[unix-history] / usr.bin / man / whatis / whatis.1

.\" Copyright (c) 1989, 1990 The Regents of the University of California.
.\" All rights reserved.
.\"
.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
.\" are met:
.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
.\"    must display the following acknowledgement:
.\"	This product includes software developed by the University of
.\"	California, Berkeley and its contributors.
.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
.\"    without specific prior written permission.
.\"
.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
.\"
.\"     @(#)whatis.1	6.7 (Berkeley) 4/23/91
.\"
.Dd April 23, 1991
.Dt WHATIS 1
.Os BSD 4
.Sh NAME
.Nm whatis
.Nd describe what a command is
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm whatis
.Op Fl M Ar path
.Op Fl m Ar path
.Ar command Ar ...
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Nm Whatis
looks up a given command and gives the header line from the manual page.
You can then use the
.Xr man 1
command to get more information.
.Pp
The options are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width Fl
.It Fl M Ar path
Override the list of standard directories
.Nm whatis
searches for its database named
.Dq Pa whatis.db .
The supplied
.Ar path
must be a colon
.Dq \&:
separated list of directories.
This search path may also be set using the environment variable
.Ev MANPATH .
.It Fl m Ar path
Augment the list of standard directories
.Nm whatis
searches for its database named
.Dq Pa whatis.db .
The supplied
.Ar path
must be a colon
.Dq \&:
separated list of directories.
These directories will be searched before the standard directories
or the directories supplied with the
.Fl M
option or the
.Ev MANPATH
environment variable are searched.
.El
.Sh ENVIRONMENT
.Bl -tag -width MANPATH
.It Ev MANPATH
The standard search path used by
.Xr man 1
may be overridden by specifying a path in the
.Ev MANPATH
environment variable.
.El
.Sh FILES
.Bl -tag -width whatis.db
.It Pa whatis.db
name of the whatis database
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr apropos 1 ,
.Xr man 1 ,
.Xr whereis 1
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Nm
command appeared in
.Bx 3.0 .
Commit	Line	Data
15637ed4 RG	1	.\" Copyright (c) 1989, 1990 The Regents of the University of California.
	2	.\" All rights reserved.
	3	.\"
	4	.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
	5	.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
	6	.\" are met:
	7	.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
	8	.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
	9	.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
	10	.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
	11	.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
	12	.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
	13	.\" must display the following acknowledgement:
	14	.\" This product includes software developed by the University of
	15	.\" California, Berkeley and its contributors.
	16	.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
	17	.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
	18	.\" without specific prior written permission.
	19	.\"
	20	.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
	21	.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
	22	.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
	23	.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
	24	.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
	25	.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
	26	.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
	27	.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
	28	.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
	29	.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
	30	.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
	31	.\"
	32	.\" @(#)whatis.1 6.7 (Berkeley) 4/23/91
	33	.\"
	34	.Dd April 23, 1991
	35	.Dt WHATIS 1
	36	.Os BSD 4
	37	.Sh NAME
	38	.Nm whatis
	39	.Nd describe what a command is
	40	.Sh SYNOPSIS
	41	.Nm whatis
	42	.Op Fl M Ar path
	43	.Op Fl m Ar path
	44	.Ar command Ar ...
	45	.Sh DESCRIPTION
	46	.Nm Whatis
	47	looks up a given command and gives the header line from the manual page.
	48	You can then use the
	49	.Xr man 1
	50	command to get more information.
	51	.Pp
	52	The options are as follows:
	53	.Bl -tag -width Fl
	54	.It Fl M Ar path
	55	Override the list of standard directories
	56	.Nm whatis
	57	searches for its database named
	58	.Dq Pa whatis.db .
	59	The supplied
	60	.Ar path
	61	must be a colon
	62	.Dq \&:
	63	separated list of directories.
	64	This search path may also be set using the environment variable
65	.Ev MANPATH .
66	.It Fl m Ar path
67	Augment the list of standard directories
68	.Nm whatis
69	searches for its database named
70	.Dq Pa whatis.db .
71	The supplied
72	.Ar path
73	must be a colon
74	.Dq \&:
75	separated list of directories.
76	These directories will be searched before the standard directories
77	or the directories supplied with the
78	.Fl M
79	option or the
80	.Ev MANPATH
81	environment variable are searched.
82	.El
83	.Sh ENVIRONMENT
84	.Bl -tag -width MANPATH
85	.It Ev MANPATH
86	The standard search path used by
87	.Xr man 1
88	may be overridden by specifying a path in the
89	.Ev MANPATH
90	environment variable.
91	.El
92	.Sh FILES
93	.Bl -tag -width whatis.db
94	.It Pa whatis.db
95	name of the whatis database
96	.El
97	.Sh SEE ALSO
98	.Xr apropos 1 ,
99	.Xr man 1 ,
100	.Xr whereis 1
101	.Sh HISTORY
102	The
103	.Nm
104	command appeared in
105	.Bx 3.0 .