Skip to Content
CLI for Noobies: A Primer on the Linux Command Line
book

CLI for Noobies: A Primer on the Linux Command Line

by Joe Barr
July 2007
Beginner
347 pages
4h 40m
English
Pearson
Content preview from CLI for Noobies: A Primer on the Linux Command Line

Chapter 9. whatis apropos?

I hate to admit it, but my memory is not as good as it once was. When I can’t remember something on my Linux box, I often open a console window to get to the CLI for assistance. Once at the command line, I take advantage of these two handy little CLI tools: whatis and apropos. Maybe you’ll find them useful too.

Remember apropos

In those moments when my memory is not all that she should be, it’s good to know whatis apropos. That’s not a typo, by the way: whatis and apropos are two separate but related programs.

Here’s how they are related. Both whatis and apropos use the whatis database to help remember things like program names, functionality, and keywords.

Typically, Linux distributions schedule a program called makewhatis ...

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.

Read now

Unlock full access

More than 5,000 organizations count on O’Reilly

AirBnbBlueOriginElectronic ArtsHomeDepotNasdaqRakutenTata Consultancy Services

QuotationMarkO’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
Julian F.
Head of Cybersecurity
QuotationMarkI wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.
Addison B.
Field Engineer
QuotationMarkI’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.
Amir M.
Data Platform Tech Lead
QuotationMarkI'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
Mark W.
Embedded Software Engineer

You might also like

CentOS 8 Essentials

CentOS 8 Essentials

Neil Smyth

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9780132361705