27 Aug 2024
`apropos` is an overlooked Linux command
Search for Linux command that does what you need
#
Sometimes the challenge of using the Linux command line is knowing what commands you need to do certain things.
The apropos
command lets you search the available commands by matching key words.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
|
❯ apropos csv
# bench_wcsv (3tcl) - bench::out::csv - Formatting benchmark results as CSV
# csv (3tcl) - Procedures to handle CSV data.
# csv2rec (1) - csv to rec converter
# rec2csv (1) - rec to csv converter
❯ apropos environment
# 0desktop (1) - add programs to the desktop environment
# 30-systemd-environment-d-generator (8) - Load variables specified by environment.d
# byobu-janitor (1) - script for cleaning and upgrading environment after upgrades
# byobu-reconnect-sockets (1) - Sourcable script that updates GPG_AGENT_INFO and DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS in the environment
# check-language-support (1) - returns the list of missing packages in order to provide a complete language environment
# clearenv (3) - clear the environment
# dbus-update-activation-environment (1) - update environment used for D-Bus session services
# Dpkg::Build::Env (3perl) - track build environment
# env (1) - run a program in a modified environment
# environ (7) - user environment
# pam_env.conf (5) - the environment variables config files
# ...
|
The command checks all of the installed man pages and package descriptions, however there are circumstances where this could leave out some relevant commands.