man(1)
NAME
man − print manual pages
SYNTAX
man −k keyword...
man −f file...
man [−] [−t] [−s] [section] title...
DESCRIPTION
The man command is a program which gives information from the programmers manual. It can be asked for one line descriptions of commands specified by name, or for all commands whose description contains any of a set of ds. It can also provide on-line access to the sections of the printed manual.
OPTIONS
−kDisplays one-line summary of each manual page that contains one of the specified keywords.
−fDisplays one-line summary of each manual page that contains one of the specified file names.
When neither −k nor −f is specified, man formats a specified set of manual pages. If a section specifier is given man looks in the that section of the manual for the given titles. The section is an Arabic section number (3 for instance). The number may followed by a single letter classifier (1g for instance) indicating a graphics program in section 1. If section is omitted, man searches all sections of the manual, giving preference to commands over subroutines in system libraries, and printing the first section it finds, if any.
−Squeezes multiple blank lines from output.
−sRemoves unnecessary blank lines.
If the standard output is a teletype, or if the flag − is given, man pipes its output through cat() with the option −s to crush out useless blank lines, ul() to create proper underlines for different terminals, and through more1 to stop after each page on the screen. Hit a space to continue, a control-D to scroll 11 more lines when the output stops.
−tPhototypesets output using nroff.
RESTRICTIONS
The manual is supposed to be reproducible either on the phototypesetter or on a typewriter. However, on a typewriter some information is necessarily lost.
FILES
/usr/man/man?/* These directories contain the on-line manual pages by sections.
/usr/man/cat?/* These directories contain the files generated by the use of catman.
/usr/lib/whatis This file contains the table of contents lines for the manual sections.