What are UNIX man pages and how do I use them?
man programname at your UNIX prompt. Man pages are divided up into sections such as name, synopsis, description, bugs, and “see also”. There may also be other sections involved. A man page may be as short as one screen of text, or up to 20 screens of text. Pay attention to the description of the program and necessary command line switches for the program. Don’t be discouraged if a man page is confusing, or seems overly complex. Usually just a brief skimming of the page is enough to get you started with a program or utility. You can then use the remainder of the information in the man page as a reference. To quit out of a man page, simply hit q. • What are the most common commands I will need to work with my account? • mv Moves a file from one name to another. The old file is completely replaced with the new file. Syntax: mv oldfile.html newfile.html • cp Copies a file to another name. Both copies of the file still exist. Syntax: cp oldfile.html newfile.html • rm Removes a file from you
