Bash shortcuts that I always find useful. Source it from your .bashrc so it is always available (on Ubuntu, you can simply name it ~/.bash_aliases)

shortcuts.sh

# When the given command terminated, run it again unless interrupted
retry() {
        while :; do
                "$@"

                tput bold; tput setaf 1
                echo "Retrying $1 (Ctrl-C to cancel)"
                tput sgr0

                sleep .5
        done
}

# Create a directory, then change into it
mkcd() {
        mkdir $1
        cd $1
}

# Remove the current directory, and end up in the parent directory
rmcd() {
        cd ..
        rm -r $OLDPWD
}

# Shorter way to shutdown
off() {
        sudo shutdown -h now
}