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Man pages are help manuals for command-line elements and syntax in Unix/Linux-based operating systems. They can be accessed by entering “man” followed by the name of the service or application. PowerShell, a new command shell-based scripting environment by Microsoft, also uses man pages.
Man Page is short for manual page. UNIX and Linux-based operating systems include a help manual to assist users with command-line elements and syntax while using the software. The help manual is referred to by both the operating system and many of its users as man pages.
To access the man page for the Apache http server included in many Unix and Linux distributions, enter the following syntax on the command line:
man httpd
This will return the man page containing information about the web server installed on the system. All services included with Linux or Unix operating systems will each have a man page. Some third-party software can also add pages to the manual when installed.
For novice Linux or Unix users, the manual can be extremely helpful by bringing the necessary information to the screen when needed. This saves time and shelf space by not requiring you to search for information in a paper manual when certain syntax or actions are in question.
Recently, Microsoft® released a new command shell-based scripting environment called PowerShell®. This shell environment allows the man page to access the Windows® operating system by combining the Windows command prompt and dos-based commands with some of the commands traditionally found in Unix/Linux. For help screens within the new Windows shell environment, you can use the standard Windows syntax to list help, or you can also use the Linux/Unix syntax.
For example, entering get-help get-alias on the PowerShell command line would produce help documentation for the get-alias command. Similarly, entering man get-alias on the Powershell command line will produce the same documentation for the get-alias command. Unix-style commands have been included to make the shell environment more friendly to both Windows and non-Windows users.
PowerShell is included in Windows Server 2008 and can be downloaded for Windows Server 2003, Windows XP and Windows Vista. The introduction of Unix-like syntax and commands into Powershell increased the visibility of the shell. Before Microsoft’s new environment, the man page was only used in Unix or Linux based operating systems.
Any document in the Unix manual can be called from the command line to the screen at any time by entering similar syntax starting with the man keyword. Typing the name of the service or application after the man keyword and hitting enter will return the required help documentation; its man page.
