Monday, April 1, 2019

Useful Helpful Expedient Help for Programs on GNU/Linux

A Quick List:


  • tldr :: (tl;dr == "too long didn't read") I installed as "tealdeer"
  • eg :: gives examples for a given program
  • GNU help2man ::  I haven't used, but it makes a man page from "--help" listing
  • cheat :: cheat sheet for a given program

Where I'm coming from: 
  One of the things I like the best about GNU is the Man Pages.  It was, I think, a mandate: anyone can write a utility for a Unix-like Operating System, a system which is made up of multitudinous little programs that work together.  Today, it is becoming more common NOT to follow that convention.

  The man page format is something else, however: it seems to assume that the GNU/Linux user (and any Unix-like OS user) is able to read that crazy listing of arcane specs about a program.

TLDR solves my problem, which is the inconvenience of reading through a lengthy man page to figure out how to run a program.


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