The man command formats and displays the on-line manual pages for Unix and Linux tools, system calls, and file formats.
Standard Manual Sections
When querying a command that exists across multiple categories (like printf), specify the section number: man 1 printf (shell utility) vs man 3 printf (C library function).
| Section | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
1 |
General user commands and executables | ls, grep, bash, ssh |
2 |
System calls (kernel interface functions) | open, fork, read, write |
3 |
C library functions and routines | printf, malloc, fopen |
4 |
Special files, hardware drivers, and devices | /dev/null, sda, tty |
5 |
File formats, conventions, and configuration files | passwd, fstab, crontab |
6 |
Games and screen savers | tetris, fortune |
7 |
Miscellaneous conventions, protocols, and macro packages | man, tcp, regex, utf-8 |
8 |
System administration and root daemons | systemd, iptables, fdisk |
9 |
Kernel developer routines (non-standard) | Internal kernel hooks |
Searching & Navigation Commands
# View man page in a specific section
man 2 read
man 5 crontab
# Keyword search across short descriptions (same as apropos)
man -k "network"
# Display all matching section locations
man -a printf
# Search for exact command name summaries (same as whatis)
man -f ls
Viewer Keybindings (Less)
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
q |
Exit the manual page |
Space / f |
Scroll forward one screen |
b |
Scroll backward one screen |
/pattern |
Search forward for pattern |
?pattern |
Search backward for pattern |
n / N |
Jump to next / previous match |
h |
Display pager help keys |