apropos
Overview
apropos searches man page names and short descriptions for keywords. Use it when you remember what you want to do but not the command name. Equivalent to man -k.
Syntax
apropos [options] keyword...Common Options
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
-a |
Require every keyword to match |
-r |
Regular expression |
-w |
Shell-style wildcards |
-s list |
Limit to sections (e.g. 1,8) |
-e |
Exact match |
-l |
Do not truncate descriptions |
Examples with Explanations
apropos password
apropos -a network interface
apropos -s 8 mount
apropos -r 'zip$'
man -k 'disk usage'Narrowing noise
apropos copy | grep -E '^\w+\s+\(1\)' | headEmpty results
sudo mandb
apropos printf