How to Use Man to Access Help Manual

Of all the Linux commands you need to know, perhaps none is so important as how to use man to access the help manual. This is how you find answers to all your questions online, and how you search for and print the answers to your questions regarding all other commands.

Use Man to Access Help Manual

Step1 Use the '-a' command to locate all pages matching the title you've inputted. This is normally used when you don't know what section you're looking for or need more options.

Step2 Use '-b' to preserve blanks.

Step3 Find information to display on debugging with '-d'. You will also use it when you do not want to print manual pages.

Step4 Modify your search to local files using '-l'. This command will skip system files for standard input in local files to locate manual pages.

Step5 Use '-m' to search manual pages on system files.

Step6 Format a manual page using '-t'.

Step7 Use man to access all pages in help manual with option '-K'. You will be given the name of every page your search term appears on. You will also be asked whether you want to view that page or not.

Step8 Search each section individually using '-S'. This is a good general search guideline if you are not completely sure what you are looking for.

Step9 Know how the help manual is structured. This will help you save time when you use man to access the help manual. It is divided into nine sections. Section one is "Executable Programs or Shell Commands." Section two is "System Calls (functions provided by the kernel)." Section three is "Library Calls (functions within system libraries)." Section four is "Special Files (files usually found in /dev)." Section five is "File Formats and Conventions." Section six is "Games." Section seven is "Macro Packages and Conventions." Section eight is "System Administration Commands." Section nine is "Kernel Routines."

Step10 Order a hard copy of the fifth Edition of "Linux in a Nutshell" by Siever, Weber, Figgins, Love and Robbins. It makes a handy and quick desk reference and can be ordered directly from Amazon (see Resources below).