Linux and Unix man command

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About man
Syntax
Examples
Related commands
Unix main page

About man

The man command is short for manual and provides in depth information about the requested command or allows users to search for commands related to a particular keyword.

Syntax

Shows you online manuals on Unix commands.

man [-] [-k keywords] topic

- Displays the manual without stopping.
-k keywords Searches for keywords in all of the manuals available.
topic Displays the manual for the topic or command typed in.

Examples

man mkdir

Lists help information on the mkdir command.

man -k irc

Quickly search for manuals containing irc within them. Below is an example of what the results may look like:

circle plot (3plot) - graphics interface
dircmp dircmp (1) - directory comparison
dircolors dircolors (1) - color setup for ls
ircII ircII (1) - interface to the Internet Relay Chat system

Related commands

info