Getting Help on the Command Line

This section will provide you with some tips on getting help on the command line. The commands -help and man are the two most important tools at the command line.

Virtually all commands understand the -h (or -help) option which will produce a short usage description of the command and its options, then exit back to the command prompt. Try man -h or man -help to see this in action.

Every command and nearly every application in Linux will have a man (manual) file, so finding them is as simple as typing man command to bring up a longer manual entry for the specified command. For example, man mv will bring up the mv (Move) manual.

Some helpful tips for using the man command include:

• arrow keys: Move up and down the man file using the arrow keys.

• q: Quit back to the command prompt by typing q.

• man man: man man will bring up the manual entry for the man command, which is a good place to start!

• man intro: man intro is especially useful. It displays the Introduction to User Commands, which is a well-written, fairly brief introduction to the Linux command line.

There are also info pages, which are generally more in-depth than man pages. Try info info for the introduction to info pages.