whatis: show one-line description for keyword
finds a related man page by search term and return small description
Typical usage: documentation purposes, lookup command information, general system administrationIntroduction into whatis
The whatis tool is a search tool that retrieves information from the man pages. It returns a one-line description of any matches that were found in the locally available man pages. For more detailed searches, the apropos command can also be used.
Installation
When whatis is not installed by default, it can be added to the system using the relevant software package.
Package information for whatis
| Operating system | Package name | Installation |
|---|---|---|
| AlmaLinux | man-db | |
| Arch Linux | man-db | |
| Debian | man-db | |
| Fedora | man-db | |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux | man-db | |
| Rocky Linux | man-db | |
| openSUSE | man-db | |
| Ubuntu | man-db | |
Your Linux distribution using a different package? Share your feedback.
Usage
Available options
| Long option | Short option | Description |
|---|---|---|
| --regex | -r | Provide a regular expression to use in the search |
Missing an option in this overview? Share your feedback.
Examples using whatis
Return the entry for systemd
whatis systemdOutput: systemd (1) - systemd system and service manager
Search for all entries with 'man' in it
whatis --regex manSearch for all entries starting with 'man'
whatis --regex "^man"Frequently Asked Questions
What is the whatis command and its purpose?
The whatis command is a command-line tool to search in man pages and return the results as a one-liner
Which package provides the whatis command?
The command whatis is provided by the man-db package.
Related and similar commands
Linux has a lot of tools and commands available and sometimes you just need that little other tool. Here is a list of commands that are similar or related to whatis:
| Command | Category | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| apropos | documentation | Find related man pages |