linux man - ghdrako/doc_snipets GitHub Wiki

Sometimes a man page with the same name will exist in different sections. To specify a section, add a number before the command name. For example, to receive the same manual as above one might run man 1 ls. The sections on most Unix-like operating systems are as follows:

1. General commands, so commands that you typically run on the command line
2. System calls
3. Library functions, covering the C standard library
4. Special files (usually devices, those found in /dev) and drivers
5. File formats and conventions. This includes configuration files
6. Games and screensavers
7. Miscellaneous
8. System administration commands and daemons

So, if you want to dig deeper into one of the topics we cover in this book, you’ll likely start by looking in manpage sections 1, 5, and 8. If you are unsure about what the name of the manual page you are looking for is, you can use apropos <keyword> or man -k <keyword> to find it. It will print a list of all manual pages con- taining the specified keyword.