Examples of using the man command

To get an overview of section 1 (one) of the manual:

   man 1 intro

This section deals with user commands: the commands you are most likely to use.


To search the online manual for a command with the keyword "mail":

   man -k mail

This displays a one line synopsis of each command that has this keyword in its description.


To search the online manual for a command with the phrase "copy files":

   man -k 'copy files'

This displays a one line synopsis for each command that has this phrase in its description.


To check what a command does:

   whatis more
   more, page (1)    - browse or page through a text file

This displays a one line description of what the command does.


To display the manual page for the cp (copy files) command:

   man cp

--More--48% at the bottom left of the screen means that only 48% of the man page is displayed.

Press the space bar to display more of it or type q to quit.


To print the manual page for the man command:

   man -t man

This prints the manual page to your default printer.


[Home] [Search] [Index] This site maintained by unixhelp@mathcs.duq.edu