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<h1>Finding Help From Within the Shell</h1>
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<p>Note: Please look <a href="#sdfspecific">further down</a> about help
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facilities specific to SDF, like the FAQ!</p>
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<p>While the UNIX shell may seem a bit daunting and cold with cryptic
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two-letter commands, dozens of command line switches, and no animated
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paper clips to show you the way, there are several different ways of
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getting help from the system.</p>
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<hr />
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<h2><a id="#manpage" />Using Manpages</h2>
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<h3>The Definitive Guide to RTFMing</h3>
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<p>The easiest and most comprehensive way of getting help is reading the
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manpage. You've probably heard RTFM (Read The Fscking Manual) somewhere
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throughout your computer use, well, this is that Manual. Manpages are
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the standard form of documentation for every UNIX. Learn to use them.
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Learn to love them.</p>
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<p>Where can you find them? It's pretty simple. Think of a command. (ls,
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rm, chmod, kill, grep) or a program (vi, mutt, snarf, majordomo) So go
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ahead, type</p>
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<code>% man <i>command</i></code>
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<p>command being the name of the command you want to learn about. As you
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can see, manpages are broken down into sections. We'll use mkdir as an
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example.</p>
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<CODE>% man mkdir</CODE>
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<pre>
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MKDIR(1) NetBSD General Commands Manual
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MKDIR(1)
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NAME
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mkdir - make directories
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SYNOPSIS
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mkdir [-p] [-m mode] directory_name ...
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DESCRIPTION
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mkdir creates the directories named as operands, in the order specified,
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using mode rwxrwxrwx (0777) as modified by the current umask(2).
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The options are as follows:
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-m Set the file permission bits of the final created directory to
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the specified mode. The mode argument can be in any of the for-
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mats specified to the chmod(1) utility. If a symbolic mode is
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specified, the operation characters ``+'' and ``-'' are inter-
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preted relative to an initial mode of ``a=rwx''.
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-p Create intermediate directories as required. If this option is
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not specified, the full path prefix of each operand must already
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exist. Intermediate directories are created with permission bits
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of rwxrwxrwx (0777) as modified by the current umask, plus write
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and search permission for the owner. Do not consider it an error
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if the argument directory already exists.
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The user must have write permission in the parent directory.
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EXIT STATUS
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mkdir exits 0 if successful, and >0 if an error occurred.
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SEE ALSO
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chmod(1), rmdir(1), mkdir(2), umask(2)
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STANDARDS
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The mkdir utility is expected to be IEEE Std 1003.2 (``POSIX.2'') compat-
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ible.
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NetBSD 2.0.2 January 25, 1994 NetBSD
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2.0.2
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</pre>
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<p>For our <CODE>mkdir</CODE> command, the man page displayed has six
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sections: NAME, SYNOPSIS, DESCRIPTION, EXIT STATUS, SEE ALSO, and
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STANDARDS. The NAME section simply shows the name of the command and a
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terse description of its function. The SYNOPSIS gives a brief
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outline of the command syntax, so you can see what the command you
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enter should look like. Items in square brackets [ ] are optional. The
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DESCRIPTION section provides a detailed description of how the command
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works, including information on the various options or modes of the
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command. The EXIT STATUS section describes what status codes are
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generated by the command when it completes (successfully
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or unsuccessfully). These codes can be read by programs (such as a shell
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script) to determine how to react to the command's result. SEE ALSO
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provides cross referencing information for related commands or others
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which may be helpful. And finally, the STANDARDS section lists
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information on which standards this particular command complies with.
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</p>
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<p>The manual is divided up into nine sections:</p>
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<ol>
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<li>User commands.</li>
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<li>System calls and error numbers.</li>
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<li>Functions in the C libraries.</li>
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<li>Device drivers.</li>
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<li>File formats.</li>
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<li>Games and other diversions.</li>
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<li>Miscellaneous information.</li>
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<li>System maintenance and operation commands.</li>
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<li>Kernal developers.</li>
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</ol>
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<p>In some cases, the same topic will appear on more than one section of
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the manual. For example, there is a chmod user command and a chmod()
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system call. How would you find the appropriate manpage? You can tell
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man which section you'd like to look under. If you wanted to find the
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user command you would type:</p>
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<code>% man 1 chmod</code>
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<p>This would display the manpage for the user command chmod.
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References to the specific sections are traditionally placed in
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parenthesis after the command name like so: chmod(1)</p>
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<p>Well, this is all fine and good if you know the name of the command,
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but what if you can't remember the name? 'man -k' can be used to search
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for keywords in the command descriptions. So, if you want to find a mail
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program you would type:</p>
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<code>% man -k editor</code>
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<p>A list of commands with the keyword "editor" in their descriptions
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will be presented on the screen.</p>
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<h2>The GNU Info system</h2>
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<p>For programs of the <a href="http://www.gnu.org">GNU Project</a>, you may
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also use the <code>info</code> command. If you know the name of a program,
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give it as an argument (like with <code>man</code>).
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<br>In fact, you can use <code>info</code> as an alias to <code>man</code>,
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because the info reader will simply display the man page if it cannot find an
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info entry (but you cannot specify the manpage section).</p>
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<p>However, navigation is different in the standard info reader, as it is
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based on the <code>emacs</code> text editor.
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<br>Quick key help (for more, consult <code>info info</code>):
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<dl>
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<dt>SPACE, BACKSPACE</dt>
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<dd>page forward, backward</dd>
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<dt>TAB</dt>
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<dd>place cursor onto next menu item or link (info files are hyperlinked)</dd>
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<dt>RETURN</dt>
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<dd>jump to the place where the link the cursor is sitting on points to</dd>
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<dt>l (the letter ell)</dt>
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<dd>get back to the spot from where last jump started</dd>
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<dt>u n p</dt>
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<dd>up, next, previous node (info files are hierarchically structured)</dd>
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<dt>q</dt>
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<dd>quit the info reader</dd>
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</dl>
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With most terminals, you can also move around using the cursor keys (arrows).
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</p>
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<a id="sdfspecific"><h2>SDF specific help</h2></a>
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<p>There are also a number of tools at SDF that you can use to get more help.
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Type the following commands at a shell prompt.</p>
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<dl>
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<dt>help</dt><dd>The SDF help system.</dd>
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<dt>faq</dt><dd>A collection of frequently asked questions. Type 'g <topic>' to enter
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a topic, 'l' to list the questions in the topic, and 't <number>' to read
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the FAQ. The FAQ is also available <a href="http://sdf.lonestar.org/index.cgi?faq">on the SDF website</a>.</dd>
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<dt>helpdesk</dt><dd>If you cannot find your answer in the man pages, help, faq,
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or googling post a question to the helpdesk and a friendly member of the community
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will answer your question. Any member with ARPA status can login as an attendent
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to answer questions. Please note: in helpdesk you should only post questions
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directly related to SDF's systems, but not about general UNIX, programming or
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gardening - these belong to the bboard!</dd>
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<dt>bboard</dt><dd>To enter the SDF Bulletin Board System (BBOARD), type
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bboard at the command line. Help on using BBOARD may be found by typing
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h and ? at the bboard Command: prompt or at the <a
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href="http://sdf.org/?tutorials/bboard-tutorial">BBOARD tutorial</a>. If
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you have a general question about using the SDF system, post in
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HELPDESK. If you have a question that requires intervention from an
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admin (e.g., software requests or membership queries), post in
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REQUESTS.</dd>
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<dt>com</dt><dd>Com and bboard are meeting places for the SDF community. You
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could also pose your question there. Bboard and faq have the same interface. See
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<a href="http://sdf.lonestar.org/index.cgi?tutorials/comnotirc">COM is not IRC</a> for
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how to use com.
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</dl>
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And of course there are the online tutorials that you are reading right now! The top
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level page is <a
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href="http://sdf.lonestar.org/index.cgi?tutorials">http://sdf.lonestar.org/index.cgi?tutorials</a>.
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<hr />
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<cite>$Id: findinghelp.html,v 1.11 2016/12/07 20:17:49 jandal Exp $</cite>
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