User Commands                                          apropos(1)



NAME
     apropos - locate commands by keyword lookup

SYNOPSIS
     apropos keyword...


DESCRIPTION
     The apropos utility displays  the  man  page  name,  section
     number, and a short description for each man page whose NAME
     line contains keyword. This information is contained in  the
     /usr/share/man/windex  database  created  by  catman(1M). If
     catman(1M) was not run, or was run with the -n option, apro-
     pos  fails.  Each word is considered separately and the case
     of letters is ignored. Words which are part of  other  words
     are  considered;  for  example,  when looking for `compile',
     apropos finds all instances of `compiler' also.


     apropos is actually just the -k option to  the  man(1)  com-
     mand.

EXAMPLES
     Example 1 To find a man page whose NAME line contains a key-
     word


     Try


       example% apropos password




     and


       example% apropos editor




     If the line starts `filename(section) ...' you can run


       man -s section filename








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User Commands                                          apropos(1)



     to display the man page for filename.


     Example 2 To find the man page for the subroutine printf()


     Try


       example% apropos format




     and then


       example% man -s 3s printf




     to get the manual page on the subroutine printf().


FILES
     /usr/share/man/windex     table  of  contents  and   keyword
                               database


ATRIBUTES
     See attributes(5) for descriptions of the  following  attri-
     butes:



     
           ATRIBUTE TYPE               ATRIBUTE VALUE       
    
     Availability                 SUNWdoc                     
    
     CSI                          Enabled                     
    


SEE ALSO
     man(1), whatis(1), catman(1M), attributes(5)

DIAGNOSTICS
     /usr/share/man/windex: No such file or directory

         This database does not exist. catman(1M) must be run  to



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User Commands                                          apropos(1)



         create it.






















































SunOS 5.11          Last change: 20 Dec 1996                    3