EBooks have many advantages compared to paperback and hardcover books. An eBook is more accessible, convenient, affordable, and portable. The eBooks can be delivered to a range of digital devices, such as Computers, Tablet PCs, Smartphones and Kindle e-reader devices. There are plethora of graphical Ebook readers available. However, there are only a few applications exists to read eBooks from commandline. Today we will discuss about one such application. Say hello to epy, a CLI ebook reader developed for the command line inhabitants.
Table of Contents
What is Epy?
Epy is a free, open source, command line ebook reader written in Python. It supports many ebook formats, such as Epub (.epub, .epub3), FictionBook (.fb2), Mobi (.mobi), and AZW3 (.azw3). Please note that image is not yet supported in mobi format and only some formats of .azw3 ebooks are supported.
Epy displays the progress percentage as you read through the pages. It allows you to bookmark a specific page and integrate external dictionary.
Install epy ebook reader in Linux
Epy can be installed using Pip package manager. If you haven't installed Pip yet, refer the following guide:
After installing Pip, install epy as shown below:
$ pip3 install git+https://github.com/wustho/epy
Read Ebooks From Commandline With Epy Ebook Reader
To read an eBook using epy, simply provide the path of the ebook like below:
$ epy path/to/ebook/
Example:
$ epy The\ Last\ Lecture.epub
Now, start reading the ebook:
Use UP/DOWN arrows to navigate through the pages. Press q to exit.
If you don't specify a path of the ebook file name, epy will open the last accessed ebook from history.
Epy displays the progress percentage on the top right corner as you scroll through the pages.
All accessed books by epy will be saved in the reading history. You can retrieve the books saved in the history using -r flag.
$ epy -r Reading history: 1 ~/Downloads/The Last Lecture.epub 2* ~/Downloads/how to code in python.epub
The last accessed ebook file will be marked with an asterisk.
You can read read a specific eBook from the history with associated NUMBER like below:
$ epy 2
Epy can also open ebooks from history based on matching search strings. For example, to open an ebook that contains a string "lecture", simply run the following command:
$ epy lecture
If epy couldn't find the ebooks that have given strings, it will always open the last accessed ebook.
For help, run:
$ epy --help
Usages:
epy read last epub
epy EPUBFILE read EPUBFILE
epy STRINGS read matched STRINGS from history
epy NUMBER read file from history
with associated NUMBER
Options:
-r print reading history
-d dump epub
-h, --help print short, long helpResource:
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