Linux in a Nutshell, 6th Edition

Name

man

Synopsis

man [options] [section] [title]

Display information from the online reference manuals. man locates and prints the named title from the designated reference section.

Traditionally, manpages are divided into nine sections, where section 1 consists of user commands, section 2 contains system calls, and so forth (see Section names, coming up, for the full list). By default, all sections are consulted, so the section option serves to bypass the most common entry and find an entry of the same name in a different section (e.g., man 2 nice).

Numerous other utilities—such as info, xman, and the Konqueror browser--can also display manpages.

Options

-a

Show all pages matching title.

-B

Specify the browser to use on HTML files. Overrides the BROWSER environment variable. The default is /usr/bin/less -is.

-c

Reformat output even if there is a current cat file.

-C file

Specify a configuration file to use. Default is /etc/man.config.

-d

Display debugging information but not the manpage.

-D

Display debugging information and also display the manpage.

-f

Same as whatis command.

-F, --preformat

Format the manpage but do not display it.

-h, --help

Print a help message and exit.

-H command

Specify a command to render HTML files as text. Overrides the HTMLPAGER environment variable. The default is /bin/cat.

-k

Same as apropos command.

-K directory

A kind of super-k option. Search for a term in all manpages and display the name of each page, along with a prompt asking whether you want to view the page. This can be ...