230 lines
3.8 KiB
HTML
230 lines
3.8 KiB
HTML
<HTML
|
|
><HEAD
|
|
><TITLE
|
|
>How do I get `apropos' and `whatis' to work?</TITLE
|
|
><META
|
|
NAME="GENERATOR"
|
|
CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.7"><LINK
|
|
REL="HOME"
|
|
TITLE="Linux Man Page Howto"
|
|
HREF="index.html"><LINK
|
|
REL="PREVIOUS"
|
|
TITLE="How do I get a high quality
|
|
PostScript man page?"
|
|
HREF="q11.html"><LINK
|
|
REL="NEXT"
|
|
TITLE="Copying conditions"
|
|
HREF="copying.html"></HEAD
|
|
><BODY
|
|
CLASS="SECT1"
|
|
BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"
|
|
TEXT="#000000"
|
|
LINK="#0000FF"
|
|
VLINK="#840084"
|
|
ALINK="#0000FF"
|
|
><DIV
|
|
CLASS="NAVHEADER"
|
|
><TABLE
|
|
SUMMARY="Header navigation table"
|
|
WIDTH="100%"
|
|
BORDER="0"
|
|
CELLPADDING="0"
|
|
CELLSPACING="0"
|
|
><TR
|
|
><TH
|
|
COLSPAN="3"
|
|
ALIGN="center"
|
|
>Linux Man Page Howto</TH
|
|
></TR
|
|
><TR
|
|
><TD
|
|
WIDTH="10%"
|
|
ALIGN="left"
|
|
VALIGN="bottom"
|
|
><A
|
|
HREF="q11.html"
|
|
ACCESSKEY="P"
|
|
>Prev</A
|
|
></TD
|
|
><TD
|
|
WIDTH="80%"
|
|
ALIGN="center"
|
|
VALIGN="bottom"
|
|
></TD
|
|
><TD
|
|
WIDTH="10%"
|
|
ALIGN="right"
|
|
VALIGN="bottom"
|
|
><A
|
|
HREF="copying.html"
|
|
ACCESSKEY="N"
|
|
>Next</A
|
|
></TD
|
|
></TR
|
|
></TABLE
|
|
><HR
|
|
ALIGN="LEFT"
|
|
WIDTH="100%"></DIV
|
|
><DIV
|
|
CLASS="SECT1"
|
|
><H1
|
|
CLASS="SECT1"
|
|
><A
|
|
NAME="Q12"
|
|
></A
|
|
>12. How do I get `apropos' and `whatis' to work?</H1
|
|
><P
|
|
>Suppose you wonder what compilers are installed on your
|
|
system and how these can be invoked. To answer this (frequently
|
|
asked) question you say</P
|
|
><TABLE
|
|
BORDER="0"
|
|
BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
|
|
WIDTH="100%"
|
|
><TR
|
|
><TD
|
|
><FONT
|
|
COLOR="#000000"
|
|
><PRE
|
|
CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING"
|
|
>funnyprompt$ apropos compiler
|
|
f77 (1) - Fortran 77 compiler
|
|
gcc (1) - GNU C and C++ compiler
|
|
pc (1) - Pascal compiler</PRE
|
|
></FONT
|
|
></TD
|
|
></TR
|
|
></TABLE
|
|
><P
|
|
><TT
|
|
CLASS="LITERAL"
|
|
>Apropos</TT
|
|
> and <TT
|
|
CLASS="LITERAL"
|
|
>whatis</TT
|
|
> are
|
|
used to quickly report which man page has information on a certain
|
|
topic. Both programs search a number of files named `whatis'
|
|
that may be found in each of the manual base directories. As
|
|
previously stated, the whatis data base files contain a one line
|
|
entry for any man page in the respective directory tree. In fact,
|
|
that line is exactly the NAME section (to be precise: joined on one
|
|
line and with hyphenation removed; note that the section is
|
|
mentioned within parentheses). The whatis database files are
|
|
created with the <TT
|
|
CLASS="LITERAL"
|
|
>makewhatis</TT
|
|
>(8) program. There
|
|
are several versions around, so please refer to the man page to
|
|
determine what options are available. In order for
|
|
<TT
|
|
CLASS="LITERAL"
|
|
>makewhatis</TT
|
|
> to be able to extract the NAME
|
|
sections correctly it is important that you, the manual writer,
|
|
adhere to the NAME section format described under
|
|
<A
|
|
HREF="q3.html"
|
|
>question 3)</A
|
|
>. The differences between
|
|
<TT
|
|
CLASS="LITERAL"
|
|
>apropos</TT
|
|
> and <TT
|
|
CLASS="LITERAL"
|
|
>whatis</TT
|
|
> are simply
|
|
where in the line they look, and what they are looking for.
|
|
<TT
|
|
CLASS="LITERAL"
|
|
>Apropos</TT
|
|
> (which is equivalent to <TT
|
|
CLASS="LITERAL"
|
|
>man
|
|
-k</TT
|
|
>) searches the argument string anywhere on the line,
|
|
whereas <TT
|
|
CLASS="LITERAL"
|
|
>whatis</TT
|
|
> (equivalent to <TT
|
|
CLASS="LITERAL"
|
|
>man
|
|
-f</TT
|
|
>) tries to match a complete command name only on the
|
|
part before the dash. Consequently, `<TT
|
|
CLASS="LITERAL"
|
|
>whatis
|
|
cc</TT
|
|
>' will report if there is a <TT
|
|
CLASS="LITERAL"
|
|
>cc</TT
|
|
>
|
|
manual and remain quiet for <TT
|
|
CLASS="LITERAL"
|
|
>gcc</TT
|
|
>.</P
|
|
><P
|
|
>Corrections and suggestions welcome!</P
|
|
></DIV
|
|
><DIV
|
|
CLASS="NAVFOOTER"
|
|
><HR
|
|
ALIGN="LEFT"
|
|
WIDTH="100%"><TABLE
|
|
SUMMARY="Footer navigation table"
|
|
WIDTH="100%"
|
|
BORDER="0"
|
|
CELLPADDING="0"
|
|
CELLSPACING="0"
|
|
><TR
|
|
><TD
|
|
WIDTH="33%"
|
|
ALIGN="left"
|
|
VALIGN="top"
|
|
><A
|
|
HREF="q11.html"
|
|
ACCESSKEY="P"
|
|
>Prev</A
|
|
></TD
|
|
><TD
|
|
WIDTH="34%"
|
|
ALIGN="center"
|
|
VALIGN="top"
|
|
><A
|
|
HREF="index.html"
|
|
ACCESSKEY="H"
|
|
>Home</A
|
|
></TD
|
|
><TD
|
|
WIDTH="33%"
|
|
ALIGN="right"
|
|
VALIGN="top"
|
|
><A
|
|
HREF="copying.html"
|
|
ACCESSKEY="N"
|
|
>Next</A
|
|
></TD
|
|
></TR
|
|
><TR
|
|
><TD
|
|
WIDTH="33%"
|
|
ALIGN="left"
|
|
VALIGN="top"
|
|
>How do I get a high quality
|
|
PostScript man page?</TD
|
|
><TD
|
|
WIDTH="34%"
|
|
ALIGN="center"
|
|
VALIGN="top"
|
|
> </TD
|
|
><TD
|
|
WIDTH="33%"
|
|
ALIGN="right"
|
|
VALIGN="top"
|
|
>Copying conditions</TD
|
|
></TR
|
|
></TABLE
|
|
></DIV
|
|
></BODY
|
|
></HTML
|
|
> |