on ubuntu, how can I check the author, date/time created, information of a .docx file?

Using ExifTool (Recommended)

ExifTool provides comprehensive metadata, including author, creation date, modification time, and last saved by. 

1. Install ExifTool (if not already installed):
   bash

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install exiftool
   

2. Run the command to view the metadata:
   bash

   exiftool your_document.docx
   

3. To look for specific fields (like Author or Dates) quickly, you can use grep:
   bash

   exiftool your_document.docx | grep -i "Author"
   exiftool your_document.docx | grep -i "Date"
   

    

How can i use a special character as the HTML list item marker?

HTML 

<ul class="special-bullets">
  <li>Item one</li>
  <li>Item two</li>
  <li>Item three</li>
</ul>

CSS

.special-bullets {
  list-style-type: none;      /* remove default bullet */
  padding-left: 1.4em;        /* adjust indent as needed */
}

.special-bullets li::marker {
  content: "★ ";              /* ← your special character + space */
  /* content: "✔ "; */
  /* content: "➜ "; */
  /* content: "🚀 "; */        /* emoji also works */
  color: #e91e63;             /* optional: color the marker */
  font-size: 1.1em;           /* optional: size */
} 

 

You can also style the number in the same way:

ol.fancy-numbers li::marker {
  content: counter(list-item) ". ";   /* default is "1. " */
  color: navy;
  font-weight: bold;
} 

 

How to shrink file size of a pdf file?

sudo apt update
sudo apt install ghostscript

The Compression Command

Use the following command to compress the PDF to a "screen" quality, which is usually sufficient for viewing on monitors or emailing and will easily bring a 3MB file below 2MB: 

bash

gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dCompatibilityLevel=1.4 -dPDFSETTINGS=/screen -dNOPAUSE -dQUIET -dBATCH -sOutputFile=output.pdf input.pdf

• input.pdf: Replace with your original file name.
• output.pdf: The name of the new compressed file. 

Alternative: Better Quality (eBook) 

If the /screen setting makes the text look too blurry, try /ebook (150 dpi), which balances good quality with a smaller file size: 

bash

gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dCompatibilityLevel=1.4 -dPDFSETTINGS=/ebook -dNOPAUSE -dQUIET -dBATCH -sOutputFile=output.pdf input.pdf

Other Options

• -dPDFSETTINGS=/screen: 72 dpi, lowest quality, smallest size (best for >2MB requirement).
• -dPDFSETTINGS=/ebook: 150 dpi, medium quality, better for reading.
• -dPDFSETTINGS=/printer: 300 dpi, high quality, likely to keep the file over 2MB. 

Note: If the PDF contains text only, the file size reduction may be limited. 

Knowing port number, how to kill a process which is using that port?

• Find what's sitting on the port:  

  $ sudo lsof -i :8000 (Replace 8000 with your port)

• Kill that specific listener:  

  $ sudo kill -9 <PID_FROM_LSOF>

If I am running -

$ gunicorn --bind 0.0.0.0:8000 app:app
[2026-02-23 10:38:25 -0500] [250191] [INFO] Starting gunicorn 25.1.0
[2026-02-23 10:38:25 -0500] [250191] [INFO] Listening at: http://0.0.0.0:8000 (250191)
[2026-02-23 10:38:25 -0500] [250191] [INFO] Using worker: sync
[2026-02-23 10:38:25 -0500] [250191] [INFO] Control socket listening at /home/shermanchen/dev/convShop2/gunicorn.ctl
[2026-02-23 10:38:25 -0500] [250193] [INFO] Booting worker with pid: 250193
 

When I run lsof, I get -

$ sudo lsof -i :8000                           
COMMAND     PID        USER   FD   TYPE  DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME                            
gunicorn 250191 shermanchen    3u  IPv4 1077472      0t0  TCP *:8000 (LISTEN)                 
gunicorn 250193 shermanchen    3u  IPv4 1077472      0t0  TCP *:8000 (LISTEN) 

 

If I kill the 'booting worker' pid 250193, the gunicorn will not be killed.  I have to kill the 'listening' pid 250191, to kill the gunicorn process.

$ sudo kill -9 250191

  

If I use ps, I got

$ ps aux | grep gunicorn                       
sherman+  250690  0.0  0.0   9824  2172 pts/1    S+   10:45   0:00 grep --color=auto gunicorn  

Killing pid 250690 will not kill the gunicorn process.

Flask Tutorial - Build a Flask Python Web App from Scratch

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-make-a-web-application-using-flask-in-python-3

 

 

How to sort by time the result of the $ find command?

$ find . -iname "applied*" -type f -printf '%T+ %p\n' | sort -r

 

$ find . -iname "applied*" -type f -printf '%TY-%Tm-%Td %TH:%TM %p\n' | sort -r 

How to create an app password for Gmail?

https://myaccount.google.com/apppasswords