cli.md

The command line

Besides the TUI, bastian reads single documents from anywhere and can print them instead of opening the reader, for pipes, pagers and scripts.

← README

What it reads

bastian                           # browse the current directory
cat notes.md | bastian            # with no path, piped input is read
bastian docs/                     # browse another directory
bastian README.md                 # read a file
bastian src/main.rs               # source files are highlighted, with line numbers
gh pr view 12 --json body -q .body | bastian -    # read stdin
bastian https://example.com/doc.md                 # any Markdown URL
bastian github.com/owner/repo                      # a repository's README
bastian gitlab.com/group/project                   # GitLab too
bastian https://github.com/o/r/blob/main/docs/guide.md   # file pages are read raw

With no path, bastian reads stdin when something is piped or redirected into it (cat notes.md | bastian, bastian < notes.md), just like bastian -, and browses the current directory otherwise. Stdin from /dev/null, which cron and CI runners give, counts as no input and browses; bastian - there reads it and shows an empty document. Where stdin is a pipe nobody writes to, such as some IDE run panes, name the directory: bastian ..

See the reader for how links in remote documents are followed.

Printing

bastian -p README.md                       # print instead of opening the TUI
bastian -p -w 80 README.md                 # at most 80 columns wide
bastian --pager README.md                  # page it through $PAGER (default less -R)
bastian --color always README.md | less -R # keep the colors in a pipe
bastian -p README.md > plain.txt           # no colors when not a terminal

Printed output is colored when it goes to a terminal. NO_COLOR turns that off, CLICOLOR_FORCE=1 turns it on for pipes, and --color (or the color setting) overrides both. Without -w, the width is the terminal's (up to 120 columns), or 80 when there's no terminal. Set pager = true to always page instead of opening the TUI.

Options

Option	Effect
-w, --width <N>	maximum document width (default 100)
-t, --theme <NAME>	auto, dark, light or a theme name (themes)
--background <WHICH>	theme or terminal background (themes)
-p, --print	print the rendered document
--pager	show it in $PAGER
--color <WHEN>	auto, always or never, for printed output
-n, --line-numbers	show line numbers in the reader
-a, --all	also list hidden and gitignored files
-y, --yes	run code blocks without asking (code blocks)
--no-mouse	leave the mouse to the terminal (reader)
--mouse	capture the mouse (the default), over mouse = false
--images <on|off>	draw pictures, or keep alt text
--front-matter <HOW>	table or hide (front matter)
--no-logo	hide the logo above the file list
--selector <STYLE>	how the file list marks the selected file
--list-layout <LAYOUT>	cards or compact file list
--sort <ORDER>	file list order: modified, created or name
--config <PATH>	use another config file (configuration)
--print-config	print the effective settings and where each came from
-h, --help	help
-V, --version	version

Commands

bastian themes                    # pick a theme with a live preview and save it
bastian config                    # open the config file in your editor
bastian completions zsh > ~/.zfunc/_bastian   # also bash, fish, elvish, powershell

bastian themes prints the theme list instead when its output isn't a terminal. To read a file literally named config or themes, write ./config.