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There is the man pages if you know a program, but don't
know how to use it.
But what if you don't know what programs to even use in
the first place?
Maybe having these commands might be useful:
"How <query>" e.g. "How do I change a directory" (ans:
"use
the cd command. Type 'man cd'
for more info")
"What <query>" e.g. "What is ls?" (That's the man page
right?)
"Where <query>" (tho... doesn't "search" do that already?)
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Looks inside it's own database, else prompts if you want
to
check online in various FAQ database... or first entry in
stackoverflow (or maybe you can add a switch?)
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Alternative program name:
Could use "FAQ" instead of "HOW". e.g.
FAQ how do i change directory?
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Some possible structure:
How do I <verb> <noun> ? (e.g. How do I change
directory?)
How do I <verb> <noun> to a <noun> ? (e.g. How do I
convert
png to gif ?)
How for <noun> do I <verb> <noun> ? (e.g. How for
windows
shell do I change directory ? )
bro - This looks like a good backend repository of potential answers
http://bropages.org/
bro pages are a highly readable supplement to man pages bro pages show concise, common-case examples for Unix commands [mofosyne, Mar 26 2016]
tldr program
https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr
A collection of simplified and community-driven man pages. [mofosyne, Mar 26 2016]
cheat
https://github.com/chrisallenlane/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. [mofosyne, Mar 26 2016]
proposal for command search in tldr
https://github.com/...ges/tldr/issues/273
[mofosyne, Mar 26 2016]
Baked, in a way, and in wide use: the howdoi command
https://github.com/gleitz/howdoi
Project started in 2012 [notexactly, Mar 27 2016]
[link]
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Type this on the command line: |
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apropos -a change to directory |
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(Hmmm... the "-a" (means "match All keywords") works in
Ubuntu; not in Raspbian. However...) |
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apropos directory | grep "change" |
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seems to work. (It won't find matches for "change" in the
body of the man page, just in the title.) |
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// DIR command on windows // |
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DIR goes back looong before windoze ran as a native OS .... back before MSDOS was even thought of. CAT ("CATALOG") was used by some command line OS's. Unix and its descendants have always used "ls". |
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Further back, machines like the IBM s/34 referred to "libraries" as the collective noun for grouped files. |
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Online help is very, very Baked and WKTE. Typing "?" at the command prompt will usually give a summary list of available commands. Typing <command> followed by ?, -?, /? or \? will generally elicit more detail on the specific command; sometimes it's "h" instead of "?". |
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HELP <command> is also well known. |
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I need to know where to find these Man Pages. I did not realize there were instructions. I have been pretty much winging it. |
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Me I usually type a query into Google. What is the 'command line' thing you speak of, and why does it give me bad memories of flashing green cursors, the computer equivalent of drumming its fingers at me? Be gone, command line syntax. Be gone, DOS. Be gone, conventional / extended / expanded / highmem / autoexec.bat / config.sys / io.sys / VOLUME IN DRIVE C HAS NO LABEL. |
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Be gone: ls, chmod, who, finger, grep, emacs, rlogin, ftp. |
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I shall not spend another minute of my life on any of it. |
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Unfortunately this idea requires a level of natural language
processing that most OS's don't have. Since it might be a
"folder", a "directory", a "location", a "container", a "box", a
"drawer", etc. (And yes, I know only folder and directory
are the only ones in common usage, but someone else may
not). |
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Ian Tindale, Jul 20 2015 - Corrected. |
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MechE, Jul 20 2015 - You can suggest predefined
structures
like "How do I <action> a/to/etc... <object>", and have
various entry provide multiple trigger words if needed.
Basically when typing "how help" or "man how", you could
get some basic structures to keep to. |
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If that does work, you could even also provide a
simplified
structure like "How change directory". |
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Alternatively, if it cannot find an answer, it could
probably point you to stack overflow lol. |
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The basic problem, here, is surely just the fact that
computers are still at an incredibly primitive stage of
development. |
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With luck, things like "syntax", "program", "database"
and "format" will be consigned to the rubbish pit of
history within a few decades, and children will laugh
at the quaint and archaic way we had to learn how to
communicate with computers, rather than vice
versa. |
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