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.

asked Mar 24 '13 at 16:29

Mike B

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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.
â€“Â manatwork
Mar 24 '13 at 16:47

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CentOS 6.3 / RHEL 6.3

asked Mar 24 '13 at 16:29

Mike B

3,104175374

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.
â€“Â manatwork
Mar 24 '13 at 16:47

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up vote
5
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favorite

CentOS 6.3 / RHEL 6.3

asked Mar 24 '13 at 16:29

Mike B

3,104175374

CentOS 6.3 / RHEL 6.3

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

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.
â€“Â manatwork
Mar 24 '13 at 16:47

add a commentÂ |Â

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.
â€“Â 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.
â€“Â manatwork
Mar 24 '13 at 16:47

add a commentÂ |Â

3 Answers
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5
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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.

edited Sep 10 '14 at 8:50

answered Sep 10 '14 at 8:29

pallxk

53056

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3
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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

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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

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3 Answers
3

active

oldest

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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.

edited Sep 10 '14 at 8:50

answered Sep 10 '14 at 8:29

pallxk

53056

add a commentÂ |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.

edited Sep 10 '14 at 8:50

answered Sep 10 '14 at 8:29

pallxk

53056

add a commentÂ |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.

edited Sep 10 '14 at 8:50

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.

edited Sep 10 '14 at 8:50

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

add a commentÂ |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 commentÂ |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 commentÂ |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

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

add a commentÂ |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

add a commentÂ |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

add a commentÂ |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

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

answered Aug 26 at 18:12

Amin

answered Aug 26 at 18:12

Amin

answered Aug 26 at 18:12

Amin

add a commentÂ |Â

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