Basics

Linux man command

Open the manual page for a command. Press q to leave the viewer.

Availability: Common Linux commands; shell built-ins and external implementations may differ by distribution.中文

Syntax

man [OPTION]... [[SECTION] PAGE ...]

Examples

Open the manual page for ls.

man ls

Open section 5 documentation for the passwd file format.

man 5 passwd

Parameters, options and clauses

Option / clause	Description
`-k KEYWORD`	Search manual page names and descriptions (apropos).
`-f PAGE`	Show a short description of a manual page (whatis).
`-a PAGE`	Show all matching manual pages, one after another.
`-K TEXT`	Search the full text of manual pages.
`-w PAGE`	Print the location of the manual page file.
`-M PATH`	Use PATH as the manual page search path.

Safety note

Review a command and its target before running it. Commands that alter files, services, accounts, disks, permissions or databases may be difficult to reverse. Test in a safe environment and keep backups.

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