Re: "man" command made easy?
caveat -- if your VCR is still blinking 12:00 then you're not
ready for linux...
On Sat, Jul 14, 2001 at 04:41:21AM -0000, john smith wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I was just wondering...I don't know if this topic is for this
> list but...is there a book or link somewhere that gives easier
> examples of how to do the correct syntax for "man" something.
> This probably won't be any problems to you unix gurus out
> there but if I wanted to do something and I do a "man"
> something, I get arcane (at least for me) explanations of how
> to use different options/parameters of that something but not
> giving me a simple example on how to do the command with the
> options I want correctly and I'd spend a lot of time figuring
> out the correct syntax instead of spending time with something
> else. it would certainly be nice for the "man" pages to
> include a simple example of a correct command's syntax and
> how to add options etc.. along with the lengthy explanation of
> all of the available commands options. might not be useful to
> you gurus out there but it certainly will help newbies to make
> the learning curve a little easier?
as others have said, "man" shows the reference manual, which is
typically a feature-by-feature, option-by-option discussion of
what a particular program does, or what a particular config file
will accept. you're not likely to glean much on what a
particular program is actually FOR, at least not from a manpage.
(some include examples, and those help a lot.)
and sometimes there's not much manpage at all -- you gotta go
look under "info" or /usr/share/doc/<package> instead. or maybe
even out to the web, on the author's own website.
and sometimes there's no documentation at all... but that's
rare. (even the most self-satisfied programmer wants her program
to be USED, so she'll likely write up an intro, at the very
least.)
so here it is, anyway -- at least i think this is what you might
be asking for:
man <command>
shows you the nitty-gritty for <command>, as in
man ls
man chmod
man apt-get
you can also try
man <configfilename>
which discusses the syntax and options expected in a particular
configuration file, such as
man sources.list
man inted.conf
man inittab
the unix 'manual' is broken up into several sections, and
occasionally you'll get the manpage from section 3 but you're
wanting the one from section 8. if you know which section to ask
for, try
man <section> <itemToReadAbout>
man -a <itemToReadAbout> <== shows ALL matching manpages
in sequence
for example, "locale" has manpages in sections 1, 3, 5 and 7. to
see the one from section 5, i'd do
man 5 locale
NOTE each section has a terse intro: to see it, do
man 4 intro
man 8 intro
...
how do you know which section you've been reading? the section
appears in parentheses after the title on every page:
GETHOSTNAME(2) Linux Programmer's Manual GETHOSTNAME(2)
so "man gethostname" is from section two. (when something refers
you to "locale(3)" read the right one via "man 3 locale".)
to see which commands are RELATED to a certain term, also try
apropos <term>
whatis <term>
--
at the newbieDoc project (newbieDoc.sourceForge.net) we've just
discovered a package that's been around for quite some time:
apt-get install dhelp
dhelp
try that, and see what it gets you.
and, if you have a task you'd like to apply your debian machine
to, write it up and send it to debian user, asking how it can be
made to do what you want it to. the folks 'round these parts
don't mind sharing their brain cells with a new friend.
:)
that's probably the best way to learn linux. you wouldn't think
that "grep" has anything to do with finding which files contain
certain patterns, would you? not unless you already knew unix.
so ask those who do know. we'll get you started.
--
DEBIAN NEWBIE TIP #85 from USM Bish <bish@nde.vsnl.net.in>
:
Where should you SEARCH FOR DEBIAN PACKAGES?
http://www.debian.org/distrib/packages
Also,
apt-cache search <package>
might get you the info as well.
Also see http://newbieDoc.sourceForge.net/ ...
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