How to Install man Pages Command on CentOS 5.7

In Linux, ‘man’ pages are an essential resource for understanding the various commands available on your system. The ‘man’ command provides comprehensive details about a given command, including its syntax and the switches used. Essentially, ‘man’ formats and displays the on-line manual pages.

This tutorial will guide you through the process of installing the ‘man’ command on a CentOS 5.7 server. This is a crucial step for any system administrator or webmaster, as it enables you to access valuable information about the commands you’ll be using on your server. For more information about different types of servers, you can visit our pages on Apache, Nginx, and LiteSpeed.

Installing the ‘man’ Command on CentOS 5.7

To install the ‘man’ command on your CentOS 5.7 server, you will need to use the ‘yum’ package manager. The ‘yum’ command is used to install, update, and remove software packages in Linux distributions like CentOS. Here are the steps to install the ‘man’ command:

Open your terminal.
As a root user, run the following command:

[root@CentOS57 ~]# yum install man -y

This command tells ‘yum’ to install the ‘man’ package. The ‘-y’ option is used to automatically answer ‘yes’ to any prompts that may come up during the installation process.

After running this command, ‘yum’ will begin the installation process. It will resolve any dependencies that the ‘man’ package might have and install them as well. In this case, the dependencies are ‘groff’ and ‘bzip2’. ‘groff’ is a typesetting system that reads plain text mixed with formatting commands and produces formatted output, while ‘bzip2’ is a free and open-source file compression program.

[root@CentOS57 ~]# yum install man -y
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
 * base: mirror.oscc.org.my
 * extras: mirror.oscc.org.my
 * rpmforge: ftp-stud.fht-esslingen.de
 * updates: mirror.oscc.org.my
Setting up Install Process
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package man.i386 0:1.6d-2.el5 set to be updated
--> Processing Dependency: groff >= 1.18 for package: man
--> Processing Dependency: bzip2 for package: man
--> Processing Dependency: nroff-i18n for package: man
--> Running transaction check
---> Package bzip2.i386 0:1.0.3-6.el5_5 set to be updated
---> Package groff.i386 0:1.18.1.1-13.el5 set to be updated
--> Finished Dependency Resolution

Dependencies Resolved

====================================================================================================
 Package              Arch                Version                         Repository           Size
====================================================================================================
Installing:
 man                  i386                1.6d-2.el5                      base                262 k
Installing for dependencies:
 bzip2                i386                1.0.3-6.el5_5                   base                 49 k
 groff                i386                1.18.1.1-13.el5                 base                1.9 M

Transaction Summary
====================================================================================================
Install       3 Package(s)
Upgrade       0 Package(s)

Total download size: 2.2 M
Downloading Packages:
(1/3): bzip2-1.0.3-6.el5_5.i386.rpm                                          |  49 kB     00:00
(2/3): man-1.6d-2.el5.i386.rpm                                               | 262 kB     00:02
(3/3): groff-1.18.1.1-13.el5.i386.rpm                                        | 1.9 MB     00:17
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total                                                               104 kB/s | 2.2 MB     00:21
Running rpm_check_debug
Running Transaction Test
Finished Transaction Test
Transaction Test Succeeded
Running Transaction
  Installing     : bzip2                                                                        1/3
  Installing     : groff                                                                        2/3
  Installing     : man                                                                          3/3

Installed:
  man.i386 0:1.6d-2.el5

Dependency Installed:
  bzip2.i386 0:1.0.3-6.el5_5                      groff.i386 0:1.18.1.1-13.el5

Complete!

Once the installation process is complete, you can verify the installation by running the ‘man’ command followed by ‘man’ again, like so:

[root@CentOS57 ~]# man man

This command will display the manual page for the ‘man’ command itself, confirming that the ‘man’ command has been successfully installed on your CentOS 5.7 server.

man(1)                                                                  man(1)



NAME
       man - format and display the on-line manual pages

SYNOPSIS
       man  [-acdfFhkKtwW]  [--path]  [-m system] [-p string] [-C config_file]
       [-M pathlist] [-P pager] [-B browser] [-H htmlpager] [-S  section_list]
       [section] name ...


DESCRIPTION
       man formats and displays the on-line manual pages.  If you specify sec-
       tion, man only looks in that section of the manual.  name  is  normally
       the  name of the manual page, which is typically the name of a command,
       function, or file.  However, if name contains  a  slash  (/)  then  man
       interprets  it  as a file specification, so that you can do man ./foo.5
       or even man /cd/foo/bar.1.gz.

       See below for a description of where man  looks  for  the  manual  page
       files.


OPTIONS
       -C  config_file
              Specify   the   configuration   file  to  use;  the  default  is
              /etc/man.config.  (See man.config(5).)

       -M  path
              Specify the list of directories to search for man pages.   Sepa-
              rate  the directories with colons.  An empty list is the same as
              not specifying -M at all.  See SEARCH PATH FOR MANUAL PAGES.

       -P  pager
              Specify which pager to use.  This option overrides the  MANPAGER
              environment  variable,  which  in turn overrides the PAGER vari-
              able.  By default, man uses /usr/bin/less -is.

       -B     Specify which browser to use on HTML files.  This  option  over-
              rides  the  BROWSER  environment  variable. By default, man uses
           /usr/bin/less-is,

       -H     Specify a command that renders HTML files as text.  This  option
              overrides  the  HTMLPAGER  environment variable. By default, man
              uses /bin/cat,

       -S  section_list
              List is a colon separated list of  manual  sections  to  search.
              This option overrides the MANSECT environment variable.

       -a     By default, man will exit after displaying the first manual page
              it finds.  Using this option forces man to display all the  man-
              ual pages that match name, not just the first.

       -c     Reformat  the  source man page, even when an up-to-date cat page
              exists.  This can be meaningful if the cat  page  was  formatted
              for  a screen with a different number of columns, or if the pre-
              formatted page is corrupted.

       -d     Donât actually display the man  pages,  but  do  print  gobs  of
              debugging information.

       -D     Both display and print debugging info.

       -f     Equivalent to whatis.

       -F or --preformat
              Format only - do not display.

       -h     Print a help message and exit.

       -k     Equivalent to apropos.

       -K     Search  for  the  specified  string in *all* man pages. Warning:
              this is probably very slow!  It  helps  to  specify  a  section.
              (Just  to  give  a  rough idea, on my machine this takes about a
              minute per 500 man pages.)

       -m  system
              Specify an alternate set of man pages to  search  based  on  the
              system name given.

       -p  string
              Specify  the  sequence  of  preprocessors to run before nroff or
              troff.  Not all installations will have a full set of preproces-
              sors.   Some of the preprocessors and the letters used to desig-
              nate them are: eqn (e), grap (g), pic (p), tbl (t), vgrind  (v),
              refer  (r).   This  option  overrides the MANROFFSEQ environment
              variable.

       -t     Use /usr/bin/groff -Tps -mandoc to format the manual page, pass-
              ing  the  output  to  stdout.   The  default  output  format  of
              /usr/bin/groff -Tps -mandoc is Postscript, refer to  the  manual
              page  of  /usr/bin/groff -Tps -mandoc for ways to pick an alter-
              nate format.

       Depending on the selected  format  and  the  availability  of  printing
       devices,  the  output  may  need  to  be  passed through some filter or
       another before being printed.

       -w or --path
              Donât actually display the man pages, but  do  print  the  loca-
              tion(s) of the files that would be formatted or displayed. If no
              argument is given: display (on stdout) the list  of  directories
              that  is  searched by man for man pages. If manpath is a link to
              man, then "manpath" is equivalent to "man --path".

       -W     Like -w, but print file names one per line,  without  additional
              information.   This is useful in shell commands like man -aW man
              | xargs ls -l

Commands Mentioned

  • yum install man -y – This command installs the ‘man’ package on your CentOS server. The ‘-y’ option automatically answers ‘yes’ to any prompts that come up during the installation process.
  • man man – This command displays the manual page for the ‘man’ command, confirming that the ‘man’ command has been successfully installed.
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Conclusion

In conclusion, the ‘man’ command is a vital tool for any webmaster or system administrator working with Linux, particularly CentOS 5.7. It provides comprehensive details about the various commands available on your system, making it an invaluable resource for understanding and using these commands effectively. By following the steps outlined in this tutorial, you can easily install the ‘man’ command on your CentOS 5.7 server.

Whether you’re working with a dedicated server, a VPS server, cloud hosting, or shared hosting, having access to ‘man’ pages will undoubtedly enhance your ability to manage and troubleshoot your server effectively.

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FAQ

  1. What is the ‘man’ command in Linux?

    The ‘man’ command inLinux is used to display the user manual of any command that we can run on the terminal. It provides a detailed view of the command which includes NAME, SYNOPSIS, DESCRIPTION, OPTIONS, EXIT STATUS, RETURN VALUE, ERRORS, FILES, VERSIONS, EXAMPLES, AUTHORS and SEE ALSO.

  2. What is the ‘yum’ command in CentOS?

    The ‘yum’ command is a package manager that helps you to install, update, and remove software packages in CentOS and other Linux distributions. It automatically computes dependencies and figures out what things should occur to install packages.

  3. What is the purpose of the ‘-y’ option in the ‘yum’ command?

    The ‘-y’ option in the ‘yum’ command is used to automatically answer ‘yes’ to any prompts that come up during the installation process. This allows for non-interactive installation of packages.

  4. What is ‘groff’ in Linux?

    ‘groff’ is a typesetting system in Linux. It reads plain text mixed with formatting commands and produces formatted output. It’s used for writing man pages and other documents.

  5. What is ‘bzip2’ in Linux?

    ‘bzip2’ is a free and open-source file compression program in Linux. It’s used to compress files to a smaller size, which can be useful for saving disk space or for transferring files over the internet more quickly.

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