bin | ||
cheat | ||
.gitignore | ||
CHANGELOG | ||
CONTRIBUTING.md | ||
LICENSE | ||
README.md | ||
setup.py |
cheat
cheat
allows you to create and view interactive cheatsheets on the
command-line. It was designed to help remind *nix system administrators of
options for commands that they use frequently, but not frequently enough to
remember.
cheat
depends only on python
and pip
.
PyPI status:
Example
The next time you're forced to disarm a nuclear weapon without consulting Google, you may run:
cheat tar
You will be presented with a cheatsheet resembling:
# To extract an uncompressed archive:
tar -xvf /path/to/foo.tar
# To extract a .gz archive:
tar -xzvf /path/to/foo.tgz
# To create a .gz archive:
tar -czvf /path/to/foo.tgz /path/to/foo/
# To extract a .bz2 archive:
tar -xjvf /path/to/foo.tgz
# To create a .bz2 archive:
tar -cjvf /path/to/foo.tgz /path/to/foo/
To see what cheatsheets are availble, run cheat -l
.
Note that, while cheat
was designed primarily for *nix system administrators,
it is agnostic as to what content it stores. If you would like to use cheat
to store notes on your favorite cookie recipes, feel free.
Installing
Using pip
sudo pip install cheat
Using homebrew
brew install cheat
Manually
First install the required python dependencies with:
sudo pip install docopt pygments
Then, clone this repository, cd
into it, and run:
sudo python setup.py install
Modifying Cheatsheets
The value of cheat
is that it allows you to create your own cheatsheets - the
defaults are meant to serve only as a starting point, and can and should be
modified.
Cheatsheets are stored in the ~/.cheat/
directory, and are named on a
per-keyphrase basis. In other words, the content for the tar
cheatsheet lives
in the ~/.cheat/tar
file.
Provided that you have an EDITOR
environment variable set, you may edit
cheatsheets with:
cheat -e foo
If the 'foo' cheatsheet already exists, it will be opened for editing. Otherwise, it will be created automatically.
After you've customized your cheatsheets, I urge you to track ~/.cheat/
along
with your dotfiles.
Configuring
Setting a DEFAULT_CHEAT_DIR
Personal cheatsheets are saved in the ~/.cheat
directory by default, but you
can specify a different default by exporting a DEFAULT_CHEAT_DIR
environment
variable:
export DEFAULT_CHEAT_DIR=/path/to/my/cheats
Setting a CHEATPATH
You can additionally instruct cheat
to look for cheatsheets in other
directories by exporting a CHEATPATH
environment variable:
export CHEATPATH=/path/to/my/cheats
You may, of course, append multiple directories to your CHEATPATH
:
export CHEATPATH=$CHEATPATH:/path/to/more/cheats
You may view which directories are on your CHEATPATH
with cheat -d
.
Enabling Syntax Highlighting
cheat
can apply syntax highlighting to your cheatsheets if so desired. To
enable this feature, set a CHEATCOLORS
environment variable:
export CHEATCOLORS=true
Enabling Command-line Autocompletion
The cheat/autocompletion
directory contains scripts to enable command-line
autocompletion for various shells. To activate autocompletion, simply copy the
appropriate script to the appropriate path on your system. (The "appropriate
path" will vary on a per-platform basis, so this documentation shall not
speculate as to where that may be.)
Related Projects
-
lucaswerkmeister/cheats: An implementation of this concept in pure bash that also allows not only for numerical indexing of subcomands but also supports running commands interactively.
-
jahendrie/cheat: A bash-only implementation that additionally allows for cheatsheets to be created and
grep
searched from the command-line. (jahendrie contributed key ideas to this project as well.) -
cheat
RubyGem: A clever gem from 2006 that clearly had similar motivations. It is unclear whether or not it is currently maintained. -
tldr
: "Simplified and community-driven man pages".