Most of the hardcore programmers love to use terminal as their primary way of interacting with the computer. If they have some doubt about any specific topic, they search about it on stack overflow. They usually need to close or minimize the terminal.

The Solution : SoCLI

SoCLI is a stack overflow command line written in python. Using SoCLI you can search and browse stack overflow without leaving the terminal. Just use the socli command. If you cant find the answer, you can even create a new question with it.

Installation

Supported platforms
  • Linux
  • Windows
  • Mac
Requirements
  • python 2+
For Linux

Install python and just use pip command to install socli:

sudo apt-get install python python-pip
sudo pip install socli
For Windows

Download and install python. Don’t forget to check the option “Add to path”.

Open a command prompt with administrative privileges and use pip command to install socli:

pip install socli

Use easy_install if your python path have a space in it Read more:”Failed to create process”:

easy_install socli
For Mac (via homebrew)

Install python and socli:

brew install python python-pip
pip install socli

Updating

Use the command below to update your existing version of socli to the newest version, so that you won’t miss any features:

sudo pip install --upgrade socli

Usage

Just use socli command followed by the search query:

socli for loop in python syntax

The above command will search for the query “for loop in python syntax” and displays the first most voted question in stack overflow with its most voted answer. Pretty quick, right?

You can search the stack overflow interactively by using the command below:

socli -iq html error 404

This will display a list of questions from stack overflow for the query “html error 404” and it will allow you to choose any of the question you like interactively. When you chose a question, it will display the complete description of the chosed question with its most voted answer. Now you can browse through all the answers of that questions on stack overflow interactively.

This will allow you to choose a question number for example:

socli -r 2 -q javascript porotype function

Will search for “javascript porotype function” in stack overflow and displays the second question that contains it.

New question

If you can’t find an answer for your question in stack overflow, socli allows you to creata a new question via the web browswer. Just type the command below and socli will open the new question page of stack overflow in the web browser for you:

socli -n

Syntax:

socli has the following syntax

Usage: socli [ Arguments]
Arguments (optional)
Short Long Description Example
-q –query Used to specify the query when arguments are used. A query value must be passed to it. If it is used alone (socli -q query) then it will display the same result as “socli query”. socli -i -q query
-i –interactive Used to search interactively. It doesnt take any values. It must be followed by a -q or –query after it. socli -i -q query
-r –res Used for manual search. It takes the question number as the argument and it must be followed by a -q or –query after it. socli -r 4 -q query
-n –new Opens the web browser to create a new question on stack overflow. socli –new
-h –help Displays the help text. socli –help
Query

It refers to query to search in stack overflow.