Converting decimal numbers to binary in Bash is straightforward using the bc (basic calculator) command. This is especially useful for scripting, network calculations, or low-level debugging. The core trick uses obase=2 to set binary output in bc. For example, to convert a single number: echo “obase=2; 42” | bc # Output: 101010 To generate a formatted list—like 8-bit binary strings…
Author: Pavel Espinal
Universal Ctags –exclude Not Working? You’re Not Crazy — Here’s Why
If you’ve been frustrated because Universal Ctags keeps scanning directories like node_modules, .git, or vendor — even though you explicitly told it to ignore them with –exclude — you’re not alone. And it’s not your fault. The issue isn’t your syntax; it’s the order of your command. The key detail, buried in the man page, is this: “<options> must…
Solved: A Step-by-Step Guide to PHP Debugging in Docker with Vim and Xdebug 3
Setting up PHP debugging in Docker can feel convoluted, especially when connecting Vim on your local machine to Xdebug running inside a container. This guide cuts through the noise and provides a clear, two-part setup for configuring Vim (with Vdebug) and Docker’s Xdebug, so you can start debugging with confidence. Part 1: Configuring the Client (Vim & Vdebug) for PHP…
Solved: Docker ‘Connection Reset’ with Cloudflare Warp
You’re here because you’ve already tried everything. Your Docker containers are completely unreachable when Cloudflare Warp is active. You get Connection reset, timeouts, or just plain silence. Disconnecting Warp makes it all work, but that’s not a fix—it’s a surrender. You’ve probably already scoured forums, tried adding exclusion rules that didn’t stick, and are about to give up. Stop. You’ve…
How to encrypt and decrypt text in bash
Sometimes you need to encrypt a text string or a whole file because it is not recommended (or desirable) to use it as is. What to do if you see yourself in this situation? Make use of the openssl command. The openssl program is a command line tool for using the various cryptography functions of OpenSSL’s crypto library from the…
FreeBSD: how to enable clipboard on Vim
If you have asked yourself “how to enable clipboard on Vim?” or “is it possible to access the system clipboard on Vim?“, the answer is: yes. This is how you can do it. Note: in this example I’m using FreeBSD, but the principle is the same in other *nixes. First, you need to get sure that you installed Vim package…
How To Install and Configure PHP-FPM and Apache 2.4 on FreeBSD
Are you looking for instructions about how to install PHP-FPM on FreeBSD or how to configure Apache 2.4 and PHP-FPM? Keep on reading. This is how I did it on my FreeBSD laptop. NOTE: I’m assuming you are in a hurry and want to get to the point ASAP. While I’m using FreeBSD at the time of this writing, the…
Use of undefined constant SIGINT
Recently, while setting up a FreeBSD laptop, I was configuring Phpactor as Language Server for PHP. The idea was to have it working in Vim through the YouCompleteMe plugin. While trying to start the Phpactor server, I received the following error (among others): Use of undefined constant SIGINT – assumed ‘SIGINT’ (this will throw an Error in a future version…
Vdebug: Xdebug not showing full array contents
Have you ever tried to debug some PHP code in Vim just to find that Xdebug won’t show the full array contents? Fortunately the DBGP protocol allows you to set features for debugging, such as the max length of data that the debugger returns. You can set these features in the Vim dictionary g:vdebug_features, and they will be sent to…
Bash API Contract Testing
We have been doing some API development at work, and at one point we started evaluating tools for API contract testing. One of the explored approaches was drafting a bash script that glued some native Linux tools together in order to achieve the desired results. That’s how this tool came to be. It is a proof of concept (POC) used…