Master Linux Cheat: Quick Command Reference and Installation Guide

When you need to execute a Linux command with many options, most people turn to man, help, whereis, or whatis, but these can be verbose and hard to read, especially for non‑native English speakers.

The cheat command offers a lightweight solution by showing only practical usage examples for a command.

Example: $ cheat tar The output (shown in the image below) displays concise examples of the tar command.

Installation

cheat depends on Python and pip. Install Python first:

# apt-get install python    # On Debian‑based systems

# yum install python        # On RedHat‑based systems

Then install pip:

# apt-get install python-pip    # Debian

# yum install python-pip        # RedHat

Next, install git (required to clone the cheat repository):

# apt-get install git    # Debian

# yum install git        # RedHat

Install Python dependencies for cheat: # pip install docopt pygments Clone the cheat source from GitHub: # git clone https://github.com/chrisallenlane/cheat.git Enter the directory and install:

# cd cheat

# python setup.py install

Verify the installation:

# cheat -v

cheat 2.0.9

Configuration

Add an editor variable to ~/.bashrc (replace nano with your preferred editor): export EDITOR=/usr/bin/nano Enable autocomplete by downloading the script and moving it to the completion directory:

# wget https://github.com/chrisallenlane/cheat/raw/master/cheat/autocompletion/cheat.bash

# mv cheat.bash /etc/bash_completion.d/

Optional: enable syntax highlighting: export CHEATCOLORS=true Optional: add additional cheat sheets by placing files in ~/.cheat/ or editing with:

# cheat -e xyz

Examples

cheat tar (output shown below):

cheat dd:

cheat uname:

cheat ifconfig:

cheat top:

cheat -l (list all cheat sheets):