Explain a Command

Check what a command does, share a command with an automatic detailed explanation.


List files, newest first
ls -lth
ls
ls(1)
list directory contents
-l
-l

use a long listing format
-t
-t

sort by time, newest first; see --time
-h
-h, --human-readable

with -l and -s, print sizes like 1K 234M 2G etc.

Sample Commands

List files, newest first
ls -lth

See commands currently using the internet
lsof -i -n

Print the largest files or folders in the current dir
du -s * | sort -n | tail

Generate a random 16-char password
strings /dev/urandom | grep -o '[[:alnum:]]' | head -n 16 | tr -d '\n'

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Want to build something like this? Have a look at ManKier's API.

For another take on explaining commands, check out explainshell.com.