Cheat Sheet #day40 - man

man Cheatsheet

Basic Usage

• Open the manual page for a command

    man [command]
  

  Example:

    man ls
  

Navigation

• Move Down One Line: Down Arrow or j

• Move Up One Line: Up Arrow or k

• Move Down One Page: Space or Page Down

• Move Up One Page: b or Page Up

• Jump to the Beginning: g

• Jump to the End: G

• Move Forward One Word: w

• Move Backward One Word: b

Searching

• Search Forward: /keyword

• Search Backward: ?keyword

• Repeat Search Forward: n

• Repeat Search Backward: N

Exiting

• Quit the Manual: q

Viewing Sections

Manual pages are divided into sections, such as:

1. User commands

2. System calls

3. Library functions

4. Special files (e.g., device files)

5. File formats and conventions

6. Games and screensavers

7. Miscellaneous

8. System administration commands

• Specify a Section: man [section] [command] Example:

    man 5 passwd
  

Useful Options

• Display the Manual Page for a Specific Section

    man [section] [command]
  

  Example:

    man 3 printf
  

• Show All Manual Pages Matching a Command

    man -a [command]
  

  Example:

    man -a printf
  

• View Help for man Command

    man man
  

• Print the Manual Page to STDOUT

    man [command] | cat
  

  Example:

    man ls | cat
  

• Specify Locale for Manual Pages

    man --locale=[locale] [command]
  

  Example:

    man --locale=fr ls
  

• Search for a Command Across All Sections

    man -k [keyword]
  

  Example:

    man -k passwd
  

• Format and Display the Manual Page in a Custom Way

    man -P [pager_command] [command]
  

  Example:

    man -P cat ls
  

• Display a Short Description of a Command

    whatis [command]
  

  Example:

    whatis ls
  

• Search Manual Page Names and Descriptions

    apropos [keyword]
  

  Example:

    apropos network
  

Combining man with Other Commands

• Save a Manual Page to a File

    man [command] > [filename]
  

  Example:

    man ls > ls_manual.txt
  

• Print the Manual Page with col to Remove Backspaces

    man [command] | col -b > [filename]
  

  Example:

    man ls | col -b > ls_manual.txt
  

• Read a Compressed Manual Page

    man -z [file]
  

  Example:

    man -z /usr/share/man/man1/ls.1.gz
  

Additional Tips

• Man Page Sections Order: When you run man [command] without specifying a section, man searches through the sections in a predefined order. Typically, section 1 is searched first.

• Customizing Pager: You can customize the pager used by man with the PAGER environment variable. For example:

    export PAGER=less
  

This cheatsheet covers the essential commands and options for using the man command effectively, from basic navigation and searching to advanced usage and combining with other commands. Adjust the commands according to your specific requirements and environment.