Linux Commands:  man and apropos

• man:  when using predefined functions (i.e., those that are part of the "system"), you need to make sure you use them correctly.  Information on how to call the function (i.e., what is its name, what parameters it uses and what value it returns) is contained in the linux man (for manual) pages.
  • To bring up the manual page, type: man linuxCommandYouAreInterestedIn

• apropos:  Sometimes you don't even know the right name for the predefined function.  In that case, you can look up the command by knowing a little about what the function does using a keyword and the apropos command.
  • To find out which commands have something to do with a given keyword, type:  apropos keywordOfInterest