MAN(1)                                                                  MAN(1)



NAME
       man - find manual information by keywords; print out the manual

SYNOPSIS
       man [ - ] [ -M _p_a_t_h ] [ section ] title ...
       man -k keyword ...
       man -f file ...

DESCRIPTION
       _M_a_n  is  a program which gives information from the programmers manual.
       It can be asked for one line  descriptions  of  commands  specified  by
       name,  or  for  all commands whose description contains any of a set of
       keywords.  It can also provide on-line access to the  sections  of  the
       printed manual.

       When  given  the  option -k and a set of keywords, _m_a_n prints out a one
       line synopsis of each manual sections whose listing  in  the  table  of
       contents contains one of those keywords.

       When  given  the  option  -f  and a list of file names, _m_a_n attempts to
       locate manual sections related to those files, printing out  the  table
       of contents lines for those sections.

       When  neither  -k  nor  -f is specified, _m_a_n formats a specified set of
       manual pages.  If a section specifier is given _m_a_n looks  in  the  that
       section  of the manual for the given _t_i_t_l_e_s_.  _S_e_c_t_i_o_n is either an Ara‐
       bic section number (3 for instance),  or  one  of  the  words  ‘‘new,’’
       ‘‘local,’’ ‘‘old,’’ or ‘‘public.’’  A section number may be followed by
       a single letter classifier (for instance,  1g,  indicating  a  graphics
       program  in  section  1).  If _s_e_c_t_i_o_n is omitted, _m_a_n searches all sec‐
       tions of the manual, giving preference to commands over subroutines  in
       system libraries, and printing the first section it finds, if any.

       If  the  standard  output is a teletype, or if the flag - is given, _m_a_n
       pipes its output through _m_o_r_e(1) with the option -s to crush  out  use‐
       less  blank  lines  and  to  stop after each page on the screen.  Hit a
       space to continue, a control-D to scroll 11 more lines when the  output
       stops.

       Normally  _m_a_n  checks  in  a  standard  location for manual information
       (/usr/man).  This can be changed by supplying a search path (a  la  the
       shell)  with  the  -M flag.  The search path is a colon (‘:’) separated
       list of directories in which manual subdirectories may be  found;  e.g.
       ‘‘/usr/local:/usr/man’’.  If the environment variable ‘MANPATH’ is set,
       its value is used for the default path.  If a search path  is  supplied
       with the -k or -f options, it must be specified first.

       _M_a_n  will  look  for  the manual page in either of two forms, the nroff
       source or preformatted pages.  If either version is available, the man‐
       ual  page will be displayed.  If the preformatted version is available,
       and it has a more recent modify time than the nroff source,  it will be
       promptly  displayed.  Otherwise, the manual page will be formatted with
       nroff and displayed.  If the user has permission, the formatted  manual
       page  will  be deposited in the proper place, so that later invocations
       of man will not need to format the page again.

FILES
       /usr/man          standard manual area
       /usr/man/man?/*   directories containing source for manuals
       /usr/man/cat?/*   directories containing preformatted pages
       /usr/man/whatis   keyword database

SEE ALSO
       apropos(1), more(1), whereis(1), catman(8)

BUGS
       The manual is supposed to be reproducible either on the phototypesetter
       or  on a typewriter.  However, on a typewriter some information is nec‐
       essarily lost.



4th Berkeley Distribution         May 9, 1986                           MAN(1)