Looking for Man Pages in Linux

Man pages are built-in command documentation on many Linux systems. They are useful when you need command options, file format details or a quick reminder without leaving the terminal.

Open a man page

man ls
man ssh
man chmod

Search by keyword

man -k password
apropos password

apropos and man -k search the manual page database for matching descriptions.

Check a short description

whatis ls
whatis ssh

Useful keys inside man

• /text: search inside the page
• n: next search result
• q: quit
• Space: move down a page