In computing

Computing

Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and improving computer hardware and software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology...

, apropos is a command to search the man page files in Unix

Unix

Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...

 and Unix-like

Unix-like

A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification....

operating systems.

Behavior

Often a wrapper for the "man -k" command, the apropos command is used to search all manual pages for the string specified. This is often useful if one knows the action that is desired, but does not remember the exact command.

Sample usage

The following example demonstrates the output of the apropos command:

$ apropos mount
free (1) - Display amount of free and used memory in the system
mklost+found (8) - create a lost+found directory on a mounted Linux second extended file system
mount (8) - mount a file system
mountpoint (1) - see if a directory is a mountpoint
ntfsmount (8) - Read/Write userspace NTFS driver.
sleep (1) - delay for a specified amount of time
switch_root (8) - switch to another filesystem as the root of the mount tree.
umount (8) - unmount file systems
$

In this example, apropos is used to search for the string "mount", and apropos returns the indicated man pages that include the term "mount".

External links

• Apropos at the LinuxQuestions.org wiki