Mansnip - The worst-named, most complementary man-page tool I use

2026-07-07T00:00:00+00:00

Mansnip</a> sounds painful, but is a frictionless tool for those "I know that I need to use tar xzvf</code> but can't remember what most of those flags mean" situations. It basically greps man pages and returns only the flag-related info. It also has LLM-related functionality but I've sidestepped that since it is good enough for me as is. Here it is in action:</p>

$</span> mansnip tar</span> -x -z -v -f</span></span>
142</span>  Operation mode</span></span>
       -x,</span> --extract, --get</span></span>
              Extract</span> files from an archive.  Arguments are optional.  When given, they specify names of the archive members to be extracted.</span></span>
</span>
443</span>  Device selection and switching</span></span>
       -f,</span> --file=ARCHIVE</span></span>
              Use</span> archive file or device ARCHIVE.  If this option is not given, tar will first examine the environment variable `</span>TAPE'.  If it is set, its value will be</span></span>
              used  as  the  archive name.  Otherwise, tar will assume the compiled-in default.  The default value can be inspected either using the --show-defaults op‐</span></span>
              tion, or at the end of the tar --help output.</span></span>
</span>
              An archive name that has a colon in it specifies a file or device on a remote machine.  The part before the colon is taken as the machine name or  IP  ad‐</span></span>
              dress, and the part after it as the file or device pathname, e.g.:</span></span>
</span>
              --file=remotehost:/dev/sr0</span></span>
</span>
              An optional username can be prefixed to the hostname, placing a @ sign between them.</span></span>
</span>
              By  default, the remote host is accessed via the rsh(1) command.  Nowadays it is common to use ssh(1) instead.  You can do so by giving the following com‐</span></span>
              mand line option:</span></span>
</span>
              --rsh-command=/usr/bin/ssh</span></span>
</span>
              The remote machine should have the rmt(8) command installed.  If its pathname does not match tar's</span> default, you can inform tar about the correct  pathname</span></span>
              using</span> the</span> --rmt-command</span> option.</span></span>
</span>
574</span>  Compression options</span></span>
       -z,</span> --gzip, --gunzip, --ungzip</span></span>
              Filter</span> the archive through gzip(</span>1</span>).</span></span>
</span>
798</span>  Informative output</span></span>
       -v,</span> --verbose</span></span>
              Verbosely</span> list files processed.  Each instance of this option on the command line increases the verbosity level by one.  The maximum verbosity level is 3.</span></span>
              For</span> a detailed discussion of how various verbosity levels affect tar</span>'</span>s output, please refer to GNU Tar Manual, subsection 2.5.2 "The </span>'</span>--verbose</span>'</span> Option".</span></span>
</span></code></pre>
A bit verbose but that's because the flag breakdown is detailed. Here's a shorter one from some popular ls</code> flags:</p>
$</span> mansnip ls</span> -l -h -a</span></span>
13</span>     -a, --all</span></span>
              do</span> not</span> ignore entries starting with .</span></span>
</span>
45</span>     -f</span>     same as</span> -a -U</span></span>
</span>
       -F,</span> --classify[</span>=</span>WHEN]</span></span>
              append</span> indicator</span> (one</span> of</span> *</span>/</span>=</span>></span>@</span>|</span>) to entries WHEN</span></span>
</span>
67</span>     -h, --human-readable</span></span>
              with</span> -l</span> and</span> -s,</span> print sizes like 1K 234M 2G etc.</span></span>
</span>
96</span>     -l</span>     use a long listing format</span></span>
</span>
       -L,</span> --dereference</span></span>
              when</span> showing file information for a symbolic link, show information for the file the link references rather than for the link itself</span></span>
</span></code></pre>

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Mansnip - The worst-named, most complementary man-page tool I use