This should work: #!/bin/bash cmd="$(cut -d ' ' -f 1 <<< "$@" )"; args="$(cut -d ' ' -f 2- <<< "$@" )"; url="http://explainshell.com/explain/$c

This should work: #!/bin/bash cmd="$(cut -d ' ' -f 1 <<< "$@" )"; args="$(cut -d ' ' -f 2- <<< "$@" )"; url="http://explainshell.com/explain/$cmd?args=$args" explanation="$(curl -s $url | grep '<pre' | sed -E 's/<\/?[a-z]+(\ [a-z]+=\"[a-z0-9]+\")*>//g' | sed -E 's/^\ +//g')" echo "$explanation" Example: ~$ tar xzvf archive.tar.gz ~$ explain !! explain tar xzvf archive.tar.gz The GNU version of the tar archiving utility -x, --extract, --get -z, --gzip, --gunzip --ungzip -v, --verbose -f, --file ARCHIVE Save in /usr/local/bin. Gist: https://gist.github.com/backus/6387485 https://gist.github.com/backus/6387485