# navi 
[](https://github.com/denisidoro/navi/actions) 
An interactive cheatsheet tool for the command-line and application launchers.
**navi** allows you to browse through cheatsheets (that you may write yourself or download from maintainers) and execute commands. Argument suggestions are prompted to you.
#### Pros
- it will make you type less;
- it will spare you from knowing CLIs by heart;
- it will teach you new one-liners.
It uses [fzf](https://github.com/junegunn/fzf), [skim](https://github.com/lotabout/skim), or [Alfred](https://www.alfredapp.com/) under the hood and it can be either used as a command or as a shell widget (*à la* Ctrl-R).
Table of contents
-----------------
* [Installation](#installation)
* [Using Homebrew or Linuxbrew](#using-homebrew-or-linuxbrew-)
* [Using nix](#using-nix-)
* [Using cargo](#using-cargo)
* [Using install script](#using-install-script)
* [Downloading pre-compiled binaries](#downloading-pre-compiled-binaries)
* [Building from source](#building-from-source)
* [Other package managers](#other-package-managers)
* [Usage](#usage)
* [Shell widget](#shell-widget)
* [Alfred](#alfred)
* [More options](#more-options)
* [Trying out online](#trying-out-online)
* [Cheatsheets](#cheatsheets)
* [Importing cheatsheets](#importing-cheatsheets)
* [Adding your own cheatsheets](#adding-your-own-cheatsheets)
* [Submitting cheatsheets](#submitting-cheatsheets)
* [Cheatsheet syntax](#cheatsheet-syntax)
* [Syntax overview](#syntax-overview)
* [Variables](#variables)
* [Advanced variable options](#advanced-variable-options)
* [Variable dependency](#variable-dependency)
* [Multiline snippets](#multiline-snippets)
* [Variable as multiple arguments](#variable-as-multiple-arguments)
* [List customization](#list-customization)
* [Related projects](#related-projects)
* [Etymology](#etymology)
Installation
------------
### Using [Homebrew](http://brew.sh/) or [Linuxbrew](http://linuxbrew.sh/)
```sh
brew install navi
```
### Using [nix](https://nixos.org/)
```sh
nix-env -iA nixpkgs.navi
```
### Using [cargo](https://github.com/rust-lang/cargo)
```bash
cargo install navi
```
### Using install script
```bash
bash <(curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/denisidoro/navi/master/scripts/install)
# alternatively, to set directories:
# SOURCE_DIR=/opt/navi BIN_DIR=/usr/local/bin bash <(curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/denisidoro/navi/master/scripts/install)
```
### Downloading pre-compiled binaries
You can download binaries [here](https://github.com/denisidoro/navi/releases/latest).
### Building from source
```bash
git clone https://github.com/denisidoro/navi ~/.navi
cd ~/.navi
make install
# alternatively, to set install directory:
# make BIN_DIR=/usr/local/bin install
```
### Other package managers
You can find **navi** for more package managers by clicking on the image below:
[](https://repology.org/project/navi/versions)
Feel free to be the maintainer of **navi** for any package manager you'd like!
Usage
-----
By running `navi` for the first time, you'll be suggested to download some cheatsheets. By running `navi` again, these cheatsheets will appear.
### Shell widget
You can use **navi** as a widget to your shell. This way, your history is correctly populated and you can edit the command as you wish before executing it. To set it up, add this line to your `.bashrc`-like file:
```sh
# bash
source <(echo "$(navi widget bash)")
# zsh
source <(echo "$(navi widget zsh)")
# fish
navi widget fish | source
```
By default, `Ctrl+G` is assigned to launching **navi**.
### Alfred
This is *experimental*. If you face any issues, please report the issue [here](https://github.com/denisidoro/navi/issues/348).
- make sure you have [Alfred Powerpack](https://www.alfredapp.com/powerpack/);
- make sure **navi** is up to date;
- make sure that the `navi` binary is in the `$PATH` determined by `~/.bashrc`;
- download and install the `.alfredworkflow` for the [latest release](https://github.com/denisidoro/navi/releases/latest).
### More options
Please refer to `navi --help` for more details.
Trying out online
--------------------
If you don't have access to a Unix shell at the moment and you want to live preview **navi**, head to [this playground](https://www.katacoda.com/denisidoro/scenarios/navi). It'll start a docker container with instructions for you to install and use the tool. Note: login required.
Cheatsheets
-----------
### Importing cheatsheets
You can find cheatsheet repositories with:
```sh
navi repo browse
```
In addition, you can import cheatsheets from any git repository:
```sh
navi repo add https://github.com/denisidoro/cheats
```
### Adding your own cheatsheets
You can either start a git repo with cheatsheets and import it as described above or you can add them directly to [data_dir](https://github.com/soc/dirs-rs#Features)`/navi`.
### Submitting cheatsheets
The main repository for cheatsheets is [denisidoro/cheats](https://github.com/denisidoro/cheats). Feel free to open a PR there for me to include your contributions.
In order to add your own repository as a featured cheatsheet repo, please [edit this file](https://github.com/denisidoro/cheats/edit/master/featured_repos.txt). This list will be displayed when `navi repo browse` is run.
Cheatsheet syntax
-----------------
Cheatsheets are described in `.cheat` files that look like this:
```sh
% git, code
# Change branch
git checkout
$ branch: git branch | awk '{print $NF}'
```
### Syntax overview
- lines starting with `%` determine the start of a new cheatsheet and should contain tags, useful for searching;
- lines starting with `#` should be descriptions of commands;
- lines starting with `;` are ignored. You can use them for metacomments;
- lines starting with `$` should contain commands that generate a list of possible values for a given argument;
- all the other non-empty lines are considered as executable commands.
It's irrelevant how many files are used to store cheatsheets. They can be all in a single file if you wish, as long as you split them accordingly with lines starting with `%`.
### Variables
The interface prompts for variable names inside brackets (eg ``).
Variable names should only include alphanumeric characters and `_`.
If there's a corresponding line starting with `$` for a variable, suggestions will be displayed. Otherwise, the user will be able to type any value for it.
If you hit `` the query typed will be prefered. If you hit `` the selection will be prefered.
### Advanced variable options
For lines starting with `$` you can use `---` to customize the behavior of `fzf` or how the value is going to be used:
```sh
# This will pick the 3rd column and use the first line as header
docker rmi
# Even though "false/true" is displayed, this will print "0/1"
echo
$ image_id: docker images --- --column 3 --header-lines 1 --delimiter '\s\s+'
$ mapped: echo 'false true' | tr ' ' '\n' --- --map "[[ $0 == t* ]] && echo 1 || echo 0"
```
The supported parameters are:
- `--prevent-extra` *(experimental)*: limits the user to select one of the suggestions;
- `--column `: extracts a single column from the selected result;
- `--map ` *(experimental)*: applies a map function to the selected variable value;
In addition, it's possible to forward the following parameters to `fzf`:
- `--multi`;
- `--header-lines `;
- `--delimiter `;
- `--query `;
- `--filter `;
- `--header `;
- `--preview `;
- `--preview-window `.
### Variable dependency
The command for generating possible inputs can refer previous variables:
```sh
# If you select "hello" for , the possible values of will be "hello foo" and "hello bar"
echo
# If you want to ignore the contents of and only print
: ; echo
$ x: echo "hello hi" | tr ' ' '\n'
$ y: echo "$x foo;$x bar" | tr ';' '\n'
```
If you want to have implicit variable dependency, you can use the `` syntax inside a variable command:
```sh
# Should print /my/pictures/wallpapers
echo ""
$ pictures_folder: echo "/my/pictures"
$ wallpaper_folder: echo "/wallpapers"
```
### Multiline snippets
Commands may be multiline:
```sh
# This will output "foo\nyes"
echo foo
true \
&& echo yes \
|| echo no
```
### Variable as multiple arguments
```sh
# This will result into: cat "file1.json" "file2.json"
jsons=($(echo ""))
cat "${jsons[@]}"
$ jsons: find . -iname '*.json' -type f -print --- --multi
```
List customization
------------------
Lists can be stylized with the [$FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS](https://github.com/junegunn/fzf#layout) environment variable or similar variables/parameters (please refer to `navi --help`). This way, you can change the [color scheme](https://github.com/junegunn/fzf/wiki/Color-schemes), for example.
Related projects
----------------
There are many similar projects out there ([bro](https://github.com/hubsmoke/bro), [eg](https://github.com/srsudar/eg), [cheat.sh](https://github.com/chubin/cheat.sh), [tldr](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr), [cmdmenu](https://github.com/amacfie/cmdmenu), [cheat](https://github.com/cheat/cheat), [beavr](https://github.com/denisidoro/beavr), [how2](https://github.com/santinic/how2) and [howdoi](https://github.com/gleitz/howdoi), to name a few).
Most of them provide excellent cheatsheet repositories, but lack a nice UI and argument suggestions.
Etymology
---------
In [The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time](https://zelda.gamepedia.com/Ocarina_of_Time), [navi](https://zelda.gamepedia.com/Navi) is a character that provides [Link](https://zelda.gamepedia.com/Link) with a variety of clues to help him solve puzzles and progress in his quest.