apropos
Search manual page descriptions by keyword
TLDR
Search man pages by keyword
$ apropos [keyword]
Search with exact match$ apropos -e [keyword]
Search in specific sections$ apropos -s [1,8] [keyword]
Search with regex$ apropos -r "[network.*config]"
Match all keywords (AND)$ apropos -a [keyword1] [keyword2]
SYNOPSIS
apropos [-e] [-r] [-s sections] [-l] keyword
DESCRIPTION
apropos searches the manual page names and short descriptions for keywords, helping you find relevant commands when you don't know the exact name.The search queries the whatis database built by mandb. By default each keyword is treated as a regular expression. Multiple keywords are OR'd together; use -a to require all of them to match.
PARAMETERS
-e, --exact
Search for exact keyword match-r, --regex
Interpret each keyword as a regular expression. This is the default behaviour.-w, --wildcard
Interpret keyword as shell wildcard-s list, --sections list
Search only specified manual sections-l, --long
Do not trim output to the terminal width.-a, --and
Require all keywords to match
INSTALL
sudo apt install man-db
sudo dnf install man-db
sudo pacman -S man-db
sudo apk add mandoc-apropos
brew install man-db
nix profile install nixpkgs#man-db
CAVEATS
Results depend on the whatis database being up to date. Run mandb to update if new packages were installed. Some man pages may have poor descriptions.
HISTORY
apropos has been part of Unix systems since early versions, helping users discover relevant commands. It's equivalent to man -k.
