how2: stackoverflow from the terminal


how2 finds the simplest way to do something in a unix shell.
It's like man, but you can query it in natural language:

!Demo of using how2

Install

You can install it via npm:

npm install -g how-2

if it gives you EACCES errors, you need to fix npm permissions. Or you can just use sudo npm install -g how-2 if you don't care.

Usage

If you don't specify a language it defaults to Bash unix command line.
how2 tries to give you immediately the most likely answer:

!how2 unzip bz2

After that you can press SPACE to go to the interactive mode, where you can choose a different stackoverflow question/answer.

!how2 interactive mode

!how2 interactive mode 2

You can use -l lang to find answers for other languages:

!-l python

Copy-Paste with mouse

When you are in "interactive mode" (after you press SPACE), if you want to copy-paste more than one line you can use block-select:

With Ubuntu try holding Ctrl+Alt before you select, or Alt+Cmd if you're in iTerm on Mac.

(thanks to @danielkop for this suggestion).

Can i use it behind Proxy ?

Yes, you need to use HTTP_PROXY or HTTPS_PROXY environment variables.

For example, you could alias the proxy seetings in your ~/.bash_profile:

alias how2="HTTPS_PROXY='your_proxy:8888' how2"

How does it work?

It uses Google and Stackoverflow APIs, because Stackoverflow search on its own doesn't
works as well.

Why?

Because I can never remember how to do certain things. And reading man pages always takes too long.

!XKCD

Taken from https://xkcd.com/1168/