How to search the Arch Wiki website from terminal ?

Whenever you search anything about Arch Linux in web browser, I’m damn sure the first link would be Arch Wiki. Am I right?

Yes, since Arch wiki is an ideal place to get solution for most of the arch Linux issues.

Till now, you might get the solution for arch Linux related problems through web browser with your preferred search engine but it’s get changed now, how? with help of arch-wiki-cli utility.

Users can search Arch Wiki website right from your console instantly without to switch to GUI, you don’t have to launch your text-mode browser, even you don’t have to type a long questions to grep an answer.

It’s not complicated and everyone can use it easily, even newbies can do. This will give the solution faster than web browsers.

Installation  Prerequisites:

Arch-wiki-cli has a dependency with text-mode browser. So, install one of the following packages to use this script elinks, links, lynx and you don’t have to launch the browser yourself. Also install AUR helpers such as Yaourt or Packer since the package is part of AUR repository.

$ sudo pacman -S lynx wget

Suggested Read :
(#) Best Text based (Command Line) Web Browsers for Linux
(#) Wget (Command Line Downloader) Command Examples

How to install arch-wiki-cli ?

Install arch-wiki-cli utility from AUR repository using one of the following command.

Suggested Read :
(#) Packer – (AUR+Pacman) wrapper which replaces poorly written Yaourt
(#) How to Install Yaourt on Arch Linux

$ yaourt -S arch-wiki-cli

or

$ packer -S arch-wiki-cli

How to use arch-wiki-cli ?

Just type arch-wiki followed by your search terms between the double quotes on terminal to bring the results. This script automatically kick start available text-mode browser on system and instruct browser to print the results as per the input query.

For Example, you might already know Arch Linux is completely different from other distribution since it’s doesn’t ship with any desktop environment and users have to install from scratch. So, let’s search about desktop environment installation and configuration from arch wiki website.

$ arch-wiki "desktop environment"

Details :
(#) Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to move top or bottom of the search results.
(#) Use RIGHT arrow key to open a link.
(#) Use LEFT arrow key to go back.
(#) Press Space Bar to move to the next page.
(#) Press q to quit.

Search arch-wiki in other languages

arch-wiki-cli allows user to search In other languages. For demonstration purpose, we are going to search about “pacman” package manager examples in Nederlands language.

$ arch-wiki --language Nederlands "pacman"

To update this utility to latest available version, simply run.

$ arch-wiki --update

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