whatis(C)

whatis -- describe what a command is

Syntax

whatis command ...

Description

whatis looks up the given commands in the keyword database and displays the corresponding manual page name, section, and a short description of each one. You can view a manual page using man(C) (see the ``Examples'' section).

whatis is not case sensitive, but you must give the full name of the command.

whatis sorts its output alphabetically by command name.

Local manual pages can be added to the keyword database by the system administrator. See makewhatis(ADM) for more details.

Examples

whatis tail displays a description of the tail command:

   tail (C)                - display the last part of a file

Enter man C tail to view the manual page for tail(C).

Files

/usr/man/whatis: keyword database

Standards conformance