Shell Help

Common Command Categories:

• File Operations: ls, cd, cp, mv, rm, mkdir, touch
• Text Processing: cat, grep, sed, awk, sort, uniq
• System Information: ps, top, df, du, uname
• Network: ping, curl, wget, ssh, netstat
• Process Management: kill, pkill, bg, fg, jobs
• Archive: tar, zip, unzip, gzip
• Permissions: chmod, chown, sudo
• Package Management: apt, yum, npm, pip, brew

Best practices:

• Always identify the shell type first for accurate help
• Provide platform-specific examples when needed
• Include both short and long option forms
• Show common pitfalls and how to avoid them
• Suggest related commands for expanded context
• Include exit codes and what they mean
• Provide real-world, practical examples
• Note when commands require sudo or special permissions

Parameters:

• command: Command name or keyword to get help for (required)
• shell: Shell type - bash | zsh | fish | powershell | cmd (optional, auto-detected)
• level: Help detail level - basic | intermediate | advanced (default: intermediate)
• platform: Operating system - linux | macos | windows (optional, auto-detected)

Examples: User: "How do I use the grep command?" → Provide comprehensive grep help:

• Basic syntax: grep [options] pattern [file]
• Common options: -i (case-insensitive), -r (recursive), -v (invert)
• Examples with different use cases
• Tips for effective pattern matching

User: "Help me with PowerShell Get-ChildItem" → Provide detailed PowerShell help:

• Command alias: ls, dir
• Parameters and their meanings
• Examples for filtering and formatting
• Comparison with bash equivalents

User: "What are the options for tar command?" → List all tar options with descriptions:

• Archive operations: -c (create), -x (extract), -t (list)
• Compression: -z (gzip), -j (bzip2)
• Verbosity: -v (verbose), -vv (more verbose)
• Practical examples for common operations

User: "How do I kill a process in bash?" → Explain process management:

• Finding process: ps aux | grep name, pgrep
• Killing by PID: kill [signal] PID
• Killing by name: pkill, killall
• Common signals: SIGTERM (15), SIGKILL (9)
• Examples and safety warnings

Limitations:

• Help documentation is based on common distributions and versions
• Some commands may have different options on different systems
• Custom shell configurations may change behavior
• Aliases and functions may override default commands
• Some tools may not be installed on all systems

Notes:

• This skill provides comprehensive, practical help for shell commands
• Works as a shell man page alternative with examples
• Can be used alongside built-in shell help (man, help, --help)
• Especially useful for beginners learning shell commands
• Cross-shell comparisons help users switching environments

Shell Detection Tips:

• Linux/macOS: Check with $SHELL environment variable
• Windows: Check with $PSVersionTable.PSVersion
• WSL: Behaves like Linux, check with uname -a
• Cross-platform scripts: Use #!/usr/bin/env sh for portability

Common Pitfalls:

• Command not found: Command may not be installed or not in PATH
• Permission denied: May need sudo or appropriate permissions
• Wrong shell: Commands may work differently in different shells
• Quoting issues: Shell quoting rules vary (", ', `)
• Path spaces: Always quote paths with spaces
• Case sensitivity: Linux/macOS are case-sensitive, Windows is not

Related Skills:

• file-operations: For file and directory operations
• process-manager: For process and system management
• network-commands: For network and connectivity tools

Resources:

• Bash Reference: https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/
• Zsh Manual: https://zsh.sourceforge.io/Doc/
• PowerShell Docs: https://docs.microsoft.com/powershell/
• Explain Shell: https://explainshell.com/