[2024-feb-29] Sad news: Eric Layton aka Nocturnal Slacker aka vtel57 passed away on Feb 26th, shortly after hospitalization. He was one of our Wiki's most prominent admins. He will be missed.
Differences
This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.
Both sides previous revisionPrevious revisionNext revision | Previous revisionNext revisionBoth sides next revision | ||
howtos:general_admin:searching_and_reading_manpages_efficiently [2012/11/01 10:28 (UTC)] – [Navigation within a Manpage] Formatted the commands as monospace markush | howtos:general_admin:searching_and_reading_manpages_efficiently [2012/12/31 13:38 (UTC)] – [How to search and read Manpages efficiently] hazel | ||
---|---|---|---|
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
<!-- Add your text below. We strongly advise to start with a Headline (see button bar above). --> | <!-- Add your text below. We strongly advise to start with a Headline (see button bar above). --> | ||
- | =====How to search and read Manpages efficiently===== | + | ====== How to search and read Manpages efficiently |
- | I hope this Howto can help some of you, although I'm aware that many of the readers are already familiar with this subject. | + | Manpages are pages in the online Unix Manual. |
- | ====Searching for a Manpage==== | + | ===== Searching for a Manpage |
In order to search for information about anything in the manpages you can use one of the following commands: | In order to search for information about anything in the manpages you can use one of the following commands: | ||
- | * apropos | + | * '' |
- | * man -k | + | * '' |
- | * whatis | + | * '' |
- | '' | + | '' |
If you don't know how exactly a word, for example a command, is written, you can use '' | If you don't know how exactly a word, for example a command, is written, you can use '' | ||
- | ===Example=== | + | === Example === |
Searching for information about DHCP: | Searching for information about DHCP: | ||
Line 40: | Line 40: | ||
dhcp [] (5) - options - Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol options | dhcp [] (5) - options - Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol options | ||
</ | </ | ||
- | Both commands search case-insensitive! | + | For both commands, the search |
- | ====Updating the '' | + | ===== Updating the '' |
- | The '' | + | The '' |
- | Please note that other distributions | + | Please note that some other distributions use the '' |
- | ====The Sectioning of the Manpages==== | + | ===== Sections in the Manual ===== |
- | Don't confuse the sectioning of the manpages with the uniform | + | Don't confuse |
- | The manpages | + | The manpages |
< | < | ||
MANUAL SECTIONS | MANUAL SECTIONS | ||
Line 58: | Line 58: | ||
| | ||
| | ||
- | | + | |
- | | + | |
- | | + | |
- | | + | |
</ | </ | ||
- | If the manualpages | + | If the manual pages for a topic are divided over different sections, one can pass the section number as an additional |
- | ===Example=== | + | === Example === |
< | < | ||
markus@samsung: | markus@samsung: | ||
Line 80: | Line 80: | ||
< | < | ||
- | ====The Structure of the Manpages==== | + | ===== The Structure of the Manpages |
The manpages have (should have) all the same structure: | The manpages have (should have) all the same structure: | ||
* Name | * Name | ||
- | * Name of the command and a short description | + | * Name of the command and a short description |
* Synopsis | * Synopsis | ||
- | * A short list of the options | + | * A usage statement including a short list of the options |
* Description | * Description | ||
- | * The detailed explanation of the command | + | * A detailed explanation of the command |
* Options | * Options | ||
- | * Detailed explanation of the commandline-options for the command | + | * Detailed explanation of the command line options for the command |
* Bugs | * Bugs | ||
* Known Bugs | * Known Bugs | ||
Line 99: | Line 99: | ||
If one searches for information about a subject rather than a single command the "see also" line is very interesting. | If one searches for information about a subject rather than a single command the "see also" line is very interesting. | ||
- | ====Searching within a Manpage==== | + | ===== Searching within a Manpage |
The reader for the manpages is the program '' | The reader for the manpages is the program '' | ||
With ''/'' | With ''/'' | ||
Line 107: | Line 107: | ||
with -l, print sizes in human readable format (e.g., 1K 234M 2G)</ | with -l, print sizes in human readable format (e.g., 1K 234M 2G)</ | ||
- | ====Navigation within a Manpage==== | + | ===== Navigation within a Manpage |
- | Navigation | + | Navigation |
* '' | * '' | ||
* '' | * '' | ||
Line 118: | Line 118: | ||
Unfortunately these marks are lost when you leave the manpage (which is done with q). | Unfortunately these marks are lost when you leave the manpage (which is done with q). | ||
- | ====Formatting a Manpage as a PDF-document==== | + | ===== Formatting a Manpage as a PDF-document |
If you want to have a manpage as a PDF document you can use the command: | If you want to have a manpage as a PDF document you can use the command: | ||
- | < | + | < |
which formats the manpage for the '' | which formats the manpage for the '' | ||
- | ====Further Reading==== | + | ===== Further Reading |
- | For more information read the manpage for the '' | + | For more information read the manpage for the '' |
====== Sources ====== | ====== Sources ====== | ||
<!-- If you are copying information from another source, then specify that source --> | <!-- If you are copying information from another source, then specify that source --> | ||
<!-- * Original source: [[http:// | <!-- * Original source: [[http:// | ||
<!-- Authors are allowed to give credit to themselves! --> | <!-- Authors are allowed to give credit to themselves! --> | ||
- | * Originally written by [[wiki: | + | * Originally written by [[wiki: |
<!-- * Contributions by [[wiki: | <!-- * Contributions by [[wiki: | ||
<!-- Please do not modify anything below, except adding new tags.--> | <!-- Please do not modify anything below, except adding new tags.--> | ||
<!-- You must remove the tag-word " | <!-- You must remove the tag-word " | ||
- | {{tag> | + | {{tag> |