lfs-book/appendixa/man-desc.xml

<sect2><title>Short descriptions</title>

<para><command>apropos</command> searches the whatis database and displays
the short descriptions of system commands that contain a given string.</para>

<para><command>makewhatis</command> builds the whatis database. It reads
all the manual pages in the manpath and for each page writes the name and a
short description in the whatis database.</para>

<para><command>man</command> formats and displays the requested on-line
manual page.</para>

<para><command>man2dvi</command> converts a manual page into dvi format.</para>

<para><command>man2html</command> converts a manual page into html.</para>

<para><command>whatis</command> searches the whatis database and displays
the short descriptions of system commands that contain the given keyword as a
separate word.</para>

</sect2>