Read and use System Documentation

Linux ships with an extensive set of built-in manuals and help tools. Whether you need a quick reminder of flags or a deep dive into syntax, you can access all of it directly from the command line. This guide covers everything from --help to man pages, apropos searches, and shell autocompletion.

Quick Help with --help

Most commands support a --help or -h option for a concise overview:

$ ls --help
Usage: ls [OPTION]... [FILE]...
List information about the FILEs (the current directory by default).
...
  -a, --all             do not ignore entries starting with .
  -l, --long            use a long listing format
  -h, --human-readable  with -l, print sizes in human readable format

Scroll through the output to find the -l flag for long listings:

$ ls -l
bin/    lib/    libexec/    local/    sbin/    share/

Viewing Help in a Pager

Some tools pipe help text through a pager (usually less). For example:

$ journalctl --help
journalctl [OPTIONS...] [MATCHES...]
Query the journal.

Options:
  --system               Show the system journal
  --user                 Show the user journal
  -S, --since=DATE       Show entries not older than the specified date
  -U, --until=DATE       Show entries not newer than the specified cursor
  -b, --boot[=ID]        Show current boot or the specified boot
  --list-boots           Show terse information about recorded boots

Use ↑/↓ or Page Up/Page Down to navigate, then q to quit the pager.

Accessing Full Manuals with man

The man command opens detailed manual pages for nearly every tool:

$ man journalctl

A typical man page contains:

• NAME: Brief description
• SYNOPSIS: Command syntax
• DESCRIPTION: Detailed behavior
• OPTIONS: Available flags and switches
• EXAMPLES: Usage scenarios (if provided)

Choosing the Right Section

Many entries exist in multiple man sections (e.g., printf). Specify the section number to disambiguate:

$ man 1 printf   # The printf command
$ man 3 printf   # The printf C function

Searching with apropos

When you only remember the topic, not the command name, apropos searches man-page descriptions:

$ apropos directory
ls (1)       - list directory contents
mkdir (1)    - make directories
du (1)       - estimate file space usage

sudo mandb

To limit results to specific sections (e.g., 1 and 8):

$ apropos -s 1,8 directory
ls (1)       - list directory contents
mkdir (1)    - make directories

Accelerating Work with Tab Completion

Shell autocompletion suggests commands, options, and paths.

1. Type part of a command and press Tab to complete it, or press twice for a list.
2. Use it to complete subcommands, flags, and file names.

For instance, list available systemctl verbs:

$ systemctl <Tab><Tab>
add-requires    emergency       isolate       reboot
enable          exit            poweroff      show
...

Complete a subcommand:

$ systemctl list-dep<Tab>
systemctl list-dependencies

And file paths:

$ ls /u<Tab>      # expands to /usr/
$ ls /usr/<Tab>   # lists contents

Practice and Exam Tips

1. Pick an unfamiliar command.
2. Explore it with --help and man.
3. Use apropos to discover related tools.
4. Rely on tab completion to speed up typing.

For the Linux Foundation Certified SysAdmin exam, all of these lookup methods are allowed. Mastering them will save you time and boost your confidence.

Summary of Documentation Tools

Links and References

• GNU Coreutils Manual
• Linux man-pages Project
• Bash Reference Manual – Completion