NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     whatis - describe what a command is

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     whatis [-C file] [-M path] [-m path] command [...]

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     whatis looks up a given command and gives  the  header  line
from the manual
     page.   You  can then use the man(1) command to get more information.
     whatis will match on a case insensitive basis and for multiple word entries
 will match on each individual word.

     The options are as follows:

     -C file
             Specify   an   alternate   configuration   file   in
man.conf(5) format.
             The default is /etc/man.conf.

     -M path
             Override the list  of  standard  directories  whatis
searches for its
             database  named  ``whatis.db''.   The  supplied path
must be a colon
             (`:') separated list of  directories.   This  search
path may also
             be set using the environment variable MANPATH.

     -m path
             Augment  the  list  of  standard  directories whatis
searches for its
             database named  ``whatis.db''.   The  supplied  path
must be a colonseparated
  list  of  directories.  These directories
will be
             searched before the standard directories or the  directories supplied
  with the -M option or the MANPATH environment
variable are
             searched.

ENVIRONMENT    [Toc]    [Back]

     MANPATH  The standard search path  used  by  man(1)  may  be
overridden by
              specifying  a path in the MANPATH environment variable.

FILES    [Toc]    [Back]

     whatis.db      name of the whatis database
     /etc/man.conf  default man(1) configuration file

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     apropos(1), man(1), whereis(1), which(1), man.conf(5), makewhatis(8)

HISTORY    [Toc]    [Back]

     The whatis command appeared in 3.0BSD.

OpenBSD      3.6                           June      6,      1993