whatis(1) [bsd man page]

WHATIS(1)						      General Commands Manual							 WHATIS(1)

NAME

       whatis - describe what a command is

SYNOPSIS

       whatis command ...

DESCRIPTION

       Whatis  looks up a given command and gives the header line from the manual section.  You can then run the man(1) command to get more infor-
       mation.	If the line starts `name(section) ...' you can do `man section name' to get the documentation for it.  Try `whatis  ed'  and  then
       you should do `man 1 ed' to get the manual.

       Whatis is actually just the -f option to the man(1) command.

FILES

       /usr/man/whatis	   Data base

SEE ALSO

       man(1), catman(8)

4th Berkeley Distribution					    May 7, 1986 							 WHATIS(1)

Commands Reference, Volume 1, a - c

apropos_Command

  Purpose

   Locates commands by keyword lookup.

  Syntax

   apropos [ -M PathName ] Keyword ...

  Description

   The apropos command shows the manual sections that contain any
of the
   keywords specified by the Keyword parameter	in  their  title.
The apropos
   command  considers each word separately and does not take into
account if a
   letter is in uppercase or lowercase. Words that  are  part  of
other words
   are	also  displayed.  For  example, when looking for the word
compile, the
   apropos command also finds all instances of the word compiler.
The
   database  containing  the  keywords	is /usr/share/man/whatis,
which must
   first be generated with the catman -w command.

   If the output of the apropos command begins with  a	name  and
section
   number,  you  can enter man Section Title. For example, if the
output of the
   apropos command is printf(3), you can enter man  3  printf  to
obtain the
   manual page on the printf subroutine.

   The	apropos  command  is  equivalent to using the man command
with the -k
   option.

     Note: When the /usr/share/man/whatis database is built  from
the HTML
     library using the catman -w command, section 3 is equivalent
to section
     2 or 3. See the man command for further explanation of  sec-
tions.

  Flag

	       Specifies  an  alternative search path. The search
path is
   -M PathName specified by the  PathName  parameter,  and  is	a
colon-separated
	       list of directories.

  Examples

    1. To find the manual sections that contain the word password
in their
       titles, enter:

	 apropos password

    2. To find the manual sections that contain the  word  editor
in their
       titles, enter:

	 apropos editor

  File

   /usr/share/man/whatis	      Contains	the  whatis data-
base.

  Related Information

   The catman command, man command, whatis command.

________________________________________________________________________________

		      Commands Reference, Volume 1, a - c

apropos_Command

  Purpose

   Locates commands by keyword lookup.

  Syntax

   apropos [ -M PathName ] Keyword ...

  Description

   The apropos command shows the manual sections that contain any
of the
   keywords specified by the Keyword parameter	in  their  title.
The apropos
   command  considers each word separately and does not take into
account if a
   letter is in uppercase or lowercase. Words that  are  part  of
other words
   are	also  displayed.  For  example, when looking for the word
compile, the
   apropos command also finds all instances of the word compiler.
The
   database  containing  the  keywords	is /usr/share/man/whatis,
which must
   first be generated with the catman -w command.

   If the output of the apropos command begins with  a	name  and
section
   number,  you  can enter man Section Title. For example, if the
output of the
   apropos command is printf(3), you can enter man  3  printf  to
obtain the
   manual page on the printf subroutine.

   The	apropos  command  is  equivalent to using the man command
with the -k
   option.

     Note: When the /usr/share/man/whatis database is built  from
the HTML
     library using the catman -w command, section 3 is equivalent
to section
     2 or 3. See the man command for further explanation of  sec-
tions.

  Flag

	       Specifies  an  alternative search path. The search
path is
   -M PathName specified by the  PathName  parameter,  and  is	a
colon-separated
	       list of directories.

  Examples

    1. To find the manual sections that contain the word password
in their
       titles, enter:

	 apropos password

    2. To find the manual sections that contain the  word  editor
in their
       titles, enter:

	 apropos editor

  File

   /usr/share/man/whatis	      Contains	the  whatis data-
base.

  Related Information

   The catman command, man command, whatis command.