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Get Help

This document provides instructions on how to get help in Red Hat Enterprise Linux using local documentation resources like manual pages accessed with the man command and GNU Info documentation. It discusses the sections and organization of man pages, how to navigate and search man pages, and introduces the GNU Info documentation format as a more comprehensive alternative to man pages. The document also includes exercises for readers to practice finding information using these help systems.

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Jenber
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22 views

Get Help

This document provides instructions on how to get help in Red Hat Enterprise Linux using local documentation resources like manual pages accessed with the man command and GNU Info documentation. It discusses the sections and organization of man pages, how to navigate and search man pages, and introduces the GNU Info documentation format as a more comprehensive alternative to man pages. The document also includes exercises for readers to practice finding information using these help systems.

Uploaded by

Jenber
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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GETTING HELP IN RED

HAT
ENTERPRISE LINUX

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• GOAL
• Resolve problems by using local help systems.
• OBJECTIVES
• Find information in local Linux system manual pages.
• Find information from local documentation in GNU Info.
• SECTIONS
• Reading Manual Pages (and Guided Exercise)
• Reading Info Documentation (and Guided Exercise)
• LAB
• Getting Help in Red Hat Enterprise Linux

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Introducing the man command
• One source of documentation that is generally available on the local
system are system manual pages or man pages These pages are
shipped as part of the software packages for which they provide
documentation, and can be accessed from the command line by using
the man command.
• To distinguish identical topic names in different sections, man page
references include the section number in parentheses after the topic.
• For example, passwd(1) describes the command to change
passwords, while passwd(5) explains the /etc/passwd file format for
storing local user accounts.

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Common Sections of the Linux Manual

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man command
• To read specific man pages, use man topic. Contents are displayed
one screen at a time.
• The man command searches manual sections in alphanumeric order.
For example, man passwd displays passwd(1) by default.
• To display the man page topic from a specific section, include the
section number argument: man 5 passwd displays passwd(5).

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Navigating Man Pages

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Navigating Man Pages

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SEARCHING FOR MAN PAGES BY
KEYWORD
• A keyword search of man pages is performed with man -k keyword,
which displays a list of keyword-matching man page topics with
section numbers.

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• Popular system administration topics are in sections 1 (user
commands), 5 (file formats), and 8 (administrative commands).
Administrators using certain troubleshooting tools also use section
• 2 (system calls). The remaining sections are generally for programmer
reference or advanced administration.

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exercise

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INTRODUCING GNU INFO
• A typical man page has a small amount of content focusing on one particular
topic, command, tool, or file.
• The Info documentation is a comprehensive document. Info provides the
following improvements:
• One single document for a large system containing all the necessary information for
that system
• Hyperlinks
• A complete browsable document index
• A full text search of the entire document
• Some commands and utilities have both man pages and info documentation;
usually, the Info documentation is more in depth. Compare the differences in
tar documentation using man and pinfo:
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