man linux command

man

man [options] [section] [title]

Display information from the online reference manuals. man locates and prints the named title from the designated reference section.

Options

-7, --ascii

Expect a pure ASCII file, and format it for a 7-bit terminal or terminal emulator.

-a, --all

Show all pages matching title.

-b

Leave blank lines in output.

-d, --debug

Display debugging information. Suppress actual printing of manual pages.

-f, --whatis

Same as whatis command.

-k, --apropos

Same as apropos command.

-l, --local-file

Search local files, not system files, for manual pages. If i is given as filename, search standard input.

-m systems, --systems=systems

Search systems' manual pages. systems should be a comma-separated list.

-p preprocessors, --preprocessor=preprocessors

Preprocess manual pages with preprocessors before turning them over to nroff, troff, or groff. Always runs soelim first.

-r prompt, --prompt=prompt

Set prompt if less is used as pager.

-t, --troff

Format the manual page with /usr/bin/groff -Tgv -mandoc. Implied by -T and -Z.

-u, --update

Perform a consistency check between manual page cache and filesystem.

-w, --where, --location

Print pathnames of entries on standard output.

-D, --default

Reset all options to their defaults.

-L locale, --locale=locale

Assume current locale to be locale; do not consult the setlocale() function.

-M path, --manpath=path

Search for manual pages in path. Ignore -m option.

-Ppager, --pager=pager

Select paging program pager to display the entry.

-T device, --troff-device[=device]

Format groff or troff output for device, such as dvi, latin1, X75, and X100.

-Z, --ditroff

Do not allow postprocessing of manual page after groff has finished formatting it.

Section names

Manual pages are divided into sections, depending on their intended audience:

Executable programs or shell commands

System calls (functions provided by the kernel)

Library calls (functions within system libraries)

Special files (usually found in /dev)

File formats and conventions (e.g., /etc/passwd)

Games

Macro packages and conventions

System administration commands (usually only for a privileged user)

Kernel routines (nonstandard)