halp aims to help find the correct arguments for command-line tools by checking the predefined list of commonly used options/flags. Additionally, it provides a prompt for quick access to the manual page or cheat sheet of the given command.
If you deal with command-line tools often, it might take some time to figure out how to get help or check the version of a particular command (especially when shell completions are not available). In that case, you might try the most-known flags such as -h and -v but unfortunately not all the command-line tools follow these conventions (either due to conflicts with other flags or they just use another form). Instead of brute-forcing manually into getting help, you can run halp <command> and it will check the following arguments for you:
- for help:
-h,--help,help,-H - for version info:
-v,-V,--version,version
If one of these arguments succeeds (with exit code 0), it prints the output and exits. This way, you can get informed about the version and help in one single command. You can also customize this list with a configuration file or provide a list of arguments via command-line arguments.
On the other hand, if you really need help, you can use the plz subcommand which will prompt a selection for:
Table of Contents
Have you ever experienced this:
$ cli_tool -v
unknown flag -v$ cli_tool -V
unknown flag -V$ cli_tool -h
unknown flag -h$ asdjw1jwhdajh1idojad # frustration
bash: asdjw1jwhdajh1idojad: command not found$ cli_tool --help # f*cking finally!
Some CLI Tool Version 1.42.69
Usage:
cli_tool <flags> <args> [--parameter1 value1 --parameter2 value2 ...]Whereas with halp:
$ halp cli_tool
(°ロ°) checking 'cli_tool -v'
(×﹏×) fail '-v' argument not found.
(°ロ°) checking 'cli_tool -V'
(×﹏×) fail '-V' argument not found.
(°ロ°) checking 'cli_tool -h'
(×﹏×) fail '-h' argument not found.
(°ロ°) checking 'cli_tool --help'
\(^ヮ^)/ success '--help' argument found!
Some CLI Tool Version 1.42.69
Usage:
cli_tool <flags> <args> [--parameter1 value1 --parameter2 value2 ...]
Packaging status
halp can be installed from crates.io:
cargo install halpThe minimum supported Rust version is 1.74.1.
halp can be installed from the community repository using pacman:
pacman -S halpOr you can install the available AUR packages using an AUR helper. For example,
paru -S halp-gitAlternatively, you can clone the AUR package and then build it with makepkg. For example,
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/halp-git.git && cd halp-git && makepkg -siDocker builds are automated and images are available in the following registries:
The following commands can be used to get help for a binary inside the container:
docker run --rm -it "orhunp/halp:${TAG:-latest}" whoami
docker run --rm -it "orhunp/halp:${TAG:-latest}" plz whoamiOr you can provide a custom binary as follows (please note that you might get shared library errors):
docker run -v "bin:/app/bin:rw" --rm -it "orhunp/halp:${TAG:-latest}" -v ./binCustom Docker images can be built from the Dockerfile:
docker build -t halp .See the available binaries for different targets from the releases page. They are automated via Continuous Deployment workflow
Release tarballs are signed with the following PGP key: 0xFB41AE0358378256
- Clone the repository.
git clone https://github.com/orhun/halp && cd halp/- Build.
CARGO_TARGET_DIR=target cargo build --releaseBinary will be located at target/release/halp.
halp [OPTIONS] <CMD>
Options:
--check <ARG> Sets the argument to check
--no-version Disable checking the version information
--no-help Disable checking the help information
-c, --config <PATH> Sets the configuration file [env: HALP_CONFIG=]
-t, --timeout <S> Sets the timeout for the command [default: 5]
-v, --verbose Enables verbose logging
-h, --help Print help
-V, --version Print version
halp [OPTIONS] plz <CMD>
Options:
-m, --man-cmd <MAN_CMD> Sets the manual page command to run
--cheat-sh-url <URL> Use a custom URL for cheat.sh [env: CHEAT_SH_URL=]
-p, --pager <PAGER> Sets the pager to use
--no-pager Disables the pager
-h, --help Print help
halp whoami
halp --check "\--silent" zps(You can escape - with using \-.)
You can also provide multiple arguments as follows:
halp --check "help" --check "test" menyokihalp --no-version sha512sumhalp --no-help sha512sumhalp --verbose git-cliffThis will result in stderr/stdout being printed if there was an error. For example:
(°ロ°) checking 'git-cliff -v'
(×﹏×) fail '-v' argument not found.
(o_O) debug
stdout:
WARN git_cliff > "cliff.toml" is not found, using the default configuration.
ERROR git_cliff > Git error: `could not find repository from '.'; class=Repository (6); code=NotFound (-3)`halp plz vim
halp plz --pager bat vimTo disable the pager:
halp plz --no-pager bat vimhalp plz --cheat-sh-url https://cht.sh vimhalp can be configured with a configuration file that uses the TOML format. It can be specified via --config or HALP_CONFIG environment variable. It can also be placed in one of the following global locations:
<config_dir>/halp.toml<config_dir>/halp/halp.toml<config_dir>/halp/config
<config_dir> depends on the platform as shown in the following table:
| Platform | Value | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Linux | $XDG_CONFIG_HOME or $HOME/.config |
/home/orhun/.config |
| macOS | $HOME/Library/Application Support |
/Users/Orhun/Library/Application Support |
| Windows | {FOLDERID_RoamingAppData} |
C:\Users\Orhun\AppData\Roaming |
See halp.toml for the default configuration values.
If you find halp and/or other projects on my GitHub profile useful, consider supporting me on GitHub Sponsors or becoming a patron!
See our Contribution Guide and please follow the Code of Conduct in all your interactions with the project.
Licensed under either of Apache License Version 2.0 or The MIT License at your option.
🦀 ノ( º _ º ノ) - respect crables!
Copyright © 2023-2024, Orhun Parmaksız
