manpages

Manpages are the standard form of online documentation on most Unix-like systems. They provide concise references for commands, system calls, library functions, configuration files, and file formats. They are accessed with the man command and are usually stored under /usr/share/man in a hierarchy of sections. Pages are written in troff or groff using the man macros and are often compressed to save space.

Most pages follow a conventional structure, including NAME, SYNOPSIS, DESCRIPTION, OPTIONS, SEE ALSO, and COPYRIGHT. The NAME line gives the title and a short description; SYNOPSIS shows usage; DESCRIPTION explains behavior; OPTIONS lists flags. Some pages vary or add project-specific fields.

To read a page, run commands such as 'man ls' or 'man 1 printf'. You can specify a section, as in 'man 3 printf', to view the library function. Search terms with 'man -k term' (apropos) or 'man -f name' (whatis) find pages. The database is updated by mandb or similar tools, and the search path is controlled by MANPATH.

Pages reside in directories like /usr/share/man/man1, man2, and so on. They are usually written in troff/groff with man macros and may be distributed as compressed files. Some systems also offer HTML or info formats as alternatives.

Originating in Unix, manpages remain a core, lightweight reference for both users and developers. They cover commands, interfaces, libraries, and configuration components, and continue to be supplemented by other formats on some systems.