<snip> > >> One good way to figure out what commands are available is to use the > >> command apropos. > >> > >> apropos keyword > >> > >> Where keyword is something you are trying to do like: > >> > >> apropos filesystem > >> > >> apropos searches the whatis database for matches and lists short > >> descriptions of system commands that match. > >> > >Uhhhh, Don't you mean that apropos searches the man pages to find > >things that match? > ... > > No, he meant what he said. Apropos does not search man pages; it greps the > whatis database, which is constructed by makewhatis from the man page > headers, not from the man page bodies. Apropos is a shell script, which > you can read if you want to. > > Plug: I have an improved apropos that handles multiple words in a useful > way: <http://georgeanelson.com/apropos2.htm> Hopefully not to add to the confusion let me add: 1. man -k <something> works like apropos to search the whatis database. 2. However if you want to search all the man pages you can by using: man -K <something> which will search all the man pages stopping to let you look at any man page that contains the <something> text. -- ------------------------------------------- Aaron Konstam Computer Science Trinity University telephone: (210)-999-7484
