How to create your own command library

There is no doubt that the terminal de Linux (also known as Bash) is a powerful tool in every distribution. But for the newly initiated su use it may turn out something uncomfortable, trying to avoid it at all costs. It is well known that with the command -Help we get a referential help from the terminal. Although it is a great resource, today we present one that can be much more useful and that will allow us to have on hand our own command "library" en pdf format.

The man command provides us with a terminal manual of the desired command; for example: man chmod will show us the function and syntax of the chmod command with a light text editor. Now, the following variant of the same command is the one that gives us the most advantage. We open the terminal and type:

man -t command | ps2pdf -> name.pdf

We replace the command line with the command from which we want to obtain the manual and name.pdf by the name of the pdf we want to create and where we are going to create it; By default, if we do not assign a different path, the file will be created in the personal folder. Returning to the previous example about the chmod command, we can write:

man -t chmod | ps2pdf -> /home/usuario/Documentos/ManualChmod.pdf

Taking the manual from the chmod command creates a pdf called ManualChmod in the Documents subdirectory of the personal folder. The pdf created includes the function of the command and all the possible combinations of its syntax, helping us to fully exploit the use of the terminal.

A great advantage of this method is that if we have the Spanish language pack well configured in our distribution, the pdf will be exported in our mother tongue, also helping to understand faster than the manual, which by default shows the manual in English. Hopefully it helps both beginners and experienced riders!