1.2 Help

Question 2

What are the primary utilities used to get help in Linux?

Answer 2

1. man
2. info

Question 3

What are the different man page sections and what do they contain?

Answer 3

1. Commands that can be used by anyone
2. System functions
3. Library functions
4. Special files found in the /dev directory
5. File formats and conventions
6. Games
7. Miscellaneous conventions
8. Administrative utilities that can be used only by the root user
9. Kernel documentation

Question 4

Which man page section contains help for commands that can be used by anyone?

Answer 4

Section 1

Question 5

Which man page section contains help for system functions?

Answer 5

Section 2

Question 6

Which man page section contains help for library functions?

Answer 6

Section 3

Question 7

Which man page section contains help for special files found in the /dev files?

Answer 7

Section 4

Question 8

Which man page section contains help for file formats and conventions?

Answer 8

Section 5

Question 9

Which man page section contains help for games?

Answer 9

Section 6

Question 10

Which man page section contains help for miscellaneous conventions?

Answer 10

Section 7

Question 11

Which man page section contains administrative utilities that can be used only by the root user?

Answer 11

Section 8

Question 12

Which man page section contains kernel documentation?

Answer 12

Section 9

Question 13

Which environment variable contains the list of paths that are serched to find man pages?

Answer 13

MANPATH

Question 14

How do RedHat and derivatives (CentOS, Fedora) configure the paths that are searched to find man pages?

Answer 14

RedHat and derivatives use the MANPATH directive in the /etc/man.config file to configure paths that will be searched for man pages.

Question 15

What sections does a man page contain?

Answer 15

• TITLE - Title of the man page - what will be discussed
• NAME - Name of command, file, or utility, plus an short abstract on what it does
• SYNOPSIS - Brief description of the syntax used for the command or formatting for a file
• DESCRIPTION - Detailed description on how the command, file, or utility works along with details about each option
• OPTIONS - Details about each option, if not included in DESCRIPTION
• AUTHOR - Programmer who wrote the command, utility, or service
• REPORTING BUGS - Address or contact information for reporting bugs
• COPYRIGHT - Who owns the copyright
• SEE ALSO - Commands and utilities related to this one
• VERSION - Version and revision date of the command, utility, or service

Question 16

What is the difference between the man utility and the info utility, aside from the way they are navigated?

Answer 16

• The info utility usually provides more information than the man page.
• The help provided by info is more conversational and instructional; it teaches how to use the command.
• The man page is one long page, whereas info breaks up information into nodes.

Question 17

What types of files are stored in the /usr/share/doc directory?

Answer 17

The /usr/share/doc directory contains documentation about various packages, commands, utilities, etc.

Question 18

How do you search within a man page?

Answer 18

Use the forward-slash (/) key, followed by the term you are searching for.

Question 19

What is the command syntax to view a man page?

Answer 19

man command

Question 20

What is a man page?

Answer 20

A manual (man) page is text-based help file for a specific command stored on the computer.

Question 21

What does the man command do?

Answer 21

A man page shows the command’s syntax, options, and related files and commands using the default paging program.

Question 22

Where are man pages stored?

Answer 22

Man pages are stored under the /usr/man or /usr/share/man directory. Subdirectories store man pages for different types of commands or languages.

Question 23

How do you specify a different or additional location for man pages.

Answer 23

The MANPATH environment variable can be altered to specify a different location for man pages.

Question 24

Where do some distributions set the MANPATH variable?

Answer 24

Some distributions set the MANPATH variable using the /etc/man.config script, with corresponding scripts in each user’s home directory to allow variation for individual users.

Question 25

How do you exit a man page?

Answer 25

Press Q to exit the man page.

Question 26

How do you search the man pages for a command?

Answer 26

Use the **-k** option to search the man pages for a command.

Question 27

What are info pages?

Answer 27

For GNU software, info pages are the primary documentation source.

Question 28

What do info pages use for navigation?

Answer 28

Info pages use hypertext links to navigate the pages.

Question 29

Identify the keys that are used to navigate through info pages.

Answer 29

* **h** - shows a navigation help screen. * **Tab** - moves to the next hyperlink. * **Home** - moves to the beginning of a node. * **Enter** - follows the selected hyperlink. * **u** - moves up a node level. * **Space** - moves to the next screen. * **Del** - moves to the previous screen. * **q** - exits an info page.

Question 30

What do some commands provide for syntax help?

Answer 30

Many commands include on-screen help as one of the options for the command. In most cases, help displays an abbreviated list that shows of the command syntax and available options with brief descriptions. If the command is typed incorrectly, many commands display the help information automatically.

Question 31

How do you view on-screen help available for a command?

Answer 31

To view the help available for a command, type: * --help , or* -h

Question 32

What is the *whatis database*?

Answer 32

The whatis database is an index of the man pages on the system. Use the whatis database to find man pages that contain a specific word (i.e., search string).

Question 33

How do you create the *whatis database*?

Answer 33

* Run **/usr/sbin/makewhatis** to create the whatis database for the first time. * Use **makewhatis -u** to update the database after changes have been made to the man pages.

Question 34

Which commands will return a list of the man pages containing a particular search string from the *whatis database*?

Answer 34

* **apropos** *searchstring* * **whatis** *searchstring*