Man: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:04, 2 August 2019

Depends on	Libraries • Shell

Man is the default Unix manual page reader application. It allows the user to access the built in documentation for the software installed on the computer.

Usage: man [SECTION] PAGES...

To quote the manual page of the man program:

man is the system’s manual pager. Each page argument given to man is normally the name of a program, utility or function. The manual page associated with each of these arguments is then found and displayed. A section, if provided, will direct man to look only in that section of the manual.

Some interesting/useful man pages to check are, hier, ascii, and suffixes.

The manuals can be a very useful source of information but they are rather uncompromising: you usually need to know what you are looking for first, and then they will remind you of the precise syntax. They are not so useful when starting out so don’t worry if they look rather cryptic.

Sections

Some pages (keywords) are used for multiple purposes, depending on context. These are identified by section. Try (e.g.) man -a read to see (successively) the various interpretations of “read”. If you want a specific interpretation you can use (again, e.g.) man 2 read.

Section	Type
1	Executable programs or shell commands
2	System calls (functions provided by the kernel)
3	Library calls (functions within program libraries)
4	Special files (usually found in /dev)
5	File formats and conventions e.g. /etc/passwd
6	Games
7	Miscellaneous (including macro packages and conventions)
8	System administration commands (usually only for root)
9	Kernel routines [Non standard]

Hints

Running man man will have man present its own manpage
Don’t know the command to search for?
Try the apropos option with man -k <keyword>.
Man on Wikipedia

Max. number:

Max. distance:

"Everything is a File" • Application Binary Interface (ABI) • Arrays • Boot • Buffer Overflow • Containers • Daemons • Disk Partition • Dynamic Memory Allocation • Emulator traps • Environment Variables • Errors • Exceptions • File Attributes • File Locking • File Permissions • Introduction to Operating Systems • Journalling File System • Links • Locks • Man(ual pages in Unix) • Memory Mapped Files • Monitoring • Network File System (NFS) • PATH • Pipes • Pointers • Relocatable Code • Reset • SETUID • Shell • Sockets • Spooling and Buffering • Streams • Structures • Superuser • System Calls • Unix Signals • User • Using Peripherals

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{DISPLAYTITLE:Man(ual pages in Unix)}}<!--
 -->{{#set: Priority=2 | Summary=Unix on-line manual.}}<!--
--->{{Path|User|4}}<!--
 -->{{#invoke:Dependencies|add|Libraries,3|Shell,2}}
-Man is the default Unix manual page reader application.  It allows the
+Man is the default Unix manual page reader application.  It allows the user to access the built in documentation for the software installed on the computer.
-user to access the built in documentation for the software installed
-on the computer.
 <code>Usage: man [SECTION] PAGES...</code>
@@ Line 11: / Line 8: @@
 To quote the manual page of the man program:
 <blockquote>
-<strong>man</strong> is the system’s manual pager.  Each <em>page</em> argument given to
+<strong>man</strong> is the system’s manual pager.  Each <em>page</em> argument given to <strong>man</strong> is normally the name of a program, utility or function.  The <em>manual page</em> associated with each of these arguments is then found
-<strong>man</strong> is normally the name of a program, utility or function.  The
+and displayed.  A <em>section</em>, if provided, will direct <strong>man</strong> to look only in that <em>section</em> of the manual.
-<em>manual page</em> associated with each of these arguments is then found
-and displayed.  A <em>section</em>, if provided, will direct <strong>man</strong> to look
-only in that <em>section</em> of the manual.
 </blockquote>
-Some interesting/useful <code>man</code> pages to check are, <code>hier</code>, <code>ascii</code>, and
+Some interesting/useful <code>man</code> pages to check are, <code>hier</code>, <code>ascii</code>, and <code>suffixes</code>.
-<code>suffixes</code>.
-The manuals can be a very useful source of information <em>but</em> they are
+The manuals can be a very useful source of information <em>but</em> they are rather uncompromising: you usually need to know what you are looking for first, and then they will remind you of the precise syntax.  <em>They are not so useful when starting out</em> so don’t worry if they look rather cryptic.
-rather uncompromising: you usually need to know what you are looking
-for first, and then they will remind you of the precise syntax.  <em>They
-are not so useful when starting out</em> so don’t worry if they look
-rather cryptic.
 === Sections ===
-Some pages (keywords) are used for multiple purposes, depending on
+Some pages (keywords) are used for multiple purposes, depending on context.  These are identified by <em>section</em>.  Try (e.g.) <code>man -a read</code> to see (successively) the various interpretations of “read”.  If you want a <em>specific</em> interpretation you can use (again, e.g.) <code>man 2 read</code>.
-context.  These are identified by <em>section</em>.  Try (e.g.) <code>man -a read</code>
-to see (successively) the various interpretations of
-“read”.  If you want a <em>specific</em> interpretation you can
-use (again, e.g.) <code>man 2 read</code>.
 {|
 ! style="text-align:center" |Section
@@ Line 73: / Line 58: @@
 ----
 {{PageGraph}}
 {{Category|User}}

Man: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:04, 2 August 2019

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