From time to time, we all done that – accidentally used less or cat to list a file, and ended up viewing binary instead. This usually involves all sorts of control codes that can easily screw up your terminal display. There will be beeping. There will be funny characters. There will be odd color combinations. At the end of it, your font will be replaced with hieroglyphics and you don’t know what to do. Well, bash is obviously still working, but you just can’t read what’s actually going on! Send the terminal an initialization command:

reset

and all will be OK again.

Tags | Howto, Linux, Tips and Tricks