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Annotated edit history of apropos(1) version 2 showing authors affecting page license. View with all changes included.
Rev Author # Line
1 perry 1 !!!apropos
2 GlynWebster 2
1 perry 3 ----
4 !!NAME
5
6
7 apropos - search the manual page names and descriptions
2 GlynWebster 8
9 !!WLUG HINTS
10
11 __ (1) __ Does __apropos__ always come up with nothing, or show you so many TCL functions you can't find the Unix commands? You can use the ''/usr/sbin/makewhatis'' script to create or modify the database that __apropos__ reads. See MakeWhatIs.
12
13 __ (2) __ Apropos actually searches using grep(1) RegularExpressions. This can be helpful to remember sometimes. For example, if you try this __apropos__ search:
14
15 apropos C
16
17 you are not going to be shown all the [C] related commands, you are going to be shown every man page with the letter C in it. This will give you more sensible results:
18
19 apropos '\bC\b'
20
21 (__\b__ is the grep symbol for "word boundary". The single quotes prevent the shell from misinterpreting any grep symbols as commands to it.)
22
1 perry 23 !!SYNOPSIS
24
25
26 __apropos__ [[__-dhV__] [[__-e__|__-w__|__-r__]
27 [[__-m__ ''system''[[,...]] [[__-M__ ''path'']
28 ''keyword'' ...
29 !!DESCRIPTION
30
31
32 Each manual page has a short description available within
33 it. __apropos__ searches the descriptions for instances
34 of ''keyword''.
35
36
37 ''keyword'' is usually a regular expression, as if
38 (__-r__) was used, or may contain wildcards (__-w__)
39 __,__ or match the exact keyword (__-e__) __.__
40 Using these options, it may be necessary to quote the
41 ''keyword'' or escape () the special characters to stop
42 the shell from interpreting them.
43
44
45 The standard matching rules allow matches to be made against
46 the page name and word boundaries in the
47 description.
48 !!OPTIONS
49
50
51 __-d, --debug__
52
53
54 Print debugging information.
55
56
57 __-r, --regex__
58
59
60 Interpret each keyword as a regular expression. This is the
61 default behaviour. Each keyword will be matched against the
62 page names and the descriptions independently. It can match
63 any part of either. The match is not limited to word
64 boundaries.
65
66
67 __-w, --wildcard__
68
69
70 Interpret each keyword as a pattern containing shell style
71 wildcards. Each keyword will be matched against the page
72 names and the descriptions independently. A match will only
73 be found if an expanded keyword matches an entire
74 description or page name.
75
76
77 __-e, --exact__
78
79
80 Each keyword will be exactly matched against the page names
81 and the descriptions.
82
83
84 __-m__ ''system''[[,...]__,
85 --systems=__''system''[[,...]
86
87
88 If this system has access to other operating system's manual
89 page descriptions, they can be searched using this option.
90 To search NewOS's manual page descriptions, use the option
91 __-m NewOS__.
92
93
94 The ''system'' specified can be a combination of
95 comma-delimited operating system names. To include a search
96 of the native operating system's __whatis__ descriptions,
97 include the system name __man__ in the argument string.
98 This option will override the $__SYSTEM__ environment
99 variable.
100
101
102 __-M__ ''path''__,
103 --manpath=__''path''
104
105
106 Specify an alternate set of colon-delimited manual page
107 hierarchies to search. By default, __apropos__ uses the
108 $__MANPATH__ environment variable, unless it is empty or
109 unset, in which case it will determine an appropriate
110 manpath based on your $__PATH__ environment variable.
111 This option overrides the contents of
112 $__MANPATH__.
113
114
115 __-h, --help__
116
117
118 Print a help message and exit.
119
120
121 __-V, --version__
122
123
124 Display version and author information.
125 !!EXIT STATUS
126
127
128 __0__
129
130
131 Successful program execution.
132
133
134 __1__
135
136
137 Usage, syntax or configuration file error.
138
139
140 __2__
141
142
143 Operational error.
144
145
146 __16__
147
148
149 Nothing was found that matched the criteria
150 specified.
151 !!ENVIRONMENT
152
153
154 __SYSTEM__
155
156
157 If $__SYSTEM__ is set, it will have the same effect as if
158 it had been specified as the argument to the __-m__
159 option.
160
161
162 __MANPATH__
163
164
165 If $__MANPATH__ is set, its value is interpreted as the
166 colon-delimited manual page hierarchy search path to
167 use.
168
169
170 __POSIXLY_CORRECT__
171
172
173 If $__POSIXLY_CORRECT__ is set, even to a null value, the
174 default __apropos__ search will be as an extended regex
175 (__-r__) __.__ Nowadays, this is the default behaviour
176 anyway.
177 !!FILES
178
179
180 ''/usr/share/man/index.(bt|db|dir|pag)''
181
182
183 A traditional global ''index'' database
184 cache.
185
186
187 ''/var/cache/man/index.(bt|db|dir|pag)''
188
189
190 An alternate or FHS compliant global ''index'' database
191 cache.
192
193
194 ''/usr/share/man/.../whatis''
195
196
197 A traditional __whatis__ text database.
198 !!SEE ALSO
199
200
201 whatis(1), man(1).
202 !!AUTHOR
203
204
205 Wilf. (G.Wilford@ee.surrey.ac.uk).
206 Fabrizio Polacco (fpolacco@debian.org).
207 ----
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