from-cli.md)
 - [Open Current Prompt In Default Editor](claude-code/open-current-prompt-in-default-editor.md)
+- [Resume Specific Session](claude-code/resume-specific-session.md)
 
 ### Clojure
 
@@ -348,6 +351,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 - [Count Number Of Commits On A Branch](git/count-number-of-commits-on-a-branch.md)
 - [Create A New Branch With Git Switch](git/create-a-new-branch-with-git-switch.md)
 - [Delete All Untracked Files](git/delete-all-untracked-files.md)
+- [Determine Absolute Path Of Top-Level Project Directory](git/determine-absolute-path-of-top-level-project-directory.md)
 - [Determine The Hash Id For A Blob](git/determine-the-hash-id-for-a-blob.md)
 - [Diffing With Patience](git/diffing-with-patience.md)
 - [Dropping Commits With Git Rebase](git/dropping-commits-with-git-rebase.md)
@@ -423,6 +427,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 - [Show What Is In A Stash](git/show-what-is-in-a-stash.md)
 - [Single Key Presses in Interactive Mode](git/single-key-presses-in-interactive-mode.md)
 - [Skip A Bad Commit When Bisecting](git/skip-a-bad-commit-when-bisecting.md)
+- [Skip Git Hooks As Needed](git/skip-git-hooks-as-needed.md)
 - [Skip Pre-Commit Hooks](git/skip-pre-commit-hooks.md)
 - [Staging Changes Within Vim](git/staging-changes-within-vim.md)
 - [Staging Stashes Interactively](git/staging-stashes-interactively.md)
@@ -500,6 +505,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 
 ### Heroku
 
+- [Check Ruby Version For Production App](heroku/check-ruby-version-for-production-app.md)
 - [Connect To A Database By Color](heroku/connect-to-a-database-by-color.md)
 - [Deploy A Review App To A Different Stack](heroku/deploy-a-review-app-to-a-different-stack.md)
 - [Diagnose Problems In A Heroku Postgres Database](heroku/diagnose-problems-in-a-heroku-postgres-database.md)
@@ -545,6 +551,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 - [Focus The URL Bar](internet/focus-the-url-bar.md)
 - [Get Random Images From Unsplash](internet/get-random-images-from-unsplash.md)
 - [Grab The RSS Feed For A Substack Blog](internet/grab-the-rss-feed-for-a-substack-blog.md)
+- [Hide Overflowing Text For Google Sheets Column](internet/hide-overflowing-text-for-google-sheets-column.md)
 - [Search Tweets By Author](internet/search-tweets-by-author.md)
 - [Show All Pivotal Stories With Blockers](internet/show-all-pivotal-stories-with-blockers.md)
 - [Verify Site Ownership With DNS Record](internet/verify-site-ownership-with-dns-record.md)
@@ -713,6 +720,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 - [Capture Screenshot To Clipboard From CLI](mac/capture-screenshot-to-clipboard-from-cli.md)
 - [Check Network Quality Stats From The Command Line](mac/check-network-quality-stats-from-the-command-line.md)
 - [Clean Up Old Homebrew Files](mac/clean-up-old-homebrew-files.md)
+- [Control Which Monitor App Switcher Appears On](mac/control-which-monitor-app-switcher-appears-on.md)
 - [Convert An HEIC Image File To JPG](mac/convert-an-heic-image-file-to-jpg.md)
 - [Default Screenshot Location](mac/default-screenshot-location.md)
 - [Detect How Long A User Has Been Idle](mac/detect-how-long-a-user-has-been-idle.md)
@@ -746,9 +754,12 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 
 - [Create Umbrella Task For All Test Tasks](mise/create-umbrella-task-for-all-test-tasks.md)
 - [List The Files Being Loaded By Mise](mise/list-the-files-being-loaded-by-mise.md)
+- [Look In Ruby Version Dotfile](mise/look-in-ruby-version-dotfile.md)
+- [Override Your Project Mise File](mise/override-your-project-mise-file.md)
 - [Preserve Color Output For Task Command](mise/preserve-color-output-for-task-command.md)
 - [Read Existing Dot Env File Into Env Vars](mise/read-existing-dot-env-file-into-env-vars.md)
 - [Run A Command With Specific Tool Version](mise/run-a-command-with-specific-tool-version.md)
+- [Search Through Bin Paths For Tool Locations](mise/search-through-bin-paths-for-tool-locations.md)
 
 ### MongoDB
 
@@ -854,6 +865,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 - [Clear The Screen In psql](postgres/clear-the-screen-in-psql.md)
 - [Clear The Screen In psql (2)](postgres/clear-the-screen-in-psql-2.md)
 - [Compute Hashes With pgcrypto](postgres/compute-hashes-with-pgcrypto.md)
+- [Compute Median Instead Of Average](postgres/compute-median-instead-of-average.md)
 - [Compute The Levenshtein Distance Of Two Strings](postgres/compute-the-levenshtein-distance-of-two-strings.md)
 - [Compute The md5 Hash Of A String](postgres/compute-the-md5-hash-of-a-string.md)
 - [Concatenate Strings With A Separator](postgres/concatenate-strings-with-a-separator.md)
@@ -1022,8 +1034,13 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 
 - [Access Instance Variables](python/access-instance-variables.md)
 - [Break Debugger On First Line Of Program](python/break-debugger-on-first-line-of-program.md)
+- [Check If Package Is Installed With Pip](python/check-if-package-is-installed-with-pip.md)
 - [Create A Dummy DataFrame In Pandas](python/create-a-dummy-dataframe-in-pandas.md)
 - [Dunder Methods](python/dunder-methods.md)
+- [Install With PIP For Specific Interpreter](python/install-with-pip-for-specific-interpreter.md)
+- [Iterate First N Items From Enumerable](python/iterate-first-n-items-from-enumerable.md)
+- [Keep A Tally With collections.Counter](python/keep-a-tally-with-collections-counter.md)
+- [Load A File Into The Python REPL](python/load-a-file-into-the-python-repl.md)
 - [Override The Boolean Context Of A Class](python/override-the-boolean-context-of-a-class.md)
 - [Store And Access Immutable Data In A Tuple](python/store-and-access-immutable-data-in-a-tuple.md)
 - [Test A Function With Pytest](python/test-a-function-with-pytest.md)
@@ -1062,9 +1079,12 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 - [Cast Common Boolean-Like Values To Booleans](rails/cast-common-boolean-like-values-to-booleans.md)
 - [Change The Nullability Of A Column](rails/change-the-nullability-of-a-column.md)
 - [Change The Time Zone Offset Of A DateTime Object](rails/change-the-time-zone-offset-of-a-datetime-object.md)
+- [Check How Database Is Configured](rails/check-how-database-is-configured.md)
 - [Check If ActiveRecord Update Fails](rails/check-if-activerecord-update-fails.md)
 - [Check If Any Records Have A Null Value](rails/check-if-any-records-have-a-null-value.md)
 - [Check Specific Attributes On ActiveRecord Array](rails/check-specific-attributes-on-activerecord-array.md)
+- [Check The Current Named Log Level](rails/check-the-current-named-log-level.md)
+- [Clean Up Memory Hungry Rails Console Processes](rails/clean-up-memory-hungry-rails-console-processes.md)
 - [Code Statistics For An Application](rails/code-statistics-for-an-application.md)
 - [Columns With Default Values Are Nil On Create](rails/columns-with-default-values-are-nil-on-create.md)
 - [Comparing DateTimes Down To Second Precision](rails/comparing-datetimes-down-to-second-precision.md)
@@ -1418,6 +1438,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 - [Limit Split](ruby/limit-split.md)
 - [List The Running Ruby Version](ruby/list-the-running-ruby-version.md)
 - [Listing Local Variables](ruby/listing-local-variables.md)
+- [Make A Long String Of Text Readable](ruby/make-a-long-string-of-text-readable.md)
 - [Make An Executable Ruby Script](ruby/make-an-executable-ruby-script.md)
 - [Make Structs Easier To Use With Keyword Initialization](ruby/make-structs-easier-to-use-with-keyword-initialization.md)
 - [Map With Index Over An Array](ruby/map-with-index-over-an-array.md)
@@ -1471,6 +1492,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 - [Single And Double Quoted String Notation](ruby/single-and-double-quoted-string-notation.md)
 - [Skip Specific CVEs When Auditing Your Bundle](ruby/skip-specific-cves-when-auditing-your-bundle.md)
 - [Skip The Front Of An Array With Drop](ruby/skip-the-front-of-an-array-with-drop.md)
+- [Specify Default For Data Definition](ruby/specify-default-for-data-definition.md)
 - [Specify Dependencies For A Rake Task](ruby/specify-dependencies-for-a-rake-task.md)
 - [Specify How Random Array#sample Is](ruby/specify-how-random-array-sample-is.md)
 - [Split A Float Into Its Integer And Decimal](ruby/split-a-float-into-its-integer-and-decimal.md)
@@ -1558,6 +1580,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 - [Kill Other Connections To A Session](tmux/kill-other-connections-to-a-session.md)
 - [Kill The Current Session](tmux/kill-the-current-session.md)
 - [List All Key Bindings](tmux/list-all-key-bindings.md)
+- [List Processes Running Across All Session](tmux/list-processes-running-across-all-sessions.md)
 - [List Sessions](tmux/list-sessions.md)
 - [Open New Splits To The Current Directory](tmux/open-new-splits-to-the-current-directory.md)
 - [Open New Window With A Specific Directory](tmux/open-new-window-with-a-specific-directory.md)
@@ -1604,6 +1627,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 ### Unix
 
 - [All The Environment Variables](unix/all-the-environment-variables.md)
+- [Apply Successive Filters To Lines In Less](unix/apply-successive-filters-to-lines-in-less.md)
 - [Authorize A cURL Request](unix/authorize-a-curl-request.md)
 - [Cat A File With Line Numbers](unix/cat-a-file-with-line-numbers.md)
 - [Cat Files With Color Using Bat](unix/cat-files-with-color-using-bat.md)
@@ -1634,9 +1658,11 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 - [Curling For Headers](unix/curling-for-headers.md)
 - [Curling With Basic Auth Credentials](unix/curling-with-basic-auth-credentials.md)
 - [Determine ipv4 And ipv6 Public IP Addresses](unix/determine-ipv4-and-ipv6-public-ip-addresses.md)
+- [Diff Two Files In Unified Format](unix/diff-two-files-in-unified-format.md)
 - [Different Ways To Generate A v4 UUID](unix/different-ways-to-generate-a-v4-uuid.md)
 - [Display All The Terminal Colors](unix/display-all-the-terminal-colors.md)
 - [Display Free Disk Space](unix/display-free-disk-space.md)
+- [Display Line Numbers While Using Less](unix/display-line-numbers-while-using-less.md)
 - [Display The Contents Of A Directory As A Tree](unix/display-the-contents-of-a-directory-as-a-tree.md)
 - [Do A Dry Run Of An rsync](unix/do-a-dry-run-of-an-rsync.md)
 - [Do Not Overwrite Existing Files](unix/do-not-overwrite-existing-files.md)
@@ -1662,6 +1688,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 - [Fix Previous Command With fc](unix/fix-previous-command-with-fc.md)
 - [Fix Shim Path After asdf Upgrade](unix/fix-shim-path-after-asdf-upgrade.md)
 - [Fix Unlinked Node Binaries With asdf](unix/fix-unlinked-node-binaries-with-asdf.md)
+- [Format And Display Small Amounts Of Columnar Data](unix/format-and-display-small-amounts-of-columnar-data.md)
 - [Forward Multiple Ports Over SSH](unix/forward-multiple-ports-over-ssh.md)
 - [Generate A SAML Key And Certificate Pair](unix/generate-a-saml-key-and-certificate-pair.md)
 - [Generate A Sequence Of Numbered Items](unix/generate-a-sequence-of-numbered-items.md)
@@ -1684,6 +1711,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 - [Ignore A Directory During ripgrep Search](unix/ignore-a-directory-during-ripgrep-search.md)
 - [Ignore The Alias When Running A Command](unix/ignore-the-alias-when-running-a-command.md)
 - [Include Ignore Files In Ripgrep Search](unix/include-ignore-files-in-ripgrep-search.md)
+- [Inspect EXIF Data For An Image File](unix/inspect-exif-data-for-an-image-file.md)
 - [Interactively Browse Available Node Versions](unix/interactively-browse-availabile-node-versions.md)
 - [Interactively Switch asdf Package Versions](unix/interactively-switch-asdf-package-versions.md)
 - [Interpret Cron Schedule From The CLI](unix/interpret-cron-schedule-from-the-cli.md)
@@ -1745,6 +1773,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 - [Show A File Preview When Searching With FZF](unix/show-a-file-preview-when-searching-with-fzf.md)
 - [Show Disk Usage For The Current Directory](unix/show-disk-usage-for-the-current-directory.md)
 - [Show The Size Of Everything In A Directory](unix/show-the-size-of-everything-in-a-directory.md)
+- [Show Tree View Of Processes And Subprocesses](unix/show-tree-view-of-processes-and-subprocesses.md)
 - [Skip Paging If Output Fits On Screen With Less](unix/skip-paging-if-output-fits-on-screen-with-less.md)
 - [SSH Escape Sequences](unix/ssh-escape-sequences.md)
 - [SSH With Port Forwarding](unix/ssh-with-port-forwarding.md)
@@ -1760,6 +1789,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 - [Unrestrict Where ripgrep Searches](unix/unrestrict-where-ripgrep-searches.md)
 - [Update Package Versions Known By asdf Plugin](unix/update-package-versions-known-by-asdf-plugin.md)
 - [Use fzf To Change Directories](unix/use-fzf-to-change-directories.md)
+- [Use Negative Lookbehind Matching With ripgrep](unix/use-negative-lookbehind-matching-with-ripgrep.md)
 - [Use Regex Pattern Matching With Grep](unix/use-regex-pattern-matching-with-grep.md)
 - [View A Web Page In The Terminal](unix/view-a-web-page-in-the-terminal.md)
 - [View The Source For A Brew Formula](unix/view-the-source-for-a-brew-formula.md)
@@ -2056,7 +2086,7 @@ I shamelessly stole this idea from
 
 ## License
 
-© 2015-2025 Josh Branchaud
+© 2015-2026 Josh Branchaud
 
 This repository is licensed under the MIT license. See `LICENSE` for
 details.

Taskfile.yml

@@ -32,8 +32,7 @@ tasks:
   notes:sync:
     desc: Sync latest changes from the notes submodule
     cmds:
-      - git submodule update --remote {{.NOTES_DIR}}
-      - cd {{.NOTES_DIR}} && git checkout main
+      - cd {{.NOTES_DIR}} && git checkout main && git pull
     silent: false
 
   notes:open:
@@ -61,11 +60,6 @@ tasks:
     cmds:
       - git status
 
-  notes:pull:
-    desc: Pull latest changes (alias for sync)
-    cmds:
-      - task notes:sync
-
   notes:diff:
     desc: Show uncommitted changes in notes
     dir: '{{.NOTES_DIR}}'

brew/install-from-nonstandard-brewfile.md

@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+# Install From Nonstandard Brewfile
+
+When you want to install the packages listed in the `Brewfile` for your current
+project (or dotfiles), you can run:
+
+```bash
+$ brew bundle
+```
+
+And `brew` knows to look for and use the `Brewfile` in the current directory.
+
+If, however, you are trying to run `brew bundle` for a `Brewfile` located
+somewhere besides the current directory *OR* you want to target a file with a
+non-standard name (like
+[`Brewfile.personal`](https://github.com/jbranchaud/dotfiles/blob/main/Brewfile.personal)),
+then you can use the `--file` flag.
+
+```bash
+$ brew bundle --file Brewfile.personal
+```
+
+This is what I do [here in my `dotfiles`
+repo](https://github.com/jbranchaud/dotfiles/blob/b053f6251cae7ed52f698fc2a2c40ba82c5881b0/installer/mac-setup.sh#L42-L48).
+
+See `man brew` and find the section on `brew bundle` for more details.

claude-code/allow-edits-from-the-start.md

@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+# Allow Edits From The Start
+
+A common pattern for me when using Claude Code is that I start it up in a
+project, I prompt it with a question or feature spec, it either comes up with a
+plan or just starts working, and as soon as it is ready to make its first edits
+to a file, it prompts me something like:
+
+```
+ Do you want to make this edit to Taskfile.yml?
+ ❯ 1. Yes
+   2. Yes, allow all edits during this session (shift+tab)
+   3. Type here to tell Claude what to do differently
+```
+
+That's a nice default so that I don't get surprised by Claude Code editing a
+bunch of files.
+
+However, if I'm in a git-backed project and I'm going into a session intending
+to make edits, then I can skip the formalities. I can tell Claude Code when
+starting up the session that edits are allowed.
+
+```sh
+$ claude --permission-mode acceptEdits
+```
+
+When I do this, I'll see the following indicator below the prompt input field:
+
+```
+  ⏵⏵ accept edits on (shift+tab to cycle)
+```
+
+If I've already started `claude` but I forgot to specify that permission mode, I
+can also toggle right into _accept edits_ by hitting `Shift+Tab`.
+
+[source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IK18goX4X8)

claude-code/resume-specific-session.md

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+# Resume Specific Session
+
+There are a few different ways to resume a [Claude
+Code](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/overview) session.
+
+First, if I have exited a session for the current project and I want to pick
+back up with that most recent one, then I can use `claude --continue`.
+
+If I have had a few recent sessions for the current project and I want to
+remember what they were and pick up where I left off with one of them, then I
+can use `claude --resume` (with no argument). That will open a picker where I
+can browser through a summary of the recent sessions based on their starting
+prompt. The one I pick is the session that will be resumed.
+
+Finally, if I have grabbed a specific session ID (UUID) during the session from
+the `/status` output, then I can reference that value directly.
+
+```sh
+$ claude --resume 92170532-be31-4a91-b2a9-025b8fa78232
+```
+
+See `claude --help` for more details.

git/determine-absolute-path-of-top-level-project-directory.md

@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+# Determine Absolute Path Of Top-Level Project Directory
+
+The `git rev-parse` command is a git plumbing command for parsing different
+kinds of things in git into a canonical form that can be used in a deterministic
+way by scripts. I would typically think of using it to work with branch names,
+tags, and other kinds of refs.
+
+There is a handy, sorta off-label use for it in determining the absolute path of
+the root directory for the current git repository. Use the `--show-toplevel`
+flag with no other arguments.
+
+```bash
+❯ git rev-parse --show-toplevel
+/Users/lastword/dev/jbranchaud/til
+```
+
+Here, I am in the local copy of [my TIL repo](https://github.com/jbranchaud/til). This command gives me the absolute
+path of the top-level directory where that `.git` directory resides.
+
+This is useful for scripts that need to orient themselves to the current
+project's top-level directory regardless of what directory they are being
+executed from. This is useful for things like a git hook script or monorepos
+with scripts located in a specific sub-project directory.
+
+Also worth mentioning is the `--show-superproject-working-tree` flag. In my TIL
+repo, I have a private repository included as a submodule. Within that directory
+`--show-toplevel` will produce the absolute path to the submodule. If I instead
+want the absolute path of the _super project_ (in this case TIL), then I can use
+this other flag.
+
+```bash
+❯ git rev-parse --show-toplevel
+/Users/lastword/dev/jbranchaud/til/notes
+
+❯ git rev-parse --show-superproject-working-tree
+/Users/lastword/dev/jbranchaud/til
+```
+
+See `man git-rev-parse` for more details.

git/skip-git-hooks-as-needed.md

@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+# Skip Git Hooks As Needed
+
+Projects have Git hooks configured for all sorts of reasons. Most common are
+`pre-commit` hooks which verify certain aspects of the contents of a commit.
+A `pre-commit` hook could check that the tests all pass, that the changes don't
+include any debugging statements, and so forth. There are all kinds of hooks
+though, like `pre-rebase` and `post-checkout`.
+
+These hooks can sometimes get in the way and we may need to skip or disable them
+on a one-off basis.
+
+Several Git commands offer a `--no-verify` flag which can skip running the hook
+associated with that command.
+
+- `git commit --no-verify` (skips `pre-commit` and `commit-msg` hooks)
+- `git push --no-verify` (skips `pre-push` hook)
+- `git merge --no-verify` (skips `pre-merge-commit` hook)
+- `git am --no-verify` (skips `applypatch-msg` and `pre-applypatch` hooks)
+
+If you look in the `.git/hooks` directory, there are several other hooks not
+covered by the above. So, what if I am doing an action like `git checkout` and I
+want to skip the `post-checkout` hook?
+
+I can override the `hooksPath` config for that one command with the `-c` flag.
+
+```sh
+$ git -c core.hooksPath=/dev/null checkout ...
+```
+
+By setting it to `/dev/null`, it will find *no* hooks available, so none will be
+executed for this command.
+
+See `man git-config` for more details on `core.hooksPath`.

heroku/check-ruby-version-for-production-app.md

@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+# Check Ruby Version For Production App
+
+While deploying a fresh Rails app to Heroku recently, I ran into an issue. The
+`it` block argument wasn't working despite being on Ruby 4.0. Or so I thought.
+
+Running the following command reported the Ruby version of that Heroku server
+instance:
+
+```bash
+❯ heroku run -- ruby --version
+Running ruby --version on ⬢ my-app... up, run.3090
+ruby 3.3.9 (2025-07-24 revision f5c772fc7c) [x86_64-linux]
+```
+
+I was on `3.3.9` which must have been the fallback default at the time.
+
+Though I had set the Ruby version in my `.ruby-version` file, I had neglected to
+specify it in the `Gemfile` as well. Once I added it to the `Gemfile` and
+redeployed, my Heroku server instance was running the expected version of Ruby.
+
+```bash
+❯ heroku run -- ruby --version
+Running ruby --version on ⬢ my-app... up, run.5353
+ruby 4.0.0 (2025-12-25 revision 553f1675f3) +PRISM [x86_64-linux]
+```
+
+Note: because [I have set `HEROKU_ORGANIZATION` and
+`HEROKU_APP`](set-default-team-and-app-for-project.md) in my environment
+(`.envrc`) for the local copy of the app, I don't need to specify those when
+running the `heroku run` command above.
+
+See `heroku run --help` for more details.

internet/hide-overflowing-text-for-google-sheets-column.md

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+# Hide Overflowing Text For Google Sheets Column
+
+I imported a big CSV into a new Google Sheets document. This included a
+"Description" column with many of the descriptions varying between 50 and 80
+characters. The bottom line is that the description column was flowing over the
+top of the columns next to it. Instead of expanding the width of that column as
+far as the largest description, I wanted to hide the _overflow_.
+
+The way to do this in Google Sheets is to highlight the entire column by
+clicking on the column grouping. Then under the _Format_ menu item is a
+_Wrapping_ submenu. The _Clip_ option is what I was looking for because it clips
+the text that gets shown at the edge of the column.

mac/control-which-monitor-app-switcher-appears-on.md

@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+# Control Which Monitor App Switcher Appears On
+
+For the most part when I hit `cmd+tab` (and `cmd+shift+tab`) to switch between
+apps, the visual switcher UI (which shows a row of the open apps) appears on my
+main monitor. However, sometimes I will be hitting `cmd+tab` and nothing shows
+up on my main monitor. I look to the right at my side monitor and there is the
+app switcher UI.
+
+Why is it appearing over there all of a sudden?
+
+The reason is that the app switcher UI is anchored to the same screen where the
+doc is located. Though the doc defaults to my main monitor, if I access the doc
+from the side monitor, now it is anchored there.
+
+To switch it back, I just have to make the doc slide up on my main monitor by
+running my mouse down to the bottom of that screen.
+
+The switch up was because I accidentally accessed the doc on my side monitor
+without realizing.
+
+[source](https://superuser.com/a/744680)

mise/look-in-ruby-version-dotfile.md

@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+# Look In Ruby Version Dotfile
+
+Newer versions of [`mise`](https://mise.jdx.dev/dev-tools/) specifically only
+look for tool versions in `mise.toml` as well as the asdf `.tool-versions` file.
+A lot of Ruby projects use the `.ruby-version` file to indicate the Ruby version
+of a project. To continue to use the `.ruby-version` file instead of migrating
+to `mise.toml`, you need to tell `mise` that you prefer to use the idiomatic
+version file.
+
+I added the following line to my
+[`~/.config/mise/config.toml`](https://github.com/jbranchaud/dotfiles/commit/8edeb7a9c53500e89e88b4079cbd1859ebebcbda)
+file:
+
+```toml
+idiomatic_version_file_enable_tools = ["ruby"]
+```
+
+Now, whenever `mise` is looking for the specified Ruby version of a project, it
+will also look for `.ruby-version`.
+
+Here is a [full list of idomatic version files supported by
+`mise`](https://mise.jdx.dev/configuration.html#idiomatic-version-files).
+
+See
+[`idiomatic_version_file_enable_tools`](https://mise.jdx.dev/configuration/settings.html#idiomatic_version_file_enable_tools)
+as well as the [Ruby-specific documentation](https://mise.jdx.dev/lang/ruby.html#ruby-version-and-gemfile-support)
+for more details.

mise/override-your-project-mise-file.md

@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+# Override Your Project Mise File
+
+A project I'm working on has a version-controlled `.mise.toml` file in it. Some
+changes were made to that recently that introduce some env vars that conflict
+with my setup. If I make edits to that file, then I have a modified version of
+`.mise.toml` sitting in my Git working copy.
+
+```
+# .mise.toml
+[env]
+CONFIG_SETTING = "project"
+```
+
+Instead, I can rely on the loading precedence rules of `mise` to override those
+project settings with my individual settings. I can do that with the
+`.mise.local.toml` file which is played on top of any `mise` configuration from
+files further down the precedence chain.
+
+```
+# .mise.local.toml
+[env]
+CONFIG_SETTING = "override"
+```
+
+Assuming I have `mise` setup with my shell environment to automatically load in
+these files, I can now check what takes precedence:
+
+```bash
+$ echo $CONFIG_SETTING
+override
+```
+
+Make sure `.mise.local.toml` is included in the `.gitignore` file to avoid
+checking in your personal environment overrides.
+
+To be sure about what files are loaded and in what order, give `mise cfg` a try.
+I discuss that in more detail in [List The Files Being Loaded By Mise](list-the-files-being-loaded-by-mise.md).

mise/search-through-bin-paths-for-tool-locations.md

@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+# Search Through Bin Paths For Tool Locations
+
+The `mise bin-paths` command will list all the bin paths that are managed by
+`mise`. When you tell `mise` to install a tool, it installs a specific version
+at a location where its binaries can be made accessible on the system path.
+
+While `mise ls` is useful for seeing what is installed by `mise` and at what
+version, the `bin-paths` command can tell you where those tool installations
+with their binaries are located.
+
+Combine this with `grep` or `rg` to narrow down the results to tools by a
+specific name:
+
+```bash
+❯ mise bin-paths | rg 'neovim'
+/Users/lastword/.local/share/mise/installs/npm-neovim/5.4.0/bin
+/Users/lastword/.local/share/mise/installs/pipx-neovim-remote/2.5.1/bin
+/Users/lastword/.local/share/mise/installs/neovim/0.11.6/bin
+```
+
+I can then look in one of these directories to see the one or more binaries that
+they include. For instance, here is what is in the `node` bin path:
+
+```bash
+❯ ls /Users/lastword/.local/share/mise/installs/node/22.22.0/bin
+ ./   ../   claude@   corepack@   node*   npm*   npx@
+```
+
+See `mise bin-paths --help` for more details.

postgres/compute-median-instead-of-average.md

@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+# Compute Median Instead Of Average
+
+One of the first aggregate functions we might use in PostgreSQL, besides `sum`,
+is `avg`.
+
+```sql
+select avg(book_count) as average_books_read
+from (
+  select users.id, count(books.id) as book_count
+  from users
+  left join books
+    on books.user_id = users.id
+  where books.read_in_year = 2025
+  group by users.id
+) as user_book_counts;
+```
+
+This computes the average of the set of values which sums them all up
+and divides by the count. The average (maybe you've heard this also called the
+_mean_) is not always the best way to understand data, especially when there are
+outliers.
+
+Instead, we might want to compute the _median_ value of our set of data. There
+is no easily identifiable `median` aggregate function. Instead, we can use
+`percentile_cont` with a value of `0.5`. This gets us the 50th percentile of our
+set of data which is the definition of the _median_.
+
+```sql
+select percentile_cont(0.5) within group (
+  order by book_count
+) as median_books_read
+from (
+  select users.id, count(books.id) as book_count
+  from users
+  left join books on books.user_id = users.id and books.read_in_year = 2025
+  group by users.id
+) as user_book_counts;
+```
+
+The full syntax for `percentile_cont` is `percentile_cong(precision) within
+group (order by ...)` because this is an aggregiate that has to work with an
+ordered-set of data.
+
+[source](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/functions-aggregate.html)

python/check-if-package-is-installed-with-pip.md

@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+# Check If Package Is Installed With Pip
+
+I recently installed PyTorch, but when I tried using it, I was getting an error
+about `numpy` not being installed. I was kind of surprised by that because I
+thought I would have already had that.
+
+I wanted to check, so I asked with `pip show`:
+
+```bash
+❯ python3 -m pip show numpy
+WARNING: Package(s) not found: numpy
+```
+
+I can even list everything that is installed with `pip` using `pip list` like
+so:
+
+```bash
+❯ python3 -m pip list
+Package            Version   Build
+------------------ --------- -----
+certifi            2026.1.4
+cffi               2.0.0
+charset-normalizer 3.4.4
+click              8.3.1
+commonmark         0.9.1
+cryptography       46.0.3
+docutils           0.22.4
+filelock           3.24.2
+fsspec             2026.2.0
+idna               3.11
+Jinja2             3.1.6
+...
+```
+
+I then installed `numpy` (`python3 -m pip install numpy`) and how I can use `pip
+show` again to confirm that.
+
+```bash
+❯ python3 -m pip show numpy
+Name: numpy
+Version: 2.4.2
+Summary: Fundamental package for array computing in Python
+Home-page: https://numpy.org
+Author: Travis E. Oliphant et al.
+Author-email:
+License-Expression: BSD-3-Clause AND 0BSD AND MIT AND Zlib AND CC0-1.0
+Location: /Users/lastword/.local/share/mise/installs/python/3.12.12/lib/python3.12/site-packages
+Requires:
+Required-by:
+```

python/install-with-pip-for-specific-interpreter.md

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+# Install With PIP For Specific Interpreter
+
+The `pip` module can be invoked for any of its commands, such as install, using
+a specific Python interpreter like so:
+
+```bash
+$ python3 -m pip install black
+```
+
+This avoid ambiguity between the version of Python I am using and version of the
+package manager I'm using.
+
+Similarly if I need to upgrade `pip`, I can do the following:
+
+```bash
+$ python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip
+```

python/iterate-first-n-items-from-enumerable.md

@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+# Iterate First N Items From Enumerable
+
+As I'm working through the 2nd chapter of [Build a Large Language Model (from
+scratch)](https://still.visualmode.dev/blogmarks/227), I came across a code
+example processing a dictionary of words. This example used a for loop to print
+out each dictionary entry until an index of 50 was reached on then it did a
+`break`.
+
+This struck me as an odd way to grab and process N items from a list. I did some
+searching and found `itertools` which provides
+[`islice`](https://docs.python.org/3/library/itertools.html#itertools.islice).
+
+```python
+from itertools import islice
+
+# preprocess words from a file into a word list
+all_words = ... # not shown here
+
+vocab = {token: integer for integer, token in enumerate(all_words)}
+for item in islice(enumerate(vocab.items()), 50):
+    print(item)
+```
+
+The `islice` function is a better approach because the intention (to grab the
+first 50 things) is encoded in the function call rather than buried in a loop
+body. It also has equivalent memory efficiency to the original example because
+it lazily processes the list of `vocab` items.

python/keep-a-tally-with-collections-counter.md

@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+# Keep A Tally With collections.Counter
+
+Python's `collections` module comes with a
+[`Counter`](https://docs.python.org/3/library/collections.html#collections.Counter)
+object which is a specialized dict subclass focussed on tallying counts of keys.
+
+> It is a collection where elements are stored as dictionary keys and their
+> counts are stored as dictionary values. Counts are allowed to be any integer
+> value including zero or negative counts.
+
+I used it recently while doing an exploratory implementation of a Byte-Pair
+Encoding (BPE):
+
+```python
+from collections import Counter
+
+def get_pair_counts(token_ids: list[int]) -> Counter:
+    """Count how often each adjacent pair appears"""
+    counts = Counter()
+    for i in range(len(token_ids) - 1):
+        pair = (token_ids[i], token_ids[i + 1])
+        counts[pair] += 1
+    return counts
+```
+
+Here I'm able to count the number of occurrences of each pair of bytes from the
+input text. A tuple of `int` values is hashable, so they work great as keys for
+a `Counter`.
+
+The count value of any key will default to `0`. That makes it straightforward to
+increment from there as you iterating over occurrences.
+
+```python
+>>> counts = Counter()
+>>> counts['hello']
+0
+>>> count['hello'] += 1
+>>> count['hello']
+1
+```

python/load-a-file-into-the-python-repl.md

@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+# Load A File Into The Python REPL
+
+I opened up a Python REPL to try some things out.
+
+```
+$ python3
+>>> import math
+>>> math.floor(5/2)
+2
+```
+
+Now, I want to reference a Python file I've been working on so that I can
+manually test the behavior of what I'm building. To do this, I can import a file
+by its name in the same way that I would import any module. Then I can use that
+namespace for class and method references. Crucially, the file should exist in
+the same directory the REPL was started from.
+
+First, here is the file:
+
+```python
+# bpe.py
+class BytePairEncoding:
+    def text_to_bytes(text: str) -> list[int]:
+        """Convert a string to a list of byte values (0-255)"""
+        return list(text.encode("utf-8"))
+```
+
+Now to use it from the REPL:
+
+```
+$ python
+>>> import bpe
+>>> bpe.BytePairEncoding.text_to_bytes("Gimme some bytes!")
+[71, 105, 109, 109, 101, 32, 115, 111, 109, 101, 32, 98, 121, 116, 101, 115, 33]
+```

rails/check-how-database-is-configured.md

@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+# Check How Database Is Configured
+
+While making some adjustments to the database connection string (`DATABASE_URL`)
+for a pre-production Rails environment, we wanted to check that configuration
+options like `sslmode` were picked up.
+
+From a `rails console` session I can check the live database configuration like
+so:
+
+```ruby
+> ActiveRecord::Base.connection_db_config.configuration_hash
+=> {
+  adapter: "postgresql",
+  encoding: "unicode",
+  pool: 5,
+  database: "my_app_development"
+}
+```
+
+I can look at the
+[`configuration_hash`](https://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActiveRecord/DatabaseConfigurations/HashConfig.html#attribute-i-configuration_hash)
+from `rails console` of my pre-prod environment to see more configuration
+settings:
+
+```ruby
+> ActiveRecord::Base.connection_db_config.configuration_hash
+=> {
+  adapter: "postgresql",
+  encoding: "unicode",
+  pool: 5,
+  username: "app_user",
+  password: "super_s3cr3t",
+  port: 15432,
+  database: "pre_prod_database",
+  host: "some-host-123.ondigitalocean.com",
+  sslmode: "verify-full"
+}
+```
+
+Since I was specifically looking for the `sslmode` value, I can access that
+directly:
+
+```ruby
+> ActiveRecord::Base.connection_db_config.configuration_hash[:sslmode]
+=> "verify-full"
+```

rails/check-the-current-named-log-level.md

@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+# Check The Current Named Log Level
+
+I'm connected to a `rails console` session for an active Rails app. I want to
+check the current log level.
+
+```ruby
+> Rails.logger.level
+=> 1
+```
+
+The `1` doesn't mean much to me at a glance. I can translate that to the
+severity level using the `Logger::SEV_LABLE` constant.
+
+```ruby
+[44] pry(main)> Logger::SEV_LABEL[Rails.logger.level]
+=> "INFO"
+```
+
+Ah yes, `INFO`, that makes sense as the default.
+
+I can see all the severity levels by inspecting the constant itself.
+
+```ruby
+[45] pry(main)> Logger::SEV_LABEL
+=> ["DEBUG", "INFO", "WARN", "ERROR", "FATAL", "ANY"]
+```
+
+As I convenience, I can set the label using the index, the string, or even a
+symbol.
+
+```ruby
+> Rails.logger.level
+=> 1
+> Rails.logger.level = "WARN"
+=> "WARN"
+> Rails.logger.level
+=> 2
+> Rails.logger.level = :debug
+=> :debug
+> Rails.logger.level
+=> 0
+```
+
+See the [Debugging Rails Applications
+guide](https://guides.rubyonrails.org/debugging_rails_applications.html#log-levels)
+for more details.

rails/clean-up-memory-hungry-rails-console-processes.md

@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+# Clean Up Memory Hungry Rails Console Processes
+
+I noticed (using `htop`) that a remote server hosting a Rails app had most of
+its RAM being actively consumed. This was hindering my ability to run a fresh
+deploy because the deploy processes had to do a ton of memory swapping which
+drastically slowed the whole thing down.
+
+With some investigation, I discovered that most of the memory was being consumed
+by a handful of `rails console` processes. I didn't have any known active `rails console` processes that I was using. That combined with the dates of these
+processes starting way in the past suggested to me that these were abandoned
+processes that hadn't been properly cleaned up.
+
+```bash
+server:~# ps aux | grep rails
+32767     878915  0.0  0.0 1227160  936 pts/0    Ssl+  2025   0:03 /exec rails console
+32767     878942  0.9  6.5 830996 261748 pts/0   Rl+   2025 249:51 ruby /app/bin/rails console
+32767    3004097  0.0  0.0 1227160  692 pts/0    Ssl+  2025   0:04 /exec rails console
+32767    3004129  0.9  6.4 834672 257228 pts/0   Dl+   2025 406:31 ruby /app/bin/rails console
+32767    3048582  0.0  0.0 1227160  940 pts/0    Ssl+ Jan09   0:00 /exec rails console
+32767    3048611  1.1  6.3 829936 253484 pts/0   Dl+  Jan09  60:50 ruby /app/bin/rails console
+32767    3060033  0.0  0.0 1227160  944 pts/0    Ssl+  2025   0:04 /exec rails console
+32767    3060063  0.9  6.5 838084 260812 pts/0   Rl+   2025 405:37 ruby /app/bin/rails console
+root     3699372  0.0  0.0   7008  1300 pts/0    S+   15:51   0:00 grep --color=auto rails
+server:~# ps aux | grep 'rails console' | awk '{sum+=$6} END {print sum/1024 " MB"}'
+1014.64 MB
+```
+
+As we can see by tacking on this `awk` command, these processes are consuming
+1GB of memory.
+
+Each of these is a pair of processes. A parent process (`/exec rails console`)
+that kicks off and supervises the memory-hungry child process (`ruby /app/bin/rails console`).
+
+To free up this memory, I targeted each of the parent processes with a `kill`
+command one by one. For example:
+
+```bash
+server:~# kill 878915
+```
+
+I suspect that I may have left the occasional terminal tab open with one of
+these `rails console` processes running and the SSH connection was getting
+killed without the `rails console` getting killed with it.

ruby/make-a-long-string-of-text-readable.md

@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+# Make A Long String Of Text Readable
+
+I have a paragraph of text that interpolates a couple user-specific values
+before being included in an API request. Because it is being passed to an API,
+it is a single-line string value. However, in the editor it is hard to read like
+that because it overflows way past the edge of the viewport.
+
+```ruby
+description = "This is the description we need to provide for #{user.name} as part of an API request dealing with compliance and registration for a service. If you need to contact them, their email is #{user.email}."
+```
+
+I'd rather make this easier on myself and others to read from the editor while
+still being able to submit a single-line string to the API. That can be
+accomplished with a heredoc and some combination or `gsub`, `strip`, and
+`squish`.
+
+If we are in a strictly Ruby-only context, we can use `gsub` and `strip` to
+collapse line breaks and remove surrounding white space.
+
+```ruby
+description = <<~MSG.gsub(/\s+/, ' ').strip
+  This is the description we need to provide for #{user.name} as part
+  of an API request dealing with compliance and registration for a
+  service. If you need to contact them, their email is #{user.email}.
+MSG
+#=> "This is the description we need to provide for #{user.name} as part of an API request dealing with compliance and registration for a service. If you need to contact them, their email is #{user.email}."
+```
+
+Or in a Rails context, I can instead just use `squish`:
+
+```ruby
+description = <<~MSG.squish
+  This is the description we need to provide for #{user.name} as part
+  of an API request dealing with compliance and registration for a
+  service. If you need to contact them, their email is #{user.email}.
+MSG
+#=> "This is the description we need to provide for #{user.name} as part of an API request dealing with compliance and registration for a service. If you need to contact them, their email is #{user.email}."
+```

ruby/specify-default-for-data-definition.md

@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+# Specify Default For Data Definition
+
+Here is what a `Data` definition for the concept of a `Permission` might look
+like:
+
+```ruby
+Permission = Data.define(:id, :name, :description, :enabled)
+
+perm1 = Permission.new(
+  id: 123,
+  name: :can_edit,
+  description: "User is allowed to edit.",
+  enabled: true
+)
+```
+
+However, as we're creating various `Permission` entities, we may find that the
+vast majority of them are _enabled_ by default and so we'd like to apply `true`
+as a default value.
+
+We cannot do this directly in the `Data` definition, but we can open a block to
+override the `initialize` method.
+
+```ruby
+Permission = Data.define(:id, :name, :description, :enabled) do
+  def initialize(:id, :name, :description, enabled: true)
+    super
+  end
+end
+
+perm1 = Permission.new(
+  id: 123,
+  name: :can_edit,
+  description: "User is allowed to edit."
+)
+
+perm1.enabled #=> true
+```
+
+Now we're able to create a `Permission` without specifying the `enabled`
+attribute and it takes on the default of `true`.
+
+[source](https://dev.to/baweaver/new-in-ruby-32-datadefine-2819#comment-254o8)

tmux/list-processes-running-across-all-sessions.md

@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+# List Processes Running Across All Session
+
+I wanted an overview of all the processes running across all the tmux sessions
+that I have running on my machine right now. The `list-panes` command (with the
+`-a` flag) gives me a listing of all the panes across all session of the current
+tmux server.
+
+That output on its own isn't giving me quite the info I'm looking for though.
+With the `-f` (_format_) flag, I can use variables available in that context
+like `session_name`, `pane_pid`, and `pane_current_command`.
+
+I can assemble the details I want into a command like this:
+
+```bash
+❯ tmux list-panes -a -F "#{session_name}:#{window_index}.#{pane_index} #{pane_pid} #{pane_current_command}"
+PLP:1.1 62364 zsh
+TIL:1.1 62345 nvim
+TIL:1.2 65838 task
+TIL:2.1 11428 tmux
+client-app:1.1 62373 ssh
+client-app:1.2 10796 zsh
+client-app:1.3 63081 zsh
+client-app:2.1 61115 overmind
+client-app:3.1 82608 zsh
+visualmode-dev:1.1 52237 zsh
+```
+
+This gives me the details I want, but I can take it a step further by piping it
+to the `column` command to improve the formatting a little:
+
+```bash
+❯ tmux list-panes -a -F "#{session_name}:#{window_index}.#{pane_index} #{pane_pid} #{pane_current_command}" \
+  | column -t
+PLP:1.1             62364  zsh
+TIL:1.1             62345  nvim
+TIL:1.2             65838  task
+TIL:2.1             11428  tmux
+client-app:1.1      62373  ssh
+client-app:1.2      10796  zsh
+client-app:1.3      63081  zsh
+client-app:2.1      61115  overmind
+client-app:3.1      82608  zsh
+visualmode-dev:1.1  52237  zsh
+```
+
+See `man tmux` and, in particular, the `FORMATS` section for more details.

unix/apply-successive-filters-to-lines-in-less.md

@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+# Apply Successive Filters To Lines In Less
+
+Let's say I've opened a large Rails log file with `less`:
+
+```bash
+$ less logs/development.log
+```
+
+I have an idea of what I'm looking for, but there is way more noise than signal.
+I can start to filter out some of the noise. The `&` command starts a filter
+prompt. If I start to filter by something like `INSERT INTO`, then a ton of
+lines disappear leaving just those matching that pattern.
+
+Scrolling through the current set of lines, I start to have a better idea of
+what I'm looking for, but there is still too much noise. I can apply an
+additional successive filter on the remaining lines by hitting `&` again and
+entering in another pattern -- e.g. `GoodJob`.
+
+Now I only see lines that contain both `INSERT INTO` and `GoodJob` somewhere in
+them.
+
+As `less` puts it:
+
+> Multiple & commands may be entered, in which case only lines which match all
+> of the patterns will be displayed.
+
+If I want to undo all the filtering, I just need to enter an empty `&` filter
+prompt and it will reset things back to displaying all lines.
+
+> If pattern is empty (if you type & immediately followed by ENTER), any
+> filtering is turned off, and all lines are displayed.
+
+See `man less` for more details.

unix/diff-two-files-in-unified-format.md

@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+# Diff Two Files In Unified Format
+
+The `diff` command is a standalone utility that can be used to get the
+difference between two files. It is similar to what you might expect when
+running `git diff` which compares two different versions of the same file. The
+`diff` command predates `git` and its unified format is what became the standard
+that `git` uses for its own diff implementation.
+
+Running `diff` with two files as is gives output like the following:
+
+```bash
+❯ diff startup.sh startup2.sh
+10,13c10,14
+< declare -A SESSIONS=(
+<   ["TIL"]="$HOME/dev/jbranchaud/til:setup_til"
+<   ["PLP"]="$HOME/dev/jbranchaud/pool-league-pro:"
+<   ["client-app"]="$HOME/dev/client/client-app:"
+---
+> # Sessions will be created in the order listed here
+> SESSIONS=(
+>   "TIL:$HOME/dev/jbranchaud/til:setup_til"
+>   "PLP:$HOME/dev/jbranchaud/pool-league-pro:"
+>   "client-app:$HOME/dev/client/client-app:"
+73,74c74,75
+<   for session_name in TIL PLP client-app; do
+<     IFS=':' read -r directory setup_function <<<"${SESSIONS[$session_name]}"
+---
+>   for session_config in "${SESSIONS[@]}"; do
+>     IFS=':' read -r session_name directory setup_function <<<"$session_config"
+```
+
+That's readable at a glance, but the unified format (with the `-u` flag) can
+provide more context:
+
+```bash
+❯ diff -u startup.sh startup2.sh
+--- startup.sh  2026-01-10 12:46:52
++++ startup2.sh 2026-01-10 12:48:00
+@@ -7,10 +7,11 @@
+
+ # Session configurations
+ # Format: "session_name:directory:setup_function"
+-declare -A SESSIONS=(
+-  ["TIL"]="$HOME/dev/jbranchaud/til:setup_til"
+-  ["PLP"]="$HOME/dev/jbranchaud/pool-league-pro:"
+-  ["client-app"]="$HOME/dev/client/client-app:"
++# Sessions will be created in the order listed here
++SESSIONS=(
++  "TIL:$HOME/dev/jbranchaud/til:setup_til"
++  "PLP:$HOME/dev/jbranchaud/pool-league-pro:"
++  "client-app:$HOME/dev/client/client-app:"
+ )
+
+ # Setup function for TIL session
+@@ -70,8 +71,8 @@
+   echo ""
+
+   # Create sessions in order
+-  for session_name in TIL PLP client-app; do
+-    IFS=':' read -r directory setup_function <<<"${SESSIONS[$session_name]}"
++  for session_config in "${SESSIONS[@]}"; do
++    IFS=':' read -r session_name directory setup_function <<<"$session_config"
+     create_session "$session_name" "$directory" "$setup_function"
+   done
+```
+
+Here we get additional context like surrounding lines and file name details.
+
+While this is useful on its own, it also has the added benefit of making the
+output compatible with other tools we may already be using. For instance, I'm
+already using [delta](https://github.com/dandavison/delta) as my [git pager](https://github.com/jbranchaud/dotfiles/blob/main/gitconfig#L51) and [git differ](https://github.com/jbranchaud/dotfiles/blob/main/gitconfig#L139).
+
+With the unified format, I can pipe the output directly to `delta` to get a
+better view of the diff that is colorized and includes syntax highlighting.
+
+```bash
+❯ diff -u startup.sh startup2.sh | delta
+```

unix/display-line-numbers-while-using-less.md

@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+# Display Line Numbers While Using Less
+
+Including line numbers while viewing files with `less` can provide useful
+context for understanding where you are within the file. This is especially true
+if you've used `&` to filter down to lines that match a pattern.
+
+You can start `less` with line numbers with the `-N` flag (or `--LINE-NUMBERS`
+if you really want to spell it out).
+
+```bash
+$ less -N log/development.log
+```
+
+If you've already started up `less` and wish you had included line numbers,
+there is no reason to restart it with the flag. Instead, toggle the line numbers
+option on within the `less` process. To do this, type `-N`. It will prompt you
+with `Constantly display line numbers (press RETURN)`. Hit enter and line
+numbers will appear to the left of each line in the file.
+
+Similarly, to toggle line numbers back off within `less`, hit `-n` (lower-case
+`n`), accept the prompt, and back off they go.
+
+Both of these (`-N`/`-n`) are options being set (toggled) via the `-` command.
+There are many other options like these that can be configured within a `less`
+session in the same way.
+
+See `man less` and find the `-` command and the available `OPTIONS`.

unix/format-and-display-small-amounts-of-columnar-data.md

@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+# Format And Display Small Amounts Of Columnar Data
+
+In [_List Processes Running Across All (tmux)
+Sessions](tmux/list-processes-running-across-all-sessions.md), I showed an
+example of piping some data from `tmux` to the `column -t` command to nicely format
+and display the columnar data as a table. By default is uses spaces as the
+delimiter.
+
+```bash
+❯ tmux list-panes -a -F "#{session_name}:#{window_index}.#{pane_index} #{pane_pid} #{pane_current_command}" \
+  | column -t
+
+PLP:1.1             62364  zsh
+TIL:1.1             62345  nvim
+TIL:1.2             65838  task
+TIL:2.1             11428  tmux
+client-app:1.1      62373  ssh
+client-app:1.2      10796  zsh
+client-app:1.3      63081  zsh
+client-app:2.1      61115  overmind
+client-app:3.1      82608  zsh
+visualmode-dev:1.1  52237  zsh
+```
+
+This can be useful for formatting data from all kinds of commands and tools.
+Sometimes the columns of data are separated by something other than spaces. For
+instance, here is some git branch information (for my [dotfiles
+repo](https://github.com/jbranchaud/dotfiles)) separated by the `|` character.
+To format that with `column`, I need to also include the `-s '|'` flag to
+override the delimiter.
+
+```bash
+❯ git for-each-ref --format='%(refname:short)|%(authordate:short)|%(authorname)' refs/heads/ \
+  | column -t -s '|'
+
+claude/sync-dotfiles-011CUP87cRV6c51eEi3Chg99  2025-10-22  jbranchaud
+jb/add-rhubarb-for-fugitive-github-browse      2025-11-02  jbranchaud
+jb/fix-hardcoded-paths                         2025-11-02  jbranchaud
+jb/set-nvim-to-default-manpager                2025-10-19  jbranchaud
+main                                           2026-01-10  jbranchaud
+master                                         2025-10-30  Dorian Karter
+my-dotfiles                                    2025-11-01  jbranchaud
+upstream-master                                2026-01-01  Dorian Karter
+```

unix/inspect-exif-data-for-an-image-file.md

@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+# Inspect EXIF Data For An Image File
+
+The `exiftool` CLI (which can be downloaded via `brew`) is a useful tool for
+inspecting all the EXIF data attached to a media file. A media file like an
+image has a bunch of additional details embedded in it like timestamps, image
+metadata, and sometimes location information.
+
+Here is all the data attached to a screenshot I found on my desktop:
+
+```bash
+❯ exiftool ~/Desktop/CleanShot\ 2025-11-17\ at\ 11.22.18@2x.png
+ExifTool Version Number         : 13.50
+File Name                       : CleanShot 2025-11-17 at 11.22.18@2x.png
+Directory                       : /Users/lastword/Desktop
+File Size                       : 1194 kB
+File Modification Date/Time     : 2025:11:17 11:22:21-06:00
+File Access Date/Time           : 2025:12:15 10:43:55-06:00
+File Inode Change Date/Time     : 2025:12:05 15:37:48-06:00
+File Permissions                : -rw-r--r--
+File Type                       : PNG
+File Type Extension             : png
+MIME Type                       : image/png
+Image Width                     : 2502
+Image Height                    : 1232
+Bit Depth                       : 8
+Color Type                      : RGB with Alpha
+Compression                     : Deflate/Inflate
+Filter                          : Adaptive
+Interlace                       : Noninterlaced
+XMP Toolkit                     : XMP Core 6.0.0
+Y Resolution                    : 144
+Resolution Unit                 : inches
+X Resolution                    : 144
+Exif Image Width                : 2502
+Color Space                     : sRGB
+User Comment                    : Screenshot
+Exif Image Height               : 1232
+SRGB Rendering                  : Perceptual
+Image Size                      : 2502x1232
+Megapixels                      : 3.1
+```
+
+This works with other kinds of media files. For instance, I ran this against an
+MP4 screen recording file which contained even more metadata.
+
+In addition to reading data, `exiftool` can also write it. See `man exiftool`
+for more details on what else it can do.

unix/show-tree-view-of-processes-and-subprocesses.md

@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+# Show Tree View Of Processes And Subprocesses
+
+Though you can cobble together a command on a MacOS Unix system to output a
+hierarchical tree view of a parent process and its descendent subprocesses, it
+is easier to [`brew install pstree`](https://github.com/FredHucht/pstree) and
+use that.
+
+Here is what I see when I run it for a _pid_ that corresponds to a `tmux`
+session that I have running locally:
+
+```bash
+❯ pstree 61690
+-+= 61690 lastword tmux new-session -d -s TIL -c /Users/lastword/dev/jbranchaud/til
+ |--= 63081 lastword /bin/zsh
+ |-+= 11428 lastword zsh
+ | \-+= 48511 lastword pstree 61690
+ |   \--- 48512 root ps -axwwo user,pid,ppid,pgid,command
+ |-+= 62345 lastword zsh
+ | \--= 06031 lastword claude
+ |--= 62364 lastword /bin/zsh
+ |-+= 62373 lastword zsh
+ | \--= 64407 lastword ssh my-app-staging
+ |-+= 61115 lastword /bin/zsh
+ | \-+= 61579 lastword overmind start -f Procfile.dev
+ |   \--- 61586 lastword tmux -C -L overmind-my-app-abc123 new -n web -s my-app -P -F %overmind-process #{pane_id} web #{pane_pid} /var/folders/zc/abc123/T/overmin
+ |--= 52237 lastword /bin/zsh
+ |--= 82608 lastword /bin/zsh
+ \--= 10796 lastword /bin/zsh
+```
+
+I was looking for a frozen `claude` process that was part of this session. And I
+found it about halfway down that list -- `06031`. Now I can run `kill` on that
+process as needed.
+
+For some additional context, I initially found the _pid_ for the `tmux` session
+by running `ps aux | grep tmux` and looking through those results.

unix/use-negative-lookbehind-matching-with-ripgrep.md

@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+# Use Negative Lookbehind Matching With ripgrep
+
+The most straightforward way to use `ripgrep` is to hand it a pattern. It will
+take that pattern and move forward through each file trying to find matches.
+
+```bash
+$ rg 'TwilioClient\.new'
+```
+
+That will find all occurrences of `TwilioClient.new` in available project files.
+
+What if that pattern is too permissive though? That is going to match on
+occurrences of `TwilioClient.new` as well as things like
+`LoggingTwilioClient.new`. If we want to exclude the latter, there are a few
+ways to do that. One of them being the use of [the _negative lookbehind_ regex
+feature](https://www.pcre.org/current/doc/html/pcre2syntax.html#SEC23) that is
+available with PCRE2 (Perl-Compatible Regular Expressions).
+
+A _negative lookbehind_ is like a standard pattern. We look forward through the
+document for the base pattern (like `TwilioClient\.new`). However, once we find
+that match, we then look back at the previous characters and if they match our
+negative lookbehind pattern, then it is no longer a positive match.
+
+We can use one of the following to forms to achieve this:
+
+```
+  (?<!...)                    )
+  (*nlb:...)                  ) negative lookbehind
+  (*negative_lookbehind:...)  )
+```
+
+For instance, here is what this looks like for our example:
+
+```bash
+$ rg -P '(?<!Logging)TwilioClient\.new'
+```
+
+Note: we have to use the `-P` flag to tell `ripgrep` that we are using PCRE2
+syntax. Otherwise, it assumes a simpler regex syntax that doesn't support
+_negative lookbehind_.
+
+See `man rg` for more details.