Using the terminal is something any developer will eventually need. It is part of my daily routine to perform almost all of my development activities in a terminal, mastering this skill is something that will certainly boost your productivity and make you learn how to use any command-line interface (CLI) faster. # How to read a Manual When you wish to read the manual or help section of any command-line, it is pretty straightforward, just run: `man ` or ` --help` and it should give you some instructions on how to do it, right? But do you know how to read these manuals properly? For instance, by running: ``` man git ``` It will give you this man page. ![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/l8nvnasqjvhxc9jlq7po.png) You can navigate it by using the arrow keys and quit using `q` Do you understand what this section means with its symbols and conventions? ``` git [-v | --version] [-h | --help] [-C ] [-c =] [--exec-path[=]] [--html-path] [--man-path] [--info-path] [-p|--paginate|-P|--no-pager] [--no-replace-objects] [--bare] [--git-dir=] [--work-tree=] [--namespace=] [--super-prefix=] [--config-env==] [] ``` ## Alternatives Let's analyze the part: ``` git [-v | --version] ``` The pipe (`|`) character means that you can use one option or the other. This can mean that both option would either be mutually exclusive (or would not make sense) ![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/j8cda3n6sbmmmxcwv1nk.png) ## Optional and Required Arguments The brackets inside the brackets (`[]`) means the argument is optional, so you are not required to insert any of them unless you want to explicitly use them. ``` git [-v | --version] [...] [] │ │ │ │ │ │ └────────────────┴────────────────┴─ All Optional ``` Arguments inside lesser and greater than symbols `<>` are always required. ``` git [-v | --version] [...] [] │ │ Required ``` This shows us that the only mandatory argument when using the `git` command is an argument named `` that should be positioned before all of these optional arguments, and after this, there are some optional arguments that can be set after it. ```bash # Simplified documentation git [] ``` ## Conventions There are some argument conventions that most command-line utilities use and can make your life easier when understanding command-line usage. ### Short Options Several command-line offer short options for common used arguments, for instance the `ls` command: ``` -a, --all do not ignore entries starting with. -l use a long listing format -h, --human-readable with -l and -s, print sizes like 1K 234M 2G etc. ``` The short options are usually prefixed by a single hyphen (`-`) (e.g.: `-a`), long options are usually prefixed by double hyphen `--` (e.g.: `--all`). ### Combining arguments Some command-line software support combining short options by simply putting everything together, for instance, these two commands produce the same output: ``` ls -lah ls -l -a -h ``` ### Arguments with Parameters Some command-line software support arguments with parameters, one common convention is to be able to use both of them indicated by space or by `=` sign. ``` # These are the same git commit -a --author="Name " git commit -a --author "Name " ``` Sometimes a parameter can appear immediately after the option: ``` grep "Text to Find" * -R -n2 │ └─ Shows two lines before and after the found text ``` ## Navigating the man pages When navigating the manual or help pages or a particular command, it is common that they are presented in the `less` command, in which you can navigate the manual using the arrow up and down keyboard keys. But you can also navigate it using: ``` Page Up -> Navigate one page (screen size) up Page Down -> Navigate one page (screen size) down Home -> Go to the beginning Down -> Go to the end ``` You can also perform search with: `/`, and it will search for the pattern you've typed. After searching you can navigate by using: ``` n -> Go to the next result N -> Go to the previous result ``` If you wish to learn more about `less`, you can check: ``` man less ``` Also, now you can finally RTFM

nihey

Mastering the Linux Terminal / Command-Line

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