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45.2 Man Pages
Man pages are an essential part of any Linux system. They explain the usage of a
command and all available options and parameters. Man pages are sorted in categories
as shown in
Table 45.1, "Man Pages—Categories and Descriptions"
from the man page for man itself).
Table 45.1
Man Pages—Categories and Descriptions
Number
Description
1
Executable programs or shell commands
2
System calls (functions provided by the kernel)
3
Library calls (functions within program libraries)
4
Special files (usually found in /dev)
5
File formats and conventions (/etc/fstab)
6
Games
7
Miscellaneous (including macro packages and conventions), for
example, man(7), groff(7)
8
System administration commands (usually only for root)
9
Kernel routines (nonstandard)
Generally, man pages are delivered with the associated command. They can be browsed
in the help center or directly in a shell. To display a man page in a shell, use the man
command. For example, to display the man page for ls enter man ls. Each man page
consists of several parts labeled NAME, SYNOPSIS, DESCRIPTION, SEE ALSO, LI-
CENSING, and AUTHOR. There may be additional sections available depending on
the type of command. With Q , exit the man page viewer.
(page 793) (taken
Help and Documentation
793
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