4.1 man and info

These are the two text-mode online help programs. man is the abbreviation of ``manual'', and info is self explanatory. Assuming the terminal is set up correctly, both programs are full-screen capable.

man is the older online help program. Help files intended for man are flat, which can make it quite difficult to read. info, on the other hand, is hierarchical. You can position the cursor on a ``hyperlink'', press ENTER, and go to a different page. If you want to look up how to use a command, I'd try man first. Usually, if an info page is available, the man page will say so.

With man, use up, down, page-up, page-down, home and end to navigate through a ``man page''. To quit man, use the q key.

With info, use up, down, page-up, page-down to navigate. Use ctrl-H to display the help screen. In the help screen C-x means ctrl-x. To quit info, use the q key.



Copyright © 2006-07-05 by Tak Auyeung