Viewing man pages

One important Unix command tells you everything you ever wanted to know about Unix commands and files: the man command. It displays information about commands and files documented in the on-line manual pages. These man pages are included with every version of Unix.

The man pages present information about a command one page at a time. You can use keystrokes to advance to the next line or page of the man pages. You must quit the man pages feature to enter other Unix commands.

Like a book, man pages are broken into chapters called sections (Table 1). Each section is designed for a specific type of user. For example, a programmer will be interested in different man pages than a user or a system administrator. There are some man pages that document identical sounding items yet are intended for different users.

Table 1. man pages Sections

Section	Type of Command or File
1	User commands
2	System calls
3	Library routines
4	I/O and special files
5	Administrative files
6	Games
7	Miscellaneous
8	Administrative and maintenanc commands

Tip

• The man pages for commands and files can be lengthy and complex. Don't worry if you don't understand everything on a man page. Just take what you need. As you understand more about Unix, more will make sense.

To view man pages for a command

Type man followed by the name of the command (for example, man ls), and press .

The first page of the reference manual for the command appears (Figure 8).

Figure 8. The first man page for the ls command.

To view the next line of a man page

Press .

The manual advances one line.

To view the next page

Press .

The manual advances one page (Figure 9).

Figure 9. The second page for the ls command.

To quit man pages

Press .

Terminal returns you to the shell prompt.

To get man pages for man

Type man man and press .

The first page of the reference manual for the online manual appears (Figure 10).

Figure 10. The first man page for man.