This tutorial explains Linux “apropos” command, options and its usage with examples.
Description :
apropos searches a set of database files containing short descriptions of system commands for keywords and displays the result on the standard output.
Usage :
apropos [-dalhvV] [-e|-w|-r] [-s list] [-m system[,…]] keyword …
Options :
-d, –debug
Print debugging information.
-v, –verbose
Print verbose warning messages.
-r, –regex
Interpret each keyword as a regular expression. This is the default behavior. Each keyword will be matched against the page names and the descriptions indepenently. It can match any part of either. The match is not limited to word boundaries.
-w, –wildcard
Interpret each keyword as a pattern containing shell-style wildcards. Each keyword will be matched against the page names and the descriptions independently. If –exact is also used, a match will only be found if an expanded keyword matches an entire description or page name. Otherwise the keyword is also allowed to match on word boundaries in the description.
-e, –exact
Each keyword will be exactly matched against the page names and the descriptions.
-a, –and
Only display items that match all the supplied keywords. The default is to display items that match any keyword.
-l, –long
Do not trim output to the terminal width. Normally, output will be truncated to the terminal width to avoid ugly results from poorly-written NAME sections.
-s list, –sections list, –section list
Search only the given manual sections. list is a colon- or comma-separated list of sections. If an entry in list is a simple section, for example “3”, then the displayed list of descriptions will include pages in sections “3”, “3perl”, “3x”, and so on; while if an entry in list has an extension, for example “3perl”, then the list will only include pages in that exact part of the manual section.
-h, –help
Print a help message and exit.
-V, –version
Display version information.
Examples :
1. Single Command Search
$ apropos find chkdupexe (1) - find duplicate executables ffs (3) - find first bit set in a word ffsl (3) - find first bit set in a word ffsll (3) - find first bit set in a word File::MimeInfo::Applications (3pm) - Find programs to open a file by mimetype find (1) - search for files in a directory hierarchy find2perl (1) - translate find command lines to Perl code findfs (8) - find a filesystem by label or UUID findmnt (8) - find a filesystem findsmb (1) - list info about machines that respond to SMB name quer... glob (3) - find pathnames matching a pattern, free memory from gl... globfree (3) - find pathnames matching a pattern, free memory from gl... gst-typefind-1.0 (1) - print Media type of file gst-typefind-0.10 (1) - print MIME type of file lfind (3) - linear search of an array locate (1) - find files by name memdiskfind (1) - utility to search for a MEMDISK instance mlocate (1) - find files by name oldfind (1) - search for files in a directory hierarchy pidof (8) - find the process ID of a running program. sane-find-scanner (1) - find SCSI and USB scanners and their device files tfind (3) - manage a binary tree ttyslot (3) - find the slot of the current user's terminal in some file
2. Multiple Command Search
$ apropos find grep bzegrep (1) - search possibly bzip2 compressed files for a regular expression bzfgrep (1) - search possibly bzip2 compressed files for a regular expression bzgrep (1) - search possibly bzip2 compressed files for a regular expression chkdupexe (1) - find duplicate executables egrep (1) - print lines matching a pattern ffs (3) - find first bit set in a word ffsl (3) - find first bit set in a word ffsll (3) - find first bit set in a word fgrep (1) - print lines matching a pattern File::MimeInfo::Applications (3pm) - Find programs to open a file by mimetype find (1) - search for files in a directory hierarchy find2perl (1) - translate find command lines to Perl code findfs (8) - find a filesystem by label or UUID findmnt (8) - find a filesystem findsmb (1) - list info about machines that respond to SMB name queries on a subnet glob (3) - find pathnames matching a pattern, free memory from glob() globfree (3) - find pathnames matching a pattern, free memory from glob() grep (1) - print lines matching a pattern grepdiff (1) - show files modified by a diff containing a regex gst-typefind-1.0 (1) - print Media type of file gst-typefind-0.10 (1) - print MIME type of file lfind (3) - linear search of an array locate (1) - find files by name lzegrep (1) - search compressed files for a regular expression lzfgrep (1) - search compressed files for a regular expression lzgrep (1) - search compressed files for a regular expression memdiskfind (1) - utility to search for a MEMDISK instance mlocate (1) - find files by name msggrep (1) - pattern matching on message catalog oldfind (1) - search for files in a directory hierarchy pgrep (1) - look up or signal processes based on name and other attributes pidof (8) - find the process ID of a running program. ptargrep (1) - Apply pattern matching to the contents of files in a tar archive rgrep (1) - print lines matching a pattern sane-find-scanner (1) - find SCSI and USB scanners and their device files tfind (3) - manage a binary tree ttyslot (3) - find the slot of the current user's terminal in some file xzegrep (1) - search compressed files for a regular expression xzfgrep (1) - search compressed files for a regular expression xzgrep (1) - search compressed files for a regular expression zegrep (1) - search possibly compressed files for a regular expression zfgrep (1) - search possibly compressed files for a regular expression zgrep (1) - search possibly compressed files for a regular expression zipgrep (1) - search files in a ZIP archive for lines matching a pattern
3. Find out all delete / removal related administrative commands:
$ apropos -s8 -w "*delete*" chkdupexe (1) - find duplicate executables ffs (3) - find first bit set in a word ffsl (3) - find first bit set in a word ffsll (3) - find first bit set in a word File::MimeInfo::Applications (3pm) - Find programs to open a file by mimetype find (1) - search for files in a directory hierarchy find2perl (1) - translate find command lines to Perl code findfs (8) - find a filesystem by label or UUID findmnt (8) - find a filesystem findsmb (1) - list info about machines that respond to SMB name quer... glob (3) - find pathnames matching a pattern, free memory from gl... globfree (3) - find pathnames matching a pattern, free memory from gl... gst-typefind-1.0 (1) - print Media type of file gst-typefind-0.10 (1) - print MIME type of file lfind (3) - linear search of an array locate (1) - find files by name memdiskfind (1) - utility to search for a MEMDISK instance mlocate (1) - find files by name oldfind (1) - search for files in a directory hierarchy pidof (8) - find the process ID of a running program. sane-find-scanner (1) - find SCSI and USB scanners and their device files tfind (3) - manage a binary tree ttyslot (3) - find the slot of the current user's terminal in some file mohakkataria@ubuntu:/tmp$ apropos -s8 -w "*delete*" groupdel (8) - delete a group ntfsundelete (8) - recover a deleted file from an NTFS volume. userdel (8) - delete a user account and related files
4. Search using regular expresions
Find command that removes file:
$ apropos -r 'remove file' rm (1) - remove files or directories
5. Difference between exact and normal search
$ apropos -e zip Archive::Zip (3pm) - Provide an interface to ZIP archive files. Archive::Zip::FAQ (3pm) - Answers to a few frequently asked questions about Archive::Zip Archive::Zip::MemberRead (3pm) - A wrapper that lets you read Zip archive members as if they were files. Archive::Zip::Tree (3pm) - (DEPRECATED) methods for adding/extracting trees using Archive::Zip funzip (1) - filter for extracting from a ZIP archive in a pipe mzip (1) - change protection mode and eject disk on Zip/Jaz drive prezip-bin (1) - prefix zip delta word list compressor/decompressor unzip (1) - list, test and extract compressed files in a ZIP archive unzipsfx (1) - self-extracting stub for prepending to ZIP archives zip (1) - package and compress (archive) files zipgrep (1) - search files in a ZIP archive for lines matching a pattern zipinfo (1) - list detailed information about a ZIP archive $ apropos zip Archive::Zip (3pm) - Provide an interface to ZIP archive files. Archive::Zip::FAQ (3pm) - Answers to a few frequently asked questions about Archive::Zip Archive::Zip::MemberRead (3pm) - A wrapper that lets you read Zip archive members as if they were files. Archive::Zip::Tree (3pm) - (DEPRECATED) methods for adding/extracting trees using Archive::Zip bunzip2 (1) - a block-sorting file compressor, v1.0.6 bzcmp (1) - compare bzip2 compressed files bzdiff (1) - compare bzip2 compressed files bzegrep (1) - search possibly bzip2 compressed files for a regular expression bzfgrep (1) - search possibly bzip2 compressed files for a regular expression bzgrep (1) - search possibly bzip2 compressed files for a regular expression bzip2 (1) - a block-sorting file compressor, v1.0.6 bzip2recover (1) - recovers data from damaged bzip2 files bzless (1) - file perusal filter for crt viewing of bzip2 compressed text bzmore (1) - file perusal filter for crt viewing of bzip2 compressed text funzip (1) - filter for extracting from a ZIP archive in a pipe gpg-zip (1) - encrypt or sign files into an archive gunzip (1) - compress or expand files gzip (1) - compress or expand files lz (1) - gunzips and shows a listing of a gzip'd tar'd archive mzip (1) - change protection mode and eject disk on Zip/Jaz drive preunzip (1) - prefix delta compressor for Aspell prezip (1) - prefix delta compressor for Aspell prezip-bin (1) - prefix zip delta word list compressor/decompressor tgz (1) - makes a gzip'd tar archive unzip (1) - list, test and extract compressed files in a ZIP archive unzipsfx (1) - self-extracting stub for prepending to ZIP archives uz (1) - gunzips and extracts a gzip'd tar'd archive zforce (1) - force a '.gz' extension on all gzip files zip (1) - package and compress (archive) files zipcloak (1) - encrypt entries in a zipfile zipgrep (1) - search files in a ZIP archive for lines matching a pattern zipinfo (1) - list detailed information about a ZIP archive zipnote (1) - write the comments in zipfile to stdout, edit comments and rename files in zipfile zipsplit (1) - split a zipfile into smaller zipfiles
Sanfoundry Global Education & Learning Series – 1000 Linux Tutorials.
- Practice Programming MCQs
- Apply for Programming Internship
- Check Linux Books
- Check Information Technology Books
