What is the difference between the whatis and apropos commands?
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CentOS 6.3 / RHEL 6.3
Can someone please explain the difference between the whatis command and the apropos command? I noticed that both appear to be installed by default and I'm not sure what the difference is between them.
command-line centos rhel
asked Mar 24 '13 at 16:29
Mike B
3,104175374
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CentOS 6.3 / RHEL 6.3
Can someone please explain the difference between the whatis command and the apropos command? I noticed that both appear to be installed by default and I'm not sure what the difference is between them.
command-line centos rhel
asked Mar 24 '13 at 16:29
Mike B
3,104175374
3
Probablyyum provides whatisandyum provides aproposwill both list the same man, man-db or similar package. Actuallywhatisis the same asman -fandaproposthe same asman -k. See whether those two switch's description inman manis easier to understand.
– manatwork
Mar 24 '13 at 16:47
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up vote
5
down vote
favorite
up vote
5
down vote
favorite
CentOS 6.3 / RHEL 6.3
Can someone please explain the difference between the whatis command and the apropos command? I noticed that both appear to be installed by default and I'm not sure what the difference is between them.
command-line centos rhel
asked Mar 24 '13 at 16:29
Mike B
3,104175374
CentOS 6.3 / RHEL 6.3
Can someone please explain the difference between the whatis command and the apropos command? I noticed that both appear to be installed by default and I'm not sure what the difference is between them.
command-line centos rhel
command-line centos rhel
asked Mar 24 '13 at 16:29
Mike B
3,104175374
asked Mar 24 '13 at 16:29
Mike B
3,104175374
asked Mar 24 '13 at 16:29
Mike B
3,104175374
asked Mar 24 '13 at 16:29
Mike B
3,104175374
asked Mar 24 '13 at 16:29
Mike B
3,104175374
3,104175374
3
Probablyyum provides whatisandyum provides aproposwill both list the same man, man-db or similar package. Actuallywhatisis the same asman -fandaproposthe same asman -k. See whether those two switch's description inman manis easier to understand.
– manatwork
Mar 24 '13 at 16:47
add a comment |Â
3
Probablyyum provides whatisandyum provides aproposwill both list the same man, man-db or similar package. Actuallywhatisis the same asman -fandaproposthe same asman -k. See whether those two switch's description inman manis easier to understand.
– manatwork
Mar 24 '13 at 16:47
3
3
Probably
yum provides whatis and yum provides apropos will both list the same man, man-db or similar package. Actually whatis is the same as man -f and apropos the same as man -k. See whether those two switch's description in man man is easier to understand.– manatwork
Mar 24 '13 at 16:47
Probably
yum provides whatis and yum provides apropos will both list the same man, man-db or similar package. Actually whatis is the same as man -f and apropos the same as man -k. See whether those two switch's description in man man is easier to understand.– manatwork
Mar 24 '13 at 16:47
add a comment |Â
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
up vote
5
down vote
whatis displays one-line manual page descriptions, intended to give you a general idea of what a program do,
while apropos searches the manual page names and descriptions, intended to help you to learn what program to use when performing a certain job.
Some examples
Say, I want to know what does df program do. whatis gives me answer.
$ whatis df
df (1) - report file system disk space usage
And now, I want to unzip an archive. apropos gives me some choises for consideration.
$ apropos unzip
bunzip2 (1) - a block-sorting file compressor, v1.0.6
funzip (1) - filter for extracting from a ZIP archive in a pipe
gunzip (1) - compress or expand files
lz (1) - gunzips and shows a listing of a gzip'd tar'd archive
preunzip (1) - prefix delta compressor for Aspell
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
UPDATE:
Since both whatis and apropos search man database, you can only get info on what's already installed on your system.
answered Sep 10 '14 at 8:29
pallxk
53056
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up vote
3
down vote
whatis ls lists the manual pages for ls, apropos ls lists all manual pages that contain ls in their title. The first list here gives 2 entries, the second 1385.
answered Mar 24 '13 at 16:49
vonbrand
14k22444
add a comment |Â
up vote
0
down vote
they act the same with one different:
whatis need a accurate parameter:
whatis passwd
But apropos need a string or first characters of something that you know:
apropos pass
answered Aug 26 at 18:12
Amin
1
add a comment |Â
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
5
down vote
whatis displays one-line manual page descriptions, intended to give you a general idea of what a program do,
while apropos searches the manual page names and descriptions, intended to help you to learn what program to use when performing a certain job.
Some examples
Say, I want to know what does df program do. whatis gives me answer.
$ whatis df
df (1) - report file system disk space usage
And now, I want to unzip an archive. apropos gives me some choises for consideration.
$ apropos unzip
bunzip2 (1) - a block-sorting file compressor, v1.0.6
funzip (1) - filter for extracting from a ZIP archive in a pipe
gunzip (1) - compress or expand files
lz (1) - gunzips and shows a listing of a gzip'd tar'd archive
preunzip (1) - prefix delta compressor for Aspell
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
UPDATE:
Since both whatis and apropos search man database, you can only get info on what's already installed on your system.
answered Sep 10 '14 at 8:29
pallxk
53056
add a comment |Â
up vote
5
down vote
whatis displays one-line manual page descriptions, intended to give you a general idea of what a program do,
while apropos searches the manual page names and descriptions, intended to help you to learn what program to use when performing a certain job.
Some examples
Say, I want to know what does df program do. whatis gives me answer.
$ whatis df
df (1) - report file system disk space usage
And now, I want to unzip an archive. apropos gives me some choises for consideration.
$ apropos unzip
bunzip2 (1) - a block-sorting file compressor, v1.0.6
funzip (1) - filter for extracting from a ZIP archive in a pipe
gunzip (1) - compress or expand files
lz (1) - gunzips and shows a listing of a gzip'd tar'd archive
preunzip (1) - prefix delta compressor for Aspell
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
UPDATE:
Since both whatis and apropos search man database, you can only get info on what's already installed on your system.
answered Sep 10 '14 at 8:29
pallxk
53056
add a comment |Â
up vote
5
down vote
up vote
5
down vote
whatis displays one-line manual page descriptions, intended to give you a general idea of what a program do,
while apropos searches the manual page names and descriptions, intended to help you to learn what program to use when performing a certain job.
Some examples
Say, I want to know what does df program do. whatis gives me answer.
$ whatis df
df (1) - report file system disk space usage
And now, I want to unzip an archive. apropos gives me some choises for consideration.
$ apropos unzip
bunzip2 (1) - a block-sorting file compressor, v1.0.6
funzip (1) - filter for extracting from a ZIP archive in a pipe
gunzip (1) - compress or expand files
lz (1) - gunzips and shows a listing of a gzip'd tar'd archive
preunzip (1) - prefix delta compressor for Aspell
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
UPDATE:
Since both whatis and apropos search man database, you can only get info on what's already installed on your system.
answered Sep 10 '14 at 8:29
pallxk
53056
whatis displays one-line manual page descriptions, intended to give you a general idea of what a program do,
while apropos searches the manual page names and descriptions, intended to help you to learn what program to use when performing a certain job.
Some examples
Say, I want to know what does df program do. whatis gives me answer.
$ whatis df
df (1) - report file system disk space usage
And now, I want to unzip an archive. apropos gives me some choises for consideration.
$ apropos unzip
bunzip2 (1) - a block-sorting file compressor, v1.0.6
funzip (1) - filter for extracting from a ZIP archive in a pipe
gunzip (1) - compress or expand files
lz (1) - gunzips and shows a listing of a gzip'd tar'd archive
preunzip (1) - prefix delta compressor for Aspell
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
UPDATE:
Since both whatis and apropos search man database, you can only get info on what's already installed on your system.
answered Sep 10 '14 at 8:29
pallxk
53056
edited Sep 10 '14 at 8:50
answered Sep 10 '14 at 8:29
pallxk
53056
answered Sep 10 '14 at 8:29
pallxk
53056
answered Sep 10 '14 at 8:29
pallxk
53056
53056
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
up vote
3
down vote
whatis ls lists the manual pages for ls, apropos ls lists all manual pages that contain ls in their title. The first list here gives 2 entries, the second 1385.
answered Mar 24 '13 at 16:49
vonbrand
14k22444
add a comment |Â
up vote
3
down vote
whatis ls lists the manual pages for ls, apropos ls lists all manual pages that contain ls in their title. The first list here gives 2 entries, the second 1385.
answered Mar 24 '13 at 16:49
vonbrand
14k22444
add a comment |Â
up vote
3
down vote
up vote
3
down vote
whatis ls lists the manual pages for ls, apropos ls lists all manual pages that contain ls in their title. The first list here gives 2 entries, the second 1385.
answered Mar 24 '13 at 16:49
vonbrand
14k22444
whatis ls lists the manual pages for ls, apropos ls lists all manual pages that contain ls in their title. The first list here gives 2 entries, the second 1385.
answered Mar 24 '13 at 16:49
vonbrand
14k22444
answered Mar 24 '13 at 16:49
vonbrand
14k22444
answered Mar 24 '13 at 16:49
vonbrand
14k22444
answered Mar 24 '13 at 16:49
vonbrand
14k22444
14k22444
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
up vote
0
down vote
they act the same with one different:
whatis need a accurate parameter:
whatis passwd
But apropos need a string or first characters of something that you know:
apropos pass
answered Aug 26 at 18:12
Amin
1
add a comment |Â
up vote
0
down vote
they act the same with one different:
whatis need a accurate parameter:
whatis passwd
But apropos need a string or first characters of something that you know:
apropos pass
answered Aug 26 at 18:12
Amin
1
add a comment |Â
up vote
0
down vote
up vote
0
down vote
they act the same with one different:
whatis need a accurate parameter:
whatis passwd
But apropos need a string or first characters of something that you know:
apropos pass
answered Aug 26 at 18:12
Amin
1
they act the same with one different:
whatis need a accurate parameter:
whatis passwd
But apropos need a string or first characters of something that you know:
apropos pass
answered Aug 26 at 18:12
Amin
1
answered Aug 26 at 18:12
Amin
1
answered Aug 26 at 18:12
Amin
1
answered Aug 26 at 18:12
Amin
1
1
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
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3
Probably
yum provides whatisandyum provides aproposwill both list the same man, man-db or similar package. Actuallywhatisis the same asman -fandaproposthe same asman -k. See whether those two switch's description inman manis easier to understand.– manatwork
Mar 24 '13 at 16:47