clue

Clue - Linux Command Line Tips Utility

A bash-only Linux command line utility that displays helpful Linux tips automatically as you work, helping you learn new commands and improve your terminal skills.

🚀 Quick Install

Install clue with a single command:

curl -s https://tareqmahmood.github.io/clue/install.sh | bash

After installation, restart your terminal or run:

source ~/.bashrc

📋 Features

• Automatic Tips: Shows helpful Linux tips every 5 commands (configurable)
• Multiple Difficulty Levels: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and All modes
• 300+ Tips: 100 tips for each difficulty level covering essential Linux commands.
• Configurable: Customize interval and difficulty level
• Manual Mode: View tips on demand
• Clean Uninstall: Easy removal with backup

🎯 How It Works

Once installed, clue integrates with your bash prompt and automatically displays tips based on your command usage:

$ ls -la
total 24
drwxr-xr-x 3 user user 4096 Sep  7 10:30 .
drwxr-xr-x 5 user user 4096 Sep  7 10:29 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 user user  123 Sep  7 10:30 file.txt

$ cd projects

$ pwd
/home/user/projects

$ git status
On branch main
nothing to commit, working tree clean

$ ls

[clue tip #23 - beginner]
Use `head` to see the first 10 lines of a file. Great for checking file headers or previewing content.
Example: head filename.txt

$ 

🔧 Usage

Automatic Mode

Tips appear automatically every 5 commands (configurable). No action needed!

Manual Mode

# Show random tip from current mode
clue

# Show tip from specific difficulty level
clue -m beg           # Beginner tips
clue -m int           # Intermediate tips
clue -m adv           # Advanced tips
clue -m all           # Random tip from any level

# Full names also work
clue -m beginner
clue -m intermediate
clue -m advanced

# Show specific tip by number
clue -i 15            # Show tip #15 from current mode

# Help
clue -h

⚙️ Configuration

Edit ~/.clue/config.sh to customize settings:

#!/bin/bash
# clue configuration

# Interval between tips (number of commands)
CLUE_INTERVAL=20

# Default mode (beg, int, adv, all)
# Aliases: beginner, intermediate, advanced, all
CLUE_MODE=beg

Configuration Options

• CLUE_INTERVAL: How many commands between automatic tips (default: 5)
• CLUE_MODE: Default difficulty level
  • beg (or beginner): Basic file operations, navigation, text viewing
  • int (or intermediate): Advanced searching, text processing, system tools
  • adv (or advanced): Complex scripting, process management, network tools
  • all: Random tips from any difficulty level

📖 Sample Tips

Beginner Level

[clue tip #12 - beginner]
Use `ls -lh` to see human-readable file sizes instead of raw bytes. The -h flag makes output much more readable.
Example: ls -lh

Intermediate Level

[clue tip #45 - intermediate]
Use `find` with `-type f` to search only for files, or `-type d` for directories. Much more precise than basic find.
Example: find /path -type f -name "*.txt"

Advanced Level

[clue tip #78 - advanced]
Process substitution with `<()` lets you use command output as if it were a file. Powerful for complex pipelines.
Example: diff <(sort file1) <(sort file2)

🛠️ Installation Options

Remote Installation (Recommended)

curl -s https://tareqmahmood.github.io/clue/install.sh | bash

Local Installation (Development)

git clone https://github.com/tareqmahmood/clue.git
cd clue
./install.sh local

📁 File Structure

After installation, clue creates the following structure:

~/.clue/
├── clue.sh          # Main script
├── config.sh        # Configuration file
├── beginner.txt     # Beginner tips
├── intermediate.txt # Intermediate tips
├── advanced.txt     # Advanced tips
└── uninstall.sh     # Uninstall script

🗑️ Uninstall

To completely remove clue from your system:

~/.clue/uninstall.sh

This will:

• Remove all clue files from ~/.clue
• Remove integration from .bashrc
• Create a backup of your original .bashrc

Restart bash to see the effect.

🔍 What’s Included

Beginner Tips

• File operations: ls, cp, mv, rm, mkdir
• Text viewing: cat, less, head, tail
• Navigation: cd, pwd, directory operations
• System info: whoami, date, df, free
• Basic permissions: chmod, chown
• Archives: zip, tar basics

Intermediate Tips

• Advanced find: Complex search patterns
• Text processing: awk, sed, grep with options
• File comparison: diff, comm, cmp
• Compression: gzip, advanced tar
• Network tools: rsync, nc, ss, lsof
• System analysis: lscpu, lsusb, dmesg
• Process control: screen, tmux, jobs

Advanced Tips

• Complex text processing: Advanced awk, sed, perl
• Process substitution: <(), >(), named pipes
• Bash scripting: Functions, arrays, parameter expansion
• Performance: parallel, optimized xargs
• JSON/XML: jq, xmllint
• Network security: nmap, tcpdump, iptables
• Containers: docker, kubernetes basics

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to:

• Submit new tips
• Improve existing descriptions
• Fix bugs
• Enhance documentation

📄 License

This project is open source. Feel free to use, modify, and distribute.

🐛 Troubleshooting

Tips not appearing?

1. Make sure you’ve sourced your bashrc: source ~/.bashrc
2. Check if clue integration exists: grep -A 5 "BEGIN CLUE" ~/.bashrc
3. Verify counter is working: echo $CLUE_COUNTER

Reset configuration?

rm ~/.clue/config.sh
curl -s https://tareqmahmood.github.io/clue/uninstall.sh | bash
curl -s https://tareqmahmood.github.io/clue/install.sh | bash

Manual tip testing?

~/.clue/clue.sh -m beginner

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Happy learning! 🎓 Clue helps you discover new Linux commands naturally as you work.