Getting Help

Perhaps the most important tools on the command line are those that you can use to get help. Table A.1 lists a few of these important tools.

Table A.1. Using Terminal-Based Help Systems

COMMAND	GENERAL USAGE	DESCRIPTION
apropos	apropos STRING	Searches the NAME field of all manual pages. Same as man -k [string].
info	info [OPTIONS] INFO_PAGE	Displays the information pages for the specified command.
man	man [OPTIONS] MANPAGE	Displays the manual pages for the specified command, configuration file, system call, and so on. Common options include -k [string] Searches NAME field of man pages for specified string
whatis	whatis KEYWORD	Displays the NAME field from the man page for the specified keyword.