Do you use man pages?

[houndhen]

This is by no means meant to start a flame war.

I am trying to learn linux. Been at it for 6 months or so. I have learned quite a bit. I have 4 distros that I am multi-booting with XP. When I have a problem or question I either google the web or search within a given forum.

Sometimes in a howto or forum post there will be a reference to checking a man page. (ex. from the command line type man sudo)

I haven't used man pages a lot. I have looked at some but haven't gotten a lot from them. My questions are addressed to those that are new to Linux.

Do you use man pages a great deal?

Am I missing out on a great learning tool?

Thanks in advance for your input.

[Snowhog]

Re: Do you use man pages?

Do you use man pages a great deal?

Am I missing out on a great learning tool?

Yes, and yes.

While reading the man(ual) pages can be cryptic at times, they are a great source of information about how to run a command. They are a good place to start, and then use what you've gained to better phrase any questions here on the forum.

[bmccosar]

Re: Do you use man pages?

Most modern bits of software don't seem to include man pages.

However, almost the entire structure they're built on does, especially programs that do a lot of work in the background. K3b, for instance, depends on a whole rack of basic commands.

Learning to use a man page just requires familiarity, and one trick:

Search for the term you want by hitting '/' then typing the word. (You can go to the next term by pressing 'n').

On really huge man pages, this saves a lot of aggravation -- especially when you realize there might commonly be an 'examples' section near the end. I've used the gcc man page many times . . . but don't think I've actually read it all the way through, ever.

[Snowhog]

Re: Do you use man pages?

Thanks for the 'tip' on searching within a man page. I guess I should have know that it was possible, and I've often thought (briefly) how to do it. And I have a book on "Learning the bash shell" sitting next to me. :P This bit of knowledge will prove very useful.

[connaught]

Re: Do you use man pages?

Hello all

Just in case you didn't already know. Although the man pages were intended to be read at the command line, which most people new to Linux hate, there is a much nicer way to read them.
Open Konqueror and clear the address bar by clicking the little black x at the left and then type in e.g. man:bash, replace bash with the name of the man page you wish to read.

hope this is helpful to somebody

[Qqmike]

Re: Do you use man pages?

connaught, Now that's a neat tip (to use Konqueror). Thanks.

[connaught]

Re: Do you use man pages?

Qqmike, I liked it so I thought I'd share. Starting up in Linux can be so confusing after windows and the man pages hold so much info but are not easy to digest in a console.

I think that any new users might benefit from this in Konqueror: man:hier.

It kind of gives you a road map to start exploring the filesystem. Understanding how Linux uses the filesystem and mounts/ umounts whole drives/ partitions is key to understanding Linux 8)