Home Arch Linux How To Search The Arch Wiki Website From Commandline

How To Search The Arch Wiki Website From Commandline

By sk
Published: Last Updated on 1.5K views

Now, you can search the Arch Wiki website from commandline. No, It's not a joke. You can browse the Arch Wiki page right from your Terminal. You don't have to open text-mode browsers such as lynx or you don't even need a GUI or any third party tools. All you need is a simple commandline utility called arch-wiki-cli. This simple script gets you to Arch Wiki page instantly and you can immediately start searching the Arch Wiki from the console.

In this brief guide, let me explain you how to install arch-wiki-cli script and use it in Arch Linux and its derivatives.

Search The Arch Wiki Website From Commandline

To use arch-wiki, you need to install one of the following packages - elinks or links or lynx.

I prefer lynx, so I installed it using command:

$ sudo pacman -S lynx

Then, install arch-wiki-cli script. It is available in AUR, so you can install it using any AUR helpers such as Yay.

After installing the AUR helper, run the following command to install arch-wiki-cli script.

$ yay -S arch-wiki-cli

On other systems, run this command to install it:

$ wget -O - https://goo.gl/gsAO4J | sh

Now, Let us do some real time quick search in Arch wiki website from the console.

Let us say you want to configure Apache server. What will you do? Open a web browser and do quick search in Google? That's not necessary. Enter the following command in your Terminal:

$ arch-wiki "configure apache"

Voila! Here is the help links from Arch Wiki website right from the Terminal.

Arch wiki in command line

Arch wiki in command line

Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to move top or bottom of the search results. Use RIGHT arrow key to follow/open a link or LEFT arrow key to move back. Press Space bar to move to the next page. Press q to quit. At first, it seems to be bit confusing. After a while, you'll get used to it.

You can also use Arch Wiki in different languages. Say for example, run the following command to display the search results for the query 'apache http server' from Arch Wiki page in Italian language.

$ arch-wiki --language Italiano apache http server

Use UP or DOWN arrow keys to select the results in Italian language and press RIGHT arrow to view the page.

Here is the result to the search term 'apache http server' in Italian language.

To go to the next page, press Space bar.

To update this script, simply run:

$ arch-wiki --update

For more details about arch-wiki-cli script usage, run the following command:

$ arch-wiki --help

Suggested read:


And, that's all for now. I will be soon here with another interesting guide. If you find this guide useful, please share it on your social networks and support OSTechNix.

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