Last Updated on May 17, 2021 by Vikash Ekka
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| Getting help on Linux commands |
There are 5 methods to get help on Linux commands, they are,
Display single line description about command
* Use -h or-help option on command
* Read “info” document on command
* Read “man” page of the command
* Using “apropos” to search man pages
Each of these methods are discussed in detail.
Method 1 of Linux Help
The first method of getting help on Linux commands is to display a single line description about the command.
You can use “whatis” followed by command to access the basic information.Take a look at the image, it shows the one line description about the command. “rename“
The brief description of “whatis command is,
“whatis” searches a set of database files containing short description of system commands for keywords and displays the result on the standard output. Only complete word matches are displayed.
Example:- “$ whatis cron“
Method 2 of Linux Help
The second method to obtain Linux help on commands is by using the help option. Take a look at the example help on Linux “ifconfig” command. This help option gives you the detailed description of various options and arguments required for completing the command.
Also -h option of the command to review all available options of the command. The image illustrates the help command “ifconfig”
Method 3 of Linux Help
The third method to access help on Linux commands is by using the “info” command. Take a look at the image, it illustrates, the information document on Ping command
This command shows the synopsis and Description about the “ping” command.
Method 4 of Linux help
The fourth method to get help on Linux commands is by accessing man pages, Note man means Linux “Manual“. This method is easy and most effective for beginners in Linux.
Take a look at the man page help for a command named as “tar“. The man pages show the command syntax, description and example about how to use the command.
Method 5 of Linux help
The fifth method to get help on Linux commands is by using “apropos” command to search the man pages in Linux
The apropos command is used to search for specific functionality set for commands and it provides the short description of system commands for keywords
The image illustrates the apropos for fdisk command, the result output is the possible fdisk commands that are available in Linux Operating system.
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