Man page

A page (short for manual page) is Article description::the name for software documentation found on Unix based systems. Man pages contain documentation about programs (executable files), libraries, system calls, and configuration files.

Man pages are available even when a system is not connected to the Internet. The files are usually stored in but are viewed with a dedicated program, such as the  command.

In parallel to man pages is the info system. The contents of the info system is sometimes complimentary to the man pages, sometimes it will be different, sometimes only one system will contain anything at all. Man pages tend to be monolithic documents whereas info pages are hyperlinked.

Man pages are traditionally written in a special markup language called troff, but can be generated from other markup languages.

It is a real advantage to have documentation present on a system in a standardized and accessible way. Getting into the habit of looking for answers in the man and info pages is very good practice.

Installation
Man pages should be available by default on most Gentoo installations. The package is part of the system set and should be installed by default on Gentoo systems. The package provides many basic man pages and is also part of the system set.

Localization
If localized man pages are desired, set the LINGUAS variable in, e.g. for German:

Exclude man pages from system
Most packages install additional man pages. This can be avoided to save small amounts of disk space, when creating embedded systems, for example. This saves very little space, and is meant for extremely constrained environments only. It can always be useful to have the man pages.

To negate man page installation, add the following feature to :

man
Man pages can be viewed using the command, typed in a terminal. A more thorough explanation of the command can be found in the Navigate sub article.

uses the default pager (typically ) to display man pages. The default pager can be modified using the command.

Presuming, or similar, is used as the pager, navigation of a man page can be performed using the and  arrow keys (or the  and  keys if Vim navigation is preferred). Scroll page wise with the and  keys. Search using the key followed by the search term.

Use the key to search for text when viewing a man page. After finding the first term, type for the next occurrence.

Press for more help on viewing man pages.

Press to quit.

Sections
Man pages have different sections, for when same a term is used in different domains. The sections are numbered : 1 general commands, 2 system calls, 3 library functions, 4 special files and drivers, 5 file formats and conventions, 6 games and screensavers, 7 miscellaneous, 8 system administration commands and daemons.

For example, to show the ebuild man page of section 5:

When there is more than one man page with same name, the first found will be shown. To show the ebuild man page of section 1:

To list available sections for a given term, use the  option:

Search
To seach the man page descriptions for a keyword:

This can also be done with the apropos command, see appropriate section.

Konqueror
KDE Konqueror can render man pages. Enter in the address bar   followed by the man page name, e.g.:  . To view a specific section, add the section in parentheses, e.g.:  .

apropos
(part of ) can search the whatis database for strings, e.g.:

Troubleshooting

 * Man says no such file or directory for less
 * No manual entry for java-config

Additional documentation

 * The command can be used to view it's own documentation:


 * This is also available in the info pages: