[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 [2012/10/28 17:12 (UTC)] – [Sources] Bullet point fix sycamorex | howtos:general_admin:searching_and_reading_manpages_efficiently [2013/01/06 00:13 (UTC)] – added REVIEWED comment mfillpot | ||
---|---|---|---|
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
+ | <!-- Reviewed 2012-12-31 hazel --> | ||
<!-- 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 the commands | + | In order to search for information about anything in the manpages you can use one of the following |
- | * apropos | + | * '' |
- | * man -k | + | * '' |
- | * whatis | + | * '' |
- | apropos is only an alias for "man -k" | + | '' |
- | If you don't know how exactly a word, for example a command, is written, you can use apropos. If you know exactly the word to search for, whatis would be more efficient because it results in fewer lines of output | + | 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: | ||
- | with the apropos-command | + | With the '' |
< | < | ||
markus@samsung: | markus@samsung: | ||
Line 34: | Line 35: | ||
dnsmasq [] | dnsmasq [] | ||
</ | </ | ||
- | with the whatis-command | + | With the '' |
< | < | ||
markus@samsung: | markus@samsung: | ||
Line 40: | Line 41: | ||
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 whatis-Database==== | + | ===== Updating the '' |
- | The whatis-command has it' | + | 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 60: | Line 61: | ||
| | ||
| | ||
- | | + | |
- | | + | |
</ | </ | ||
- | If the manualpages | + | If the manual pages for a topic are divided |
- | ===Example=== | + | === Example === |
< | < | ||
markus@samsung: | markus@samsung: | ||
Line 80: | Line 81: | ||
< | < | ||
- | ====The Structure of the Manpages==== | + | ===== The Structure of the Manpages |
- | The manpages have (should have) all the same structure: | + | The manpages |
* 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 100: | ||
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 / one searches the document | + | With '' |
===Example=== | ===Example=== | ||
- | Searching for the -h option in the manpage for the ls-command with /-h | + | Searching for the -h option in the manpage for the '' |
gives us< | gives us< | ||
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 |
- | * G end of the manpage | + | * '' |
- | * gg first line of the mapage | + | * '' |
- | * nG nth line of the manpage | + | * '' |
One can also **set marks** at a line of the manpage | One can also **set marks** at a line of the manpage | ||
- | * ma sets mark a in the current line | + | * '' |
- | * 'a jumps to mark a in the manpage | + | * '' |
- | unfortunately | + | Unfortunately |
- | ====Formatting a Manpage as a PDF-document==== | + | ===== Formatting a Manpage as a PDF-document |
- | If you want to have a manpage as 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 ls-command into a pdf-document named " | + | which formats the manpage for the '' |
- | ====Additional Hint==== | + | ===== Further Reading ===== |
- | For further | + | 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> |