tldr/contributing-guides/style-guide.md

Style guide

This page lists specific formatting instructions for tldr pages.

Layout

The basic format of each page should match the following template and have at most 8 command examples:

# command name

> Short, snappy command description.
> Preferably one line; two are acceptable if necessary.
> More information: <https://example.com/command_name/help/page>.

- Code description:

`command_name options`

- Code description:

`command_name options`

...

Example:

# krita

> A sketching and painting program designed for digital artists.
> See also: `gimp`.
> More information: <https://docs.krita.org/en/reference_manual/linux_command_line.html>.

- Start Krita:

`krita`

- Open specific files:

`krita {{path/to/image1 path/to/image2 ...}}`

- Start without a splash screen:

`krita --nosplash`

- Start with a specific workspace:

`krita --workspace {{Animation}}`

- Start in fullscreen mode:

`krita --fullscreen`

[!NOTE] The help page can be any documentation/project/tutorial page, not just a man page, but documentation pages are preferred.

There is a linter that enforces the format above. It is run automatically on every pull request, but you may install it to test your contributions locally before submitting them:

npm install --global tldr-lint
tldr-lint path/to/tldr_page.md

For other ways to use tldr-lint, such as linting an entire directory, check out (what else!) tldr tldr-lint. Alternatively, you can also use its alias tldrl.

Your client may be able to preview a page locally using the --render flag:

tldr --render path/to/tldr_page.md

Aliases

If a command can be called with alternative names (like vim can be called by vi), alias pages can be created to point the user to the original command name.

# command_name

> This command is an alias of `original-command-name`.
> More information: <https://example.com/original/command/help/page>.

- View documentation for the original command:

`tldr original_command_name`

Example:

# vi

> This command is an alias of `vim`.

- View documentation for the original command:

`tldr vim`

• Pre-translated alias page templates can be found here.

Option syntax

• Use GNU-style long options (like --help rather than -h) when they are cross-platform compatible (intended to work the same across multiple platforms).
• In other cases, use short options (like -h).
• Prefer using a space instead of the equals sign (=) to separate options from their arguments (i.e. use --opt arg instead of --opt=arg), unless the program does not support it.

Placeholder syntax

User-provided values should use the {{placeholder}} syntax in order to allow tldr clients to highlight them.

Keep the following guidelines in mind when choosing placeholders:

Naming

• Use short but descriptive placeholders, such as {{path/to/source_file}} or {{path/to/wallet.txt}}.
• Use snake_case for multi-word placeholders.
• Use a generic placeholder rather than an actual value where a generic placeholder is available (but there is an exception to this listed below). For example, use iostat {{1..infinity}} rather than iostat {{2}}.
  • If there are several consecutive placeholders of the same type which don't allow adding arbitrary text in them (ranges), then instead of generic placeholders use descriptive ones. For example prefer input swipe {{x_position}} {{y_position}} {{x_position}} {{y_position}} {{seconds}} instead of input swipe {{-infinity..infinity}} {{-infinity..infinity}} {{-infinity..infinity}} {{-infinity..infinity}} {{1..infinity}}.

Paths

• Use {{filename}} when just file name is expected.
• For any reference to paths of files or directories, use the format {{path/to/<placeholder>}}, except when the location is implicit.
• When the path cannot be relative, but has to start at the root of the filesystem, prefix it with a slash, such as get {{/path/to/remote_file}}.
• In case of a possible reference both to a file or a directory, use {{path/to/file_or_directory}}.

Extensions

• If a particular extension is expected for the file, append it. For example, unrar x {{path/to/compressed.rar}}.
• In case a generic extension is needed, use {{.ext}}, but only if an extension is required. For instance, in find.md's example "Find files by extension" (find {{path/to/root}} -name '{{*.ext}}') using {{*.ext}} explains the command without being unnecessarily specific; while in wc -l {{path/to/file}} using {{path/to/file}} (without extension) is sufficient.

Grouping placeholders

• If a command can take 0 or more arguments of the same kind, use an ellipsis: {{placeholder1 placeholder2 ...}}. For instance, if multiple paths are expected {{path/to/directory1 path/to/directory2 ...}} can be used.
• If a command can take 0 or more arguments of different kinds, use an ellipsis: {{placeholder1|placeholder2|...}}. If there are more than 5 possible values use |... after the last item.
• It's impossible to restrict the minimum or (and) maximum placeholder count via ellipsis.

It's up to the program to decide how to handle duplicating values, provided syntax tells no info about whether items are mutually exclusive or not.

Special cases

• If a command performs irreversible changes to a file system or devices, write every example in a way that cannot be copy pasted thoughtlessly. For example, instead of ddrescue --force --no-scrape /dev/sda /dev/sdb write ddrescue --force --no-scrape {{/dev/sdX}} {{/dev/sdY}} and use the {{/dev/sdXY}} placeholder for block devices instead of /dev/sda1.

In general, placeholders should make it as intuitive as possible to figure out how to use the command and fill it in with values.

Technical wording on description lines should use the backtick syntax. Use backticks on the following:

• Paths, e.g. package.json, /etc/package.json.
• Extensions, e.g. .dll.
• Commands, e.g. ls.
• Standard streams: stdout, stdin, stderr. Do not use the full names (e.g. standard output).

Descriptions

• Avoid using the page title in the description (e.g. use A sketching and painting program designed for digital artists instead of Krita is a sketching and painting program designed for digital artists) unless the program name differs from the executable name (e.g. rg and Ripgrep).
• Avoid mentioning that the program is used on the command-line (e.g. use Ripgrep is a recursive line-oriented search tool instead of Ripgrep is a recursive line-oriented CLI search tool).

Imperative Mood

• All descriptions must be concise and phrased in the imperative mood.
• This also applies to all translations by default unless otherwise specified in the language-specific section below.
• For example, when writing documentation for cd, a tool to check out and work on a specific directory in the Terminal or Command Prompt, do not write a lengthy description such as:

> `cd` is a system tool, available in Windows, macOS, and Linux, to check out a specific directory to get things done in the Command Prompt, Terminal, and PowerShell.

It should instead be simplified to make it easier for everyone to read:

> Change the current working directory.

If you are afraid the commands may differ between platforms or operating systems (e.g. Windows vs macOS), most tldr pages clients will choose the most suitable version of the command.

In this case, the information of the Windows version of cd (stored in pages/windows/cd.md) will be displayed by default to Windows users, and a generic/common version (stored in pages/common/cd.md) will be displayed for Linux, macOS, and other platforms.

When writing descriptions for command examples, check for any grammatical errors. Go to the specified directory is preferred instead of:

• Going to the specified directory (should not be in present participle form)
• This command will go to the specified directory (it is clear that this example works for this comment)
• Let's go to the specified directory!
• Directory change (use the active form instead of passive, if possible)

For instance, instead of Listing all files:, List all files: can be be used as the example's description below:

- Listing all files:

 `ls`

Serial Comma

• When declaring a list of 3 or more items, use a serial comma, also known as the Oxford comma, since omitting it can create ambiguity.

Delete the Git branches, tags and remotes.

The example above does not use a serial comma, so this could mean one of two things:

• Delete the Git branches named tags and remotes.
• Delete all of the following: Git branches, Git tags, and Git remotes.

This can be resolved by inserting a comma before the "and" or "or" in the final element in the list.

Delete the Git branches, tags, and remotes.

More information links

On the More information link line, we prefer linking to the author's provided documentation of the command line reference or man page. When not available, use https://manned.org as the default fallback for all platforms (except osx and some BSD platforms).

All links must be enclosed inside angular brackets (< and >) for proper rendering in clients.

We prefer translations to use the more information link of the English page by default.

Versioned links

When a utility or distribution has versioned links for the packages, we prefer linking to the most recent version of documentation (i.e. latest) or none if the website automatically redirects to the latest version of the documentation.

For example, use:

• https://manpages.debian.org/latest/apt/apt.8.html instead of https://manpages.debian.org/bookworm/apt/apt.8.en.html.
• https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cdk/latest/guide/cli.html instead of https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cdk/v2/guide/cli.html.

Microsoft Learn links

When linking pages to the Microsoft Learn links, remove the locale from the address as the website will automatically redirect to the reader's preferred locale setting. For example, Use https://learn.microsoft.com/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/cd instead of https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/cd.

Language-Specific Rules

Chinese-Specific Rules

When Chinese words, Latin words and Arabic numerals are written in the same sentence, more attention must be paid to copywriting.

The following guidelines are applied to Chinese (zh) and traditional Chinese (zh_TW) pages:

1. Place one space before/after English words and numbers.

• For example, use 列出所有 docker 容器 rather than 列出所有docker容器.
• For example, use 宽度为 50 个字 rather than 宽度为50个字.

2. Place one space between numbers and units except degrees and percentages.

• For example, use 容量 50 MB rather than 容量 50MB.
• For instances of degree and percentage, use 50°C and 50% rather than 50 °C and 50 %.

3. No additional spaces before/after full-width punctuations.

• For example, use 开启 shell，进入交互模式 rather than 开启 shell ，进入交互模式

4. Use full-width punctuations except for long Latin clauses.

• For example, use 嗨，你好。 rather than 嗨, 你好.

5. Use a half-width punctuation to end a sentence when the last character is half-width.

• For example, use 将代码转化为 Python 3. rather than 将代码转化为 Python 3。

6. Use precise form for technical terms, and do not use unofficial Chinese abbreviations.

• For example, use Facebook rather than facebook, fb or 脸书.

In order to maintain readability and normalization, please comply with the 6 rules above as much as possible when translating pages into Chinese.

For more information and examples of Chinese-specific rules, check out Chinese Copywriting Guidelines.

Indonesian-Specific Rules

When translating pages to Indonesian, please keep in mind that we expect tldr pages to be easy to read for both types of Indonesian audiences, which are:

1. People who prefer to use standard Indonesian technical terms as possible, such as unduh for download, awakutu for debugging, and muat ulang for reboot.

• One of the most comprehensive lists of technical terms can be found under the BlankOn Linux project.

2. People who prefer to use English words as-is to describe technical terms: download for download, debugging for debugging, and reboot for reboot.

The segmentation of these audiences is clearly noted on Firefox Public Data Report:

For most countries in the top 10, the majority (>90%) of users have their language set to the local language, with a notable exception in Indonesia, which has about 80% English (US) and 20% Indonesian.

First, command and example descriptions on pages in Indonesian must be written without using active verb forms (i.e. those with ber- and me- prefixes). This means that sentences such as:

Mengunduh sebuah file ke dalam suatu direktori (i.e. Downloading a file into a directory)

is considered incorrect. The correct form of the sentence should be:

Unduh sebuah file ke dalam suatu direktori

Second, we recommend using the following forms of technical terms to make translated pages easier to read for both types of Indonesian audiences. Some of them may be used as-is, but others must be rewritten using Indonesian standard terms.

English	Indonesian	Consideration(s)
App / Application	Aplikasi	The abbreviated word apl. is not common to some readers.
Boot, Reboot	Muat, Muat ulang	These words are the same for load and reload. See notes on the bottom section.
Client	Klien
Command-line	Command-line	Using the word as-is is preferred over baris perintah or alat berbasis mekanisme baris perintah (command-line tool).
Commit (Git)	Commit
Compile, Compiler	Kompilasikan, Pengompilasi	kompilasi is officially considered as noun. Requires a -kan suffix to convert into a verb.
Debugger	Debugger	Preferred over pengawakutu (peng-awakutu) which is unfamiliar to some readers.
Device	Perangkat	Preferred over peranti.
Disc	Disc	Preferred over cakram which is unfamiliar by some readers. Use specific words if possible (e.g. CD or DVD).
Execute / Run (a program...)	Jalankan	Preferred over eksekusikan which is longer to read and write.
File	File	Preferred over berkas which may be unfamiliar by some readers.
Generate	Buat	Preferred over hasilkan. Example context: Buat laporan baru.
Hardware	Perangkat Keras	Preferred over peranti.
Image (as picture or visual image)	Gambar	Do not confuse with image as means of storage.
Image (as means of storage, such as CD, ISO, and Docker)	Image	Another recommended word, citra, is not officially recognized for computing.
Initialize, Reinitialize	Inisialisasikan, Inisialisasikan Ulang	The word inisialisasi is officially considered as noun. Requires a -kan suffix to convert into a verb.
Interpreter	Interpreter	Preferred over penerjemah which is also commonly used to describe translator.
Install, Reinstall	Pasang, Pasang Ulang	Preferred over instal which is not considered a standard word.
Load, Reload	Muat, Muat ulang	These words are the same for boot and reboot. See notes in the bottom section.
Options / Preferences (macOS) / Settings	Pengaturan	Preferred over opsi.
Server	Server	Preferred over peladen or pelayan, which are less common when used in computing contexts.
Service	Layanan	The Indonesian standard word is acceptable here.
Shell (command-line interface)	Syel	The Indonesian standard word is acceptable here.
Software	Perangkat Lunak	Preferred over peranti.
Start, Restart	Mulai, Mulai Ulang / Nyalakan, Nyalakan Ulang	See notes on the bottom section.
Update	Perbarui	Do not confuse with upgrade.
Upgrade	Tingkatkan	Do not confuse with update.

When translating sentences that contain the word boot and load together, please add the context of the item that is being booted and/or loaded, so the use of the muat word may not be ambiguous. For example, when translating:

Load configuration from a specific file after reboot

Instead of translating the sentence into:

Muat konfigurasi dari file yang ditentukan setelah muat ulang

Add detailed contexts to remove ambiguity (notice the highlighted word):

Muat konfigurasi dari file yang ditentukan setelah pengguna memuat ulang sistem operasi

Similarly, for the word start / mulai

Mulai proses server web (Start the web server process)

To ensure that the sentence may not be confused with start processing the web server, you can use other words such as nyalakan:

Nyalakan proses server web

French-Specific Rules

Command and example descriptions on pages in French must use the third person singular present indicative tense (présent de l'indicatif à la troisième personne du singulier). For example, use Extrait une archive rather than Extraire une archive or Extrais une archive.