1. A collection of files stored on the hard disk or CDROM, each 
containing documentation about one Unix command or topic.  Access 
the manual via:
	$ man "unix command name"
	$ man man
	$ man intro
	$ man ls

2. To search for keyword(s), use the command:
	$ man -k "keyword" 		or	$ apropos "keyword"

3. There are 8 sections to the on-line manual:
	(1) 	[user] commands
	(2)	System Calls
	(3) 	Library Functions
	(4) 	Special Files
	(5) 	File Formats
	(6)	Games
	(7)	Miscellaneous Information
	(8)	[System Administrator] Maintenance Commands

4. Each command page starts its own page 1 and contains:
	Name:		the name and purpose of the command
	Synopsis:	the syntax of the command
	Description: 	a full description of the command
	Files:		list of files important to this command
	See Also:	where to look for related information
	Diagnostics: 	possible errors and warnings
	Bugs:		mistakes, shortcomings and warnings

5. A quick way to find out what a command does, type
	$ whatis "command"	or 	$ man -f "command"
	$ whatis date
	date (1)		- print date and time
	$ whatis apropos whatis
	apropos (1)		- locate commands by keyword lookup
	whatis (1)		- display command description

6. What happens when you type the command:
	$ man -k editor 		and 		$ man -f date

7. On the Linux System, there is another facility called info
   It is a program for reading documentation. It is interactive
   and you would learn much from running the following command:
   	$ info info

Questions? Robert Katz: rkatz@ned.highline.edu
Last Update September 20, 2005