man

man [options] [[section] subjects]

Display information from the online reference manual. Each subject is usually the name of a command from Section 1 of the online manuals, unless you specify an optional section from 1 to 8. If you don't specify a subject, you must supply either a keyword (for -k) or a file (for -f). No options except -M can be used with -k or -f. The MANPATH environment variable defines the directories in which man searches for information (default is /usr/share/man). PAGER defines how output is sent to the screen (default is more -s). Note: in Solaris, section must be preceded by -s.

Options

-

Pipe output through cat instead of more -s.

-a

Show all pages matching subject. Solaris only.

-d

Debug; evaluate the man command but don't execute. Solaris only.

-f files

Display a one-line summary of one or more reference files. Same as whatis.

-F

Search MANPATH directories, not windex database. Solaris only.

-k keywords

Display any header line that contains one of the specified keywords. Same as apropos.

-l

Like -a, but list only the pages. Solaris only.

-M path

Search for online descriptions in directory path instead of default directory. -M overrides MANPATH.

-r

Reformat but don't display manpage. Same as man - -t. Solaris only.

-s section

Specify the section of the manpage to search in. Required on Solaris for anything that isn't a command.

-t

Format the manpages with troff.

-T mac

Display information using macro package mac instead of tmac.an (the man macros).

Examples

Save documentation on the mv command (strip backspaces):

man mv | col -b > mv.txt

Display commands related to linking and compiling:

man -k link compile | more

Display a summary of all intro files:

man -f intro

Look up the intro page from Section 3M (the math library):

man 3m intro		In SVR4
man -s 3m intro		In Solaris