[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.
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howtos:general_admin:searching_and_reading_manpages_efficiently [2012/12/20 02:35 (UTC)] – [Sources] added tha author tag mfillpot | howtos:general_admin:searching_and_reading_manpages_efficiently [2012/12/31 13:39 (UTC)] – [The Structure of the Manpages] hazel | ||
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====== 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 ===== | ||
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* '' | * '' | ||
* '' | * '' | ||
- | '' | + | '' |
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 '' | ||
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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 | ||
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| | ||
| | ||
- | | + | |
- | | + | |
- | | + | |
- | | + | |
</ | </ | ||
- | 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 === | ||
< | < | ||
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===== 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 | ||
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===== Navigation within a Manpage ===== | ===== Navigation within a Manpage ===== | ||
- | Navigation | + | Navigation |
* '' | * '' | ||
* '' | * '' | ||
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===== 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 --> |