In Unix, what is the man command, and how do I use it to read manual pages?

In Unix, most programs, and many protocols, functions, and file formats, have accompanying manuals. With the man command, you can retrieve the information in the manual and display it as text output on your screen. To use the man command, at the Unix prompt, enter:

Replace topic with the name of the manual item about which you want more information. For example, to find out more about the FTP command, at the Unix prompt, enter:

If you are unsure which manual item you want to read, you can do a keyword search. At the Unix prompt, enter:

On some systems, you need to replace man -k with apropos . For example, at the Unix prompt, enter:

In both of the examples above, replace keyword with a specific topic (e.g., ftp , mail ).

For more information about the man command, at the Unix prompt, enter:

Also see:

• In Unix, how do I get a printed copy of a manual page?
• In Unix, how do I convert a manual page into a simple text file?
• Introduction to Unix commands