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]"

Show long descriptions

$ apropos -l [keyword]

SYNOPSIS

apropos [-e] [-r] [-s sections] [-l] keyword

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. Multiple keywords are OR'd together; use regex for AND behavior.

PARAMETERS

-e, --exact

Search for exact keyword match

-r, --regex

Interpret keyword as regular expression

-w, --wildcard

Interpret keyword as shell wildcard

-s list, --sections list

Search only specified manual sections

-l, --long

Don't truncate output lines

-a, --and

Require all keywords to match

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.