1.\" Copyright 2014 Garrett D'Amore <garrett@damore.org> 2.\" Copyright (c) 1996, Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved 3.\" The contents of this file are subject to the terms of the Common Development and Distribution License (the "License"). You may not use this file except in compliance with the License. 4.\" You can obtain a copy of the license at usr/src/OPENSOLARIS.LICENSE or http://www.opensolaris.org/os/licensing. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License. 5.\" When distributing Covered Code, include this CDDL HEADER in each file and include the License file at usr/src/OPENSOLARIS.LICENSE. If applicable, add the following below this CDDL HEADER, with the fields enclosed by brackets "[]" replaced with your own identifying information: Portions Copyright [yyyy] [name of copyright owner] 6.Dd "Jul 20, 2014" 7.Dt APROPOS 1 8.Os 9.Sh NAME 10.Nm apropos, whatis 11.Nd locate commands by keyword lookup 12.Sh SYNOPSIS 13.Nm apropos 14.Op Fl M Ar path 15.Op Fl s Ar section 16.Ar keyword ... 17.Nm whatis 18.Op Fl M Ar path 19.Op Fl s Ar section 20.Ar keyword ... 21.Sh DESCRIPTION 22The 23.Nm apropos 24utility displays the man page name, section number, and a 25short description for each man page whose 26.Em NAME 27line contains 28.Ar keyword . 29This information is contained in the 30.Nm whatis 31database created by the 32.Fl w 33option used with 34.Xr man 1 . 35If this database is not present, 36.Nm apropos 37and 38.Nm whatis 39fail. 40.Lp 41Each word is considered 42separately and the case of letters is ignored. 43Words which are part of other words are considered; for example, when looking 44for 45.Sq compile , 46.Nm apropos 47finds all instances of 48.Sq compiler 49also. 50.Lp 51The 52.Nm whatis 53command performs the same search, but only matches whole words. 54In the above example, 55.Nm whatis 56would not match the instances of 57.Sq compiler 58when 59.Ar keyword 60is 61.Sq compile . 62.Lp 63The 64.Nm apropos 65command is actually just the 66.Fl k 67option to the 68.Xr man 1 69command. 70.Sh OPTIONS 71.Bl -tag -width "-s section" 72.It Fl M Ar path 73Force a specific colon separated manual path instead of the 74default search path. 75Overrides the MANPATH environment variable. 76.It Fl s Ar section 77Restrict search to specified section. 78.El 79.Sh ENVIRONMENT 80.Bl -tag -width "MANPATH, PATH" 81.It Ev MANPATH , PATH 82Used to find the location of the 83.Nm whatis 84database. 85.El 86.Sh FILES 87.Bl -tag -width "/usr/share/man/whatis" 88.It Pa /usr/share/man/whatis 89table of contents and keyword database 90.El 91.Sh EXAMPLES 92.Ss Example 1 To find a man page whose NAME line contains a keyword 93Try 94.Lp 95.Dl example% apropos password 96.Lp 97If the line starts 98.So Ar filename Ns Po Ar section Pc ... Sc 99you can run 100.Lp 101.Dl % Nm man Fl s Ar section Ar filename 102.Lp 103to display the man page for 104.Ar filename . 105.Ss Example 2 To find the man page for the subroutine printf() 106Try 107.Lp 108.Dl example% Nm apropos Li format 109.Lp 110and then 111.Lp 112.Dl example% Nm man Fl s Ar 3C Li printf 113.Lp 114to get the manual page on the subroutine 115.Xr printf 3C . 116.Sh DIAGNOSTICS 117.Bl -tag -width Ds 118.It "/usr/share/man/whatis: No such file or directory" 119The 120.Nm whatis 121database does not exist. 122The command 123.Nm man 124.Fl w 125must be run to create it. 126.El 127.Sh CODE SET INDEPENDENCE 128Enabled. 129.Sh INTERFACE STABILITY 130.Nm Committed . 131.Sh SEE ALSO 132.Xr man 1 , 133.Xr catman 1M 134