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>Chapter 5. Help</H1
><P
>The help chapter provides information on how you may access the documentation of the GNU/Linux system. There is normally a document describing every single tool you have installed, even if its only brief...</P
><P
></P
><DIV
CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
><DL
><DT
>man</DT
><DD
><P
>This command displays summary information on a program from an online manual. For example typing <EM
>man man </EM
>will bring up the manual page for man (the manual page viewer). Note: q is the quit key.</P
><P
>Command syntax:</P
><TABLE
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><TR
><TD
><FONT
COLOR="#000000"
><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
>man program_name</PRE
></FONT
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
><DIV
CLASS="TIP"
><P
></P
><TABLE
CLASS="TIP"
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><TR
><TD
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><IMG
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><TH
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><B
>Also try</B
></TH
></TR
><TR
><TD
>&nbsp;</TD
><TD
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><P
>Specifying the section of the manual page, sometimes the man page is different for the same tool in different sections, note sections are numbered 1 to 9. Use apropos to find which section number to look in.</P
><P
>The syntax to look at a different section is:
<TABLE
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><TR
><TD
><FONT
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><PRE
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>man section_number tool_name</PRE
></FONT
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
>
For example:
<TABLE
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><TR
><TD
><FONT
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><PRE
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>man 2 time</PRE
></FONT
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
>
This will show you the man page called time in section 2, the equivalent page in section 1 is completely different</P
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
></DIV
></DD
><DT
>man<EFBFBD>-K<>keyword</DT
><DD
><P
>Search the manual pages for a string, as in it will search all manual pages for a particular string within each individual man page, it will then prompt whether you would like to view each page it will find. Use double quotes &#8220; and &#8221; if there are spaces in the string you are typing.</P
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><B
>Speed issue</B
></TH
></TR
><TR
><TD
>&nbsp;</TD
><TD
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><P
> Please be warned that this method is going to be really, really slow. You are searching *all* man pages for a string </P
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
></DIV
></DD
><DT
>man<EFBFBD>-f<>command</DT
><DD
><P
>This will list details associated with the command. The root user must run <EM
>makewhatis</EM
> (see below) before this command will work. </P
><DIV
CLASS="NOTE"
><P
></P
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><B
>Equivalent to <EM
>whatis</EM
></B
></TH
></TR
><TR
><TD
>&nbsp;</TD
><TD
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
><P
> This command is the same as running <EM
>whatis</EM
></P
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
></DIV
></DD
><DT
>info</DT
><DD
><P
>Provides a more detailed hyper-text manual on a particular command, this only works for some commands.</P
><P
>Command syntax:</P
><TABLE
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><TR
><TD
><FONT
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><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
>info program_name</PRE
></FONT
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
></DD
><DT
>whatis</DT
><DD
><P
>Displays a one-line description of what a program does. The string needs to be an exact match, otherwise <EM
>whatis</EM
> won't output anything. Relies on the whatis database (see below).</P
><P
>Command syntax:</P
><TABLE
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><TR
><TD
><FONT
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><PRE
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>whatis program_name</PRE
></FONT
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
></DD
><DT
>makewhatis</DT
><DD
><P
>Make the whatis database for <EM
>apropos</EM
>, <EM
>whatis</EM
> and<EM
> man -f.</EM
> </P
><DIV
CLASS="NOTE"
><P
></P
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><B
>Root Privileges</B
></TH
></TR
><TR
><TD
>&nbsp;</TD
><TD
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
><P
>This takes some time and you require root privileges to do this.</P
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
></DIV
></DD
><DT
>apropos</DT
><DD
><P
>Searches the whatis database for strings, similar to <EM
>whatis</EM
> except it finds and prints anything matching the string (or any part of the string). Also relies on the whatis database (see above). </P
><P
>Command syntax:</P
><TABLE
BORDER="1"
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><TR
><TD
><FONT
COLOR="#000000"
><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
>apropos string</PRE
></FONT
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
><DIV
CLASS="NOTE"
><P
></P
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><B
>Equivalent to...</B
></TH
></TR
><TR
><TD
>&nbsp;</TD
><TD
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
><P
> <EM
>apropos</EM
> is the same as doing <EM
>man -k</EM
> (lowercase k).</P
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
></DIV
></DD
></DL
></DIV
><DIV
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><P
></P
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><B
>Please note</B
></TH
></TR
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><TD
>&nbsp;</TD
><TD
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><P
>You need to run <EM
>makewhatis</EM
> (as root) so <EM
>whatis</EM
>, <EM
>man -f </EM
>and <EM
>apropos </EM
>will work.</P
></TD
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><P
></P
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><B
>Also try</B
></TH
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><TR
><TD
>&nbsp;</TD
><TD
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><P
>Using a program with the <EM
>-?</EM
>, <EM
>--h</EM
>, <EM
>--help</EM
>, and the <EM
>-h</EM
> options, they will display very short summary information on the command usage options.</P
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