bb_improve - another script by me

[Se7enLC]

If you don't spend a lot of time at the command-line, you probably won't want to bother with this. If you DO, however, this might be the hack you're looking for.

This script replaces a lot of built-in utilities with the more functional busybox versions. Some improvements:
With sh (the shell), you can hit the up arrow to scroll through previous commands, and modify them in-line. Also, TAB COMPLETION. If you hit tab, it will try to complete the file name you are typing.
With ls, you can add -al to see file permissions, uid/gid, and sizes. You can even use -h to see human-readable sizes (kb, mb, etc). Files/directories are colorized.
With mount, you no longer need to specify the device and filesystem type when remounting.
With chmod, you can add/remove permissions by name, rather than octal representation.
With top you can see what processes are currently running without it screwing up your terminal
You can now add -r to the rm command to remove files recursively. Same with cp, mv, etc
Modifies pm so that it works with the busybox shell

Many more small little changes I can't remember offhand, but you get the idea.

This script does not have an easy undo option built in! Make a backup before running it, and don't run it if you don't understand what the above commands do.

To install, simply run it once directly from the SD card:

su
sh /sdcard/bb_improve_1.1.txt

You may see some mount errors at the end. If you do, reboot the phone, and you won't see them anymore. Once you've installed it, you don't need the file on your sd card (but I recommend leaving it there so you can easily re-install it after every ROM update)

Script has been updated to work with BB 0.3 - busybox moved from /system/xbin to /system/bin

[Se7enLC]

Still works on BB release 0.2 Froyo

[mr2man07]

Thank you! I missed these commands. I use Cisco's IOS/CatOS and Linux on a daily basis and I absolutely hated using the CLI on Android due to missing these features (Tab complete and last used command).

[ci2019]

Nice Job! I don't spend a lot of time at the terminal but all I can say is "finally, some commands"