How to Install and Use Command Line Cheat Sheets on Ubuntu

Cheat is a Python-based command-line tool that allows system administrators to view and save helpful cheat sheets. It provides quick, text-based examples for commands you use frequently but not often enough to memorize. This tool is particularly useful for remembering command options, arguments, and common usage patterns.

Installing Cheat on Ubuntu

System Update

Before installing Cheat, ensure your system is up to date ?

$ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Installing Python Pip

Cheat is best installed using the Python package manager Pip. Install pip with the following command ?

$ sudo apt-get install python-pip

Installing Cheat

Install cheat using pip ?

$ sudo pip install cheat

The installation output will show the dependencies being downloaded and installed ?

Collecting cheat
  Downloading cheat-2.1.24.tar.gz (42kB)
    100% |????????????????????????????????| 51kB 89kB/s
Collecting docopt>=0.6.1 (from cheat)
  Downloading docopt-0.6.2.tar.gz
Collecting pygments>=1.6.0 (from cheat)
  Downloading Pygments-2.1.3-py2.py3-none-any.whl (755kB)
    100% |????????????????????????????????| 757kB 892kB/s
Installing collected packages: docopt, pygments, cheat
  Running setup.py install for docopt ... done
  Running setup.py install for cheat ... done
Successfully installed cheat-2.1.24 docopt-0.6.2 pygments-2.1.3

Verifying Installation

Verify the installation by checking the cheat version ?

$ cheat -v

cheat 2.1.24

Setting Up Text Editor

Before creating custom cheat sheets, configure which text editor Cheat should use by default. Set vim as the default editor ?

$ export EDITOR=/usr/bin/vim

Verify the editor setting ?

$ printenv EDITOR

/usr/bin/vim

Making the Setting Permanent

To make this change persistent across shell sessions, add it to your .bashrc file ?

$ nano ~/.bashrc

Add the following line to the file ?

export EDITOR=/usr/bin/vim

Save and exit the file to apply the changes.

Using Cheat

Viewing Existing Cheat Sheets

View a cheat sheet for a specific command, such as the tail command ?

$ cheat tail

# To show the last 10 lines of file
tail file

# To show the last N lines of file
tail -n N file

# To show the last lines of file starting with the Nth
tail -n +N file

# To show the last N bytes of file
tail -c N file

# To show the last 10 lines of file and to wait for file to grow
tail -f file

Listing All Available Cheat Sheets

See all existing cheat sheets with their file paths ?

$ cheat -l

7z           /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/cheat/cheatsheets/7z
ab           /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/cheat/cheatsheets/ab
apk          /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/cheat/cheatsheets/apk
apt          /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/cheat/cheatsheets/apt
bash         /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/cheat/cheatsheets/bash
chmod        /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/cheat/cheatsheets/chmod
curl         /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/cheat/cheatsheets/curl
...

Creating Custom Cheat Sheets

Create a new cheat sheet by specifying a name ?

$ cheat -e tutorialspoint

This opens a blank cheat sheet in your configured editor where you can add custom commands and examples.

Searching Cheat Sheets

Search across all cheat sheets for a specific term ?

$ cheat -s tail

asterisk:
  # To print out the details of SIP accounts:
journalctl:
  # Actively follow log (like tail -f)
tail:
  tail file
  tail -n N file
  tail -n +N file
  tail -c N file
  tail -f file

Conclusion

Cheat provides a simple way to store and quickly access command-line examples. With custom cheat sheet creation and powerful search capabilities, it's an invaluable tool for system administrators and developers who work frequently with the command line.