The two most productivity increasing Bash functions ever written.

productivity.sh

function worktime {
  echo "# WORKTIME" | sudo tee -a /etc/hosts > /dev/null
  while read -r line; do
    echo "127.0.0.1 ${line}"
  done < $HOME/.blocked_sites | sudo tee -a /etc/hosts > /dev/null
}

function slacktime {
  flag=0
  while read -r line; do
    [[ $line =~ "# WORKTIME" ]] && flag=1
    [[ $flag -eq 1 ]] && continue
    echo $line
  done < /etc/hosts > /tmp/hosts

  sudo cp /tmp/hosts /etc/hosts
}

Two Bash functions to help with productivity:

• worktime appends the contents of $HOME/.blocked_sites to the end of /etc/hosts.
• slacktime removes the contents added by worktime

the contents of .blocked_sites just need to be the domains you want to avoid. One per line.

Example:

twitter.com 
www.youtube.com 
youtube.com 
facebook.com

Attempting to go to sites included in .blocked_sites once worktime has been called will send the user to localhost until /etc/hosts has had those lines removed either manually or by calling slacktime

@samullen very helpful, thanks. what's the setup needed for the landing page you describe on your blog post?

Cool stuff! I also added a block and an unblock function (I am super lazy!)

Also, add this to your sudoers-file to avoid typing your password every time you switck to workmode/slackmode:

username ALL=(root) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/tee -a /etc/hosts
username ALL=(root) NOPASSWD: /bin/cp /tmp/hosts /etc/hosts

@shime You have to set up a local Webserver listening on Port 80, serving said landing page.