pavement

Whatis

From FreeBSDwiki
(Difference between revisions)
Jump to: navigation, search
Line 1: Line 1:
See [[apropos]]
+
The '''whatis''' command takes a word or name as a parameter value that is searched against a set of database files that contain short descriptions of system based commands and devices.
 +
 
 +
<pre>
 +
mail# whatis fxp
 +
fxp(4)                  - Intel EtherExpress PRO/100 Ethernet device driver
 +
</pre>
 +
 
 +
The search method used by whatis will find only complete word matches.  This differs to the related apropos command which uses a search method that matches anything containing the given word.  An example of these differences using the word "secure":
 +
 
 +
'''whatis'''
 +
 
 +
<pre>
 +
mail# whatis secure
 +
_secure_path(3)          - determine if a file appears to be secure
 +
rpc_secure(3)            - library routines for secure remote procedure calls
 +
scp(1)                  - secure copy (remote file copy program)
 +
sftp(1)                  - secure file transfer program
 +
sprog(7)                - secure programming practices
 +
SHA1(3), SHA1_Init(3), SHA1_Update(3), SHA1_Final(3) - Secure Hash Algorithm
 +
</pre>
 +
 
 +
'''apropos'''
 +
 
 +
<pre>
 +
mail# apropos secure
 +
_secure_path(3)          - determine if a file appears to be secure
 +
krb5_verify_user(3), krb5_verify_user_lrealm(3), krb5_verify_user_opt(3), krb5_verify_opt_init krb5_verify_opt_set_
 +
flags(3), krb5_verify_opt_set_service(3), krb5_verify_opt_set_secure(3), krb5_verify_opt_set_keytab(3) - Heimdal pa
 +
ssword verifying functions
 +
pam_securetty(8)        - SecureTTY PAM module
 +
rpc_secure(3)            - library routines for secure remote procedure calls
 +
scp(1)                  - secure copy (remote file copy program)
 +
securelevel_gt(9), securelevel_ge(9) - test active securelevel
 +
sftp(1)                  - secure file transfer program
 +
sprog(7)                - secure programming practices
 +
SHA1(3), SHA1_Init(3), SHA1_Update(3), SHA1_Final(3) - Secure Hash Algorithm
 +
</pre>
 +
 
 +
This shows how whatis only found whole words for 'secure' whereas apropos found the word within other text, one of which was 'krb5_verify_opt_set_secure(3)'.
 +
 
 +
See also [[apropos]] command.
  
 
[[Category : System Commands]]
 
[[Category : System Commands]]

Revision as of 10:44, 4 October 2007

The whatis command takes a word or name as a parameter value that is searched against a set of database files that contain short descriptions of system based commands and devices.

mail# whatis fxp
fxp(4)                   - Intel EtherExpress PRO/100 Ethernet device driver

The search method used by whatis will find only complete word matches. This differs to the related apropos command which uses a search method that matches anything containing the given word. An example of these differences using the word "secure":

whatis

mail# whatis secure
_secure_path(3)          - determine if a file appears to be secure
rpc_secure(3)            - library routines for secure remote procedure calls
scp(1)                   - secure copy (remote file copy program)
sftp(1)                  - secure file transfer program
sprog(7)                 - secure programming practices
SHA1(3), SHA1_Init(3), SHA1_Update(3), SHA1_Final(3) - Secure Hash Algorithm

apropos

mail# apropos secure
_secure_path(3)          - determine if a file appears to be secure
krb5_verify_user(3), krb5_verify_user_lrealm(3), krb5_verify_user_opt(3), krb5_verify_opt_init krb5_verify_opt_set_
flags(3), krb5_verify_opt_set_service(3), krb5_verify_opt_set_secure(3), krb5_verify_opt_set_keytab(3) - Heimdal pa
ssword verifying functions
pam_securetty(8)         - SecureTTY PAM module
rpc_secure(3)            - library routines for secure remote procedure calls
scp(1)                   - secure copy (remote file copy program)
securelevel_gt(9), securelevel_ge(9) - test active securelevel
sftp(1)                  - secure file transfer program
sprog(7)                 - secure programming practices
SHA1(3), SHA1_Init(3), SHA1_Update(3), SHA1_Final(3) - Secure Hash Algorithm

This shows how whatis only found whole words for 'secure' whereas apropos found the word within other text, one of which was 'krb5_verify_opt_set_secure(3)'.

See also apropos command.

Personal tools