Session and utilities

The man command

Opens the official manual of a command: Linux's source of truth.

Syntax

man <comando>

Copy-ready examples

$ man lsThe ls manual
$ man chmodThe chmod one

You can try them in the browser terminal: it does not touch your computer.

Typical mistakes

  • Inside the manual, q quits and /word searches.

Related commands

FAQ

What if man cannot find the command?

Try help, or check with which that the command exists.

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