Error in Sybex Linux+ guide?

Is it just me or did anybody notice the error the author, Roderick Smith made when he said the netstat command is the Swiss Army knife of network tool? He mentioned this a few times. This can be found on page 413 and 481.

I've read many sources claiming that it's really netcat command that's the Swiss Army knife. I can see how he gets them mixed up due to similar pronunciation. Is he not wrong? Because I never heard of this until I read his book.

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Comments

5ekurity

I don't know that it's an 'error' as much as it is the author's opinion of netstat and the functionality it provides...but netstat and netcat are two very different tools.

hiddenknight821

I assumed it's an error, because of the similar spelling and pronunciation. From what I understand, the netstat command is simply a tool to display connectivity information occurring in the system, and that's the only thing it does. Display information and nothing more. I'm not sure how that's defined as a Swiss army knife. It's a bad opinion, IMO.

The netcat command, on the the other hand, is pretty versatile. You can craft packets, create HTTP requests, and scan TCP/UDP ports, create client/server sockets, transfer files, and etc. This command can be considered a superset of telnet command. In that respect, I can understand how it can be claimed as the Swiss army knife of networking tool. If you do a google search, "linux swiss army knife", you'd see netcat listed, but netstat is nowhere to be found in the top search results.