APROPOS(1MAN)           COMMAND REFERENCE           APROPOS(1MAN)



NAME
     apropos - whatis database keyword search

SYNOPSIS
     apropos [ -a ] [ -d ] [ -f file ] [ -i section ] [ -p ] [ -s
     section ] [ -v ] [ keyword ... ]

DESCRIPTION
     Apropos searches whatis database files, as described in
     whatis(5man), for given keywords and formats the matching
     database entries.

     Either keywords or a section must be specified.  If a
     section is specified with the -s option, only entries which
     match the section will be considered.  If a section is
     specified with the -i option, only entries which do not
     match the section will be considered.  The section argument
     consists of a section number and optional subsection text,
     such as `1' or `1mh'.  The section number can be a `+',
     which means that any section number is allowed, such as `+'
     (meaning 1-8) or `+mh' (meaning any section number from 1 to
     8 followed by the subsection text `mh').  Also, the
     subsection text can be replaced by a `+', as in `1+', which
     matches any section that begins with a 1 (including `1'
     alone).  The argument `++' is not valid.

     Keywords and sections are matched without respect to case.
     For example, the keyword `file' will match `file', or
     `File', or any other combination of upper and lower case
     characters.

     If the -f option is not given, the file
     /usr/lib/man/directories is read to get the locations of the
     database files that correspond to directories listed in the
     PATH environment variable, and the file $HOME/.manrc is read
     to get the locations of personal manual page directories.

     The normal format for a line is

          page (section<tabs> - description

     where page is the manual page name, section is the manual
     page section, and description is the text from the NAME
     section of the manual page found after the `-'.  The <tabs>
     field is enough tabs to fill out the first 24 positions on
     the line.

OPTIONS
     -a  Print only entries that contain all keyword entries.
         Normally, only one keyword has to be found for the entry
         to match.




Printed 10/17/86                                                1

APROPOS(1MAN)           COMMAND REFERENCE           APROPOS(1MAN)



     -d  Search only the description field.  Normally, the page
         and description fields of the entry are searched.

     -f file
         Search the named file as a whatis database instead of
         using the defaults.

     -i section
         Print only entries whose section field does not match
         the given section specifier.

     -p  Print only the manual page name and the section for
         matching entries.

     -s section
         Print only entries whose section field matches the given
         section specifier.

     -v  Verbose.  Before the matching entries for a given whatis
         database are printed, print the name of the database
         with a short description.  In the case of databases that
         correspond to elements of the PATH variable, the path
         element is noted instead.

EXAMPLES
     The following invocation prints the descriptions for all
     manual pages in section 3 and all of its subsections.



          apropos -s 3+


     This invocation prints the names and sections of all manual
     pages whose name or description contains the words `read' or
     `write', preceding the entries from each database with a
     description of the database.



          apropos -pv read write


     This invocation prints the names and sections of all manual
     pages whose description contains all of the words `execute',
     `command', and `time' in the description field.



          apropos -a -d execute command time





Printed 10/17/86                                                2

APROPOS(1MAN)           COMMAND REFERENCE           APROPOS(1MAN)



FILES
     /usr/lib/man/directories Manual page search directory
                              information.

     $HOME/.manrc             Searched for "personal" manual page
                              directory names.

     whatis                   The name of the whatis database
                              file.

VARIABLES
     PATH           The user's execution path.

     HOME           The user's home directory.

RETURN VALUE
     [NO_ERRS]      Command completed without error.

     [USAGE]        Incorrect command line syntax. Execution
                    terminated.

     [NP_WARN]      An error warranting a warning message
                    occurred. Execution continues.

     [NP_ERR]       An error occurred that was not a system
                    error.  Execution terminated.

     [P_ERR]        A system error occurred. Execution
                    terminated.  See intro(2) for more
                    information on system errors.

SEE ALSO
     buildif(1man), help(1man), makewhatis(1man), man(1man),
     more(1), section(1man), whatis(1man), man(5man),
     manindex(5man), whatis(5man), catman(8man).




















Printed 10/17/86                                                3

%%index%%
na:72,76;
sy:148,338;
de:486,2083;
op:2569,216;2929,949;
ex:3878,706;
fi:4728,424;
va:5152,160;
rv:5312,621;
se:5933,442;
%%index%%000000000155