One of the best things about Linux is its ability to do everything through the terminal. It may never have occurred to you, but you may also have the ability to search and retrieve information from Wikipedia through the majestic terminal itself. In today’s article we will answer the question of how and what we need to browse and search Wikipedia through the terminal line.

Let’s first look at the basic tool we need, namely Wikit. But what is Wikit?

Wikit is a command line program for getting Wikipedia summaries easily in the command line with a easy syntax and many online examples.

So, how to install Wikit?

On Debian based distros you can use the following to install the app:

# How to install Wikit in Ubuntu \ Debian Linux?
sudo apt install nodejs
sudo apt install npm
sudo npm install wikit -g

# How to install Wikit in FreeBSD?
pkg install npm
npm install wikit -g
# If needed install nodejs pkg install nodejs

# How to install wikit in OpenSuse?
zypper install npm
npm install wikit -gCode language: PHP (php)

• What is npm? · is the world’s largest Software Registry. · developers use npm to share software. · is free to use. 

Okay, So how to use Wikit after successful installation?

The first and basic syntax that you can use is wikit:

# Basic search with wikit in the terminal
wikit Ubuntu
Code language: Bash (bash)

If you use the -b option in the same example you will find out that the browser opens so lets try it

# Open search result in the browser
wikit Ubuntu -bCode language: PHP (php)

And if the result you have searched is very long you can of course limit the result with –line like in the next example:

# How to limit the result in wikit
wikit Ubuntu --line 90Code language: PHP (php)

Of course there are many more examples and if you want to see them just type wikit in the terminal and you will see all the other options and examples.

# Use help
wikit
Code language: PHP (php)

Here is a quick video tutorial:

We hope you enjoyed this article. if that is so please rate this page with the stars bellow and subscribe to our YouTube channel.