5.

1 Introduction
This is Lab 5: Getting Help. By performing this lab, students will learn how to get help on
commands and find files.

In this lab, you will perform the following tasks:

 Use several help systems to get help for commands.

 Learn how to locate commands.

5.2 Getting Help

In this task, you will explore the how to get help. This will be a very useful thing to know
how to do when you find yourself stuck or when you can't remember how a command
works.

In addition to Internet searches, the Linux Operating System provides a variety of

techniques to learn more about a given command or feature. Knowing these different
techniques will allow you to more easily and quickly find the answer you need.

5.2.1 Step 1
Execute commands in the bash shell by typing the command and then pressing
theEnter key. For example, type the following command to display today's date:

date

The output should be similar to the following:

sysadmin@localhost:~$ date
Tue Jan 19 17:27:20 UTC 2016
sysadmin@localhost:~$

5.2.2 Step 2
To learn more about commands, access the manual page for the command with
theman command. For example, execute the following command to learn more about
the date command:

man date
sysadmin@localhost:~$ man date
Your output should be similar to the following:

DATE(1) User Commands

DATE(1)

NAME
date - print or set the system date and time

SYNOPSIS
date [OPTION]... [+FORMAT]
date [-u|--utc|--universal] [MMDDhhmm[[CC]YY][.ss]]

DESCRIPTION
Display the current time in the given FORMAT, or set the system
date.

-d, --date=STRING
display time described by STRING, not `now'
-f, --file=DATEFILE
like --date once for each line of DATEFILE

-r, --reference=FILE
display the last modification time of FILE

-R, --rfc-2822
output date and time in RFC 2822 format. Example:
Mon, 07 Aug
Manual page date(1) line 1 (press h for help or q to quit)

Note: Documents that are displayed with the man command are called "Man Pages".

If the man command can find the manual page for the argument provided, then that manual
page will be displayed using a command called less. The following table describes useful
keys that can be used with the less command to control the output of the display:

Key Purpose

H or h Display the help

Q or q Quit the help or manual page

 Key Purpose

Spacebar or f or PageDown Move a screen forward

b or PageUp Move a screen backward

Enter or down arrow Move down one line

Up arrow Move up one line

/ followed by text to search Start searching forward

? followed by text to search Start searching backward

n Move to next text that matches search

N Move to previous matching text

5.2.3 Step 3
Type the letter h to see a list of movement commands. After reading the movement
commands, type the letter q to get back to the document.

SUMMARY OF LESS COMMANDS

Commands marked with * may be preceded by a number, N.

Notes in parentheses indicate the behavior if N is given.
A key preceded by a caret indicates the Ctrl key; thus ^K is ctrl-
K.

h H Display this help.

q :q Q :Q ZZ Exit.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
-

MOVING

e ^E j ^N CR * Forward one line (or N lines).

y ^Y k ^K ^P * Backward one line (or N lines).
f ^F ^V SPACE * Forward one window (or N lines).
b ^B ESC-v * Backward one window (or N lines).
z * Forward one window (and set window to N).
w * Backward one window (and set window to N).
ESC-SPACE * Forward one window, but don't stop at end-of-
file.
d ^D * Forward one half-window (and set half-window to
N)
u ^U * Backward one half-window (and set half-window to
N)
ESC-) RightArrow * Left one half screen width (or N positions).
HELP -- Press RETURN for more, or q when done

Note that the man pages might be a bit of a mystery to you now, but as you learn more
about Linux, you will find they are a very valuable resource.

5.2.4 Step 4
Searches are not case sensitive and do not "wrap" around from the bottom to top, or vice
versa. Start a forward search for the word "file" by typing:

/file

Note that what you are typing will appear at the bottom left portion of the screen.

-r, --reference=FILE
display the last modification time of FILE

-R, --rfc-2822
output date and time in RFC 2822 format. Example:
Mon, 07 Aug
/file
5.2.5 Step 5
Notice that the text matching the search is highlighted. You can move forward to the next
match by pressing n. Also try moving backwards through the matches by pressing N:

-f, --file=DATEFILE
like --date once for each line of DATEFILE

-r, --reference=FILE
display the last modification time of FILE

-R, --rfc-2822
output date and time in RFC 2822 format. Example:
Mon, 07 Aug
2006 12:34:56 -0600

--rfc-3339=TIMESPEC
output date and time in RFC 3339 format.
TIMESPEC=`date', `sec-
onds', or `ns' for date and time to the indicated
precision.
Date and time components are separated by a single
space:
2006-08-07 12:34:56-06:00

-s, --set=STRING
set time described by STRING

-u, --utc, --universal

print or set Coordinated Universal Time

--help display this help and exit

Manual page date(1) line 18/204 24% (press h for help or q to quit)

5.2.6 Step 6
Use the movement commands previously described (such as using the spacebar to move
down one screen) to read the man page for the date command. When you are finished
reading, type q to exit the man page.

5.2.7 Step 7
In some cases you may not remember the exact name of the command. In these cases you
can use the -k option to the man command and provide a keywordargument. For example,
execute the following command to display a summary of all man pages that have the
keyword "password" in the description:

man -k password
sysadmin@localhost:~$ man -k password
chage (1) - change user password expiry information
chgpasswd (8) - update group passwords in batch mode
chpasswd (8) - update passwords in batch mode
cpgr (8) - copy with locking the given file to the
password or gr...
cppw (8) - copy with locking the given file to the
password or gr...
expiry (1) - check and enforce password expiration policy
login.defs (5) - shadow password suite configuration
pam_pwhistory (8) - PAM module to remember last passwords
pam_unix (8) - Module for traditional password authentication
passwd (1) - change user password
passwd (1ssl) - compute password hashes
passwd (5) - the password file
pwck (8) - verify integrity of password files
pwconv (8) - convert to and from shadow passwords and groups
shadow (5) - shadowed password file
shadowconfig (8) - toggle shadow passwords on and off
unix_chkpwd (8) - Helper binary that verifies the password of the
curren...
unix_update (8) - Helper binary that updates the password of a
given user
vipw (8) - edit the password, group, shadow-password or
shadow-gr...
sysadmin@localhost:~$

The -k option to the man command will often produce a huge amount of output. You will
learn a technique in a later lab to either limit this output or allow you to easily scroll though
the data. For now, just use the scrollbar on the right hand side of the terminal window to
move the display up and down as needed.

5.2.8 Step 8
Note that the apropos command is another way of viewing man page summaries with a
keyword. Type the following command:

apropos password
sysadmin@localhost:~$ apropos password
chage (1) - change user password expiry information
chgpasswd (8) - update group passwords in batch mode
chpasswd (8) - update passwords in batch mode
cpgr (8) - copy with locking the given file to the
password or gr...
cppw (8) - copy with locking the given file to the
password or gr...
expiry (1) - check and enforce password expiration policy
login.defs (5) - shadow password suite configuration
pam_pwhistory (8) - PAM module to remember last passwords
pam_unix (8) - Module for traditional password authentication
passwd (1) - change user password
passwd (1ssl) - compute password hashes
passwd (5) - the password file
pwck (8) - verify integrity of password files
pwconv (8) - convert to and from shadow passwords and groups
shadow (5) - shadowed password file
shadowconfig (8) - toggle shadow passwords on and off
unix_chkpwd (8) - Helper binary that verifies the password of the
curren...
unix_update (8) - Helper binary that updates the password of a
given user
vipw (8) - edit the password, group, shadow-password or
shadow-gr...
sysadmin@localhost:~$

Note: There is no difference between man -k and the apropos command.

5.2.9 Step 9
There are often multiple man pages with the same name. For example, the previous
command showed three pages for passwd. Execute the following command to view the
man pages for the word passwd:

man -f passwd
sysadmin@localhost:~$ man -f passwd
passwd (5) - the password file
passwd (1) - change user password
passwd (1ssl) - compute password hashes
sysadmin@localhost:~$

The fact that there are different man pages for the same "name" is confusing for many
beginning Linux users. Man pages are not just for Linux commands, but also for system
files and other "features" of the Operating System. Additionally, there will sometimes be two
commands with the same name, as in the example provided above.

The different man pages are distinguished by "sections". By default there are nine default
sections of man pages:

 Executable programs or shell commands

 System calls (functions provided by the kernel)
 Library calls (functions within program libraries)
 Special files (usually found in /dev)
 File formats and conventions, e.g. /etc/passwd
 Games
 Miscellaneous (including macro packages and conventions),
e.g.man(7)>, groff(7)
 System administration commands (usually only for root)
 Kernel routines [Non standard]

When you type a command such as man passwd, the first section is searched and, if a
match is found, the man page is displayed. The man -f passwd command that you
previously executed shows that there is a section 1 man page for passwd:passwd (1). As
a result, that is the one that is displayed by default.
5.2.10 Step 10
To display a man page for a different section, provide the section number as the first
argument to the man command. For example, execute the following command:

man 5 passwd
PASSWD(5) File Formats and Conversions
PASSWD(5)

NAME
passwd - the password file

DESCRIPTION
/etc/passwd contains one line for each user account, with seven
fields
delimited by colons (":"). These fields are:

o login name

o optional encrypted password

o numerical user ID

o numerical group ID

o user name or comment field

o user home directory

o optional user command interpreter

Manual page passwd(5) line 1 (press h for help or q to quit)

5.2.11 Step 11
Instead of using man -f to display all man page sections for a name, you can also use
the whatis command:

whatis passwd
sysadmin@localhost:~$ whatis passwd
passwd (5) - the password file
passwd (1) - change user password
passwd (1ssl) - compute password hashes
sysadmin@localhost:~$

Note: There is no difference between man -f and the whatis command.

5.2.12 Step 12
Almost all system features (commands, system files, etc.) have man pages. Some of these
features also have a more advanced feature called info pages. For example, execute the
following command:

info date
File: coreutils.info, Node: date invocation, Next: arch invocation,
Up: Syst\
em context

21.1 `date': Print or set system date and time

==============================================

Synopses:

date [OPTION]... [+FORMAT]

date [-u|--utc|--universal] [ MMDDhhmm[[CC]YY][.ss] ]

Invoking `date' with no FORMAT argument is equivalent to invoking

it
with a default format that depends on the `LC_TIME' locale category.
In the default C locale, this format is `'+%a %b %e %H:%M:%S %Z %Y'',
so the output looks like `Thu Mar 3 13:47:51 PST 2005'.

Normally, `date' uses the time zone rules indicated by the `TZ'
environment variable, or the system default rules if `TZ' is not set.
*Note Specifying the Time Zone with `TZ': (libc)TZ Variable.

If given an argument that starts with a `+', `date' prints the

current date and time (or the date and time specified by the `--date'
--zz-Info: (coreutils.info.gz)date invocation, 41 lines
--Top-------------------
Welcome to Info version 4.13. Type h for help, m for menu item.

Many beginning Linux users find info pages to be easier to read. They are often written
more like "lessons" while man pages are written purely as documentation.

5.2.13 Step 13
While viewing the info page from the previous step, type the letter h to see a list of
movement commands. Note that they are different from the movement commands used in
man pages. After reading the movement commands, type the letter l (lowercase L) to return
to viewing the document.

5.2.14 Step 14
Use the movement commands to read the info page for the date command. When you are
done, put your cursor anywhere on the line that reads *Examples of date::and then
press the Enter key. A new document will be displayed that shows examples of date.

5.2.15 Step 15
Type the l key to return to the previous screen. When you are finished reading, type qto
exit the info page.
5.2.16 Step 16
Another way of getting help is by using the --help option to a command. Most commands
allow you to pass an argument of --help to view basic command usage:

date --help
sysadmin@localhost:~$ date --help
Usage: date [OPTION]... [+FORMAT]
or: date [-u|--utc|--universal] [MMDDhhmm[[CC]YY][.ss]]
Display the current time in the given FORMAT, or set the system date.

-d, --date=STRING display time described by STRING, not

`now'
-f, --file=DATEFILE like --date once for each line of DATEFILE
-r, --reference=FILE display the last modification time of FILE
-R, --rfc-2822 output date and time in RFC 2822 format.
Example: Mon, 07 Aug 2006 12:34:56 -0600
--rfc-3339=TIMESPEC output date and time in RFC 3339 format.
TIMESPEC=`date', `seconds', or `ns' for
date and time to the indicated precision.
Date and time components are separated by
a single space: 2006-08-07 12:34:56-06:00
-s, --set=STRING set time described by STRING
-u, --utc, --universal print or set Coordinated Universal Time
--help display this help and exit
--version output version information and exit
5.2.17 Step 17
Some system features also have more detailed help documents located in
the/usr/share/doc directory structure. Execute the following command to view the
contents of this document:

ls /usr/share/doc
sysadmin@localhost:~$ ls /usr/share/doc
adduser libdrm2 libx11-data
apt libedit2 libxau6
ascii libelf1 libxcb1
base-files libffi6 libxdmcp6
base-passwd libgcc1 libxext6
bash libgcrypt11 libxml2
bind9 libgdbm3 libxmuu1
bind9-host libgeoip1 locales
bind9utils libgettextpo0 login
bsdmainutils libglib2.0-0 logrotate
bsdutils libgnutls26 lsb-base
busybox-initramfs libgomp1 makedev
bzip2 libgpg-error0 man-db
ca-certificates libgpm2 mawk
coreutils libgssapi-krb5-2 mc
cpio libgssapi3-heimdal mc-data
cron libhcrypto4-heimdal mime-support
curl libheimbase1-heimdal mlocate
dash libheimntlm0-heimdal module-init-tools

Note that in almost all cases, the man pages and info pages will provide you with the
information that you need. However, if you need more in-depth information (something that
system administrators sometimes need), then you may find this information in the files
located in the /usr/share/doc directory.

5.3 Finding Files

In this task, we will explore how to search for a file on the system. This is useful to know in
situations when you can't find a file on the system, either one that you created or one that
was created by someone else.

5.3.1 Step 1
An easy way to search for a file is to use the locate command. For example, you can find
the location of the crontab file by executing the following command:

locate crontab
sysadmin@localhost:~$ locate crontab
/etc/crontab
/usr/bin/crontab
/usr/share/doc/cron/examples/crontab2english.pl
/usr/share/man/man1/crontab.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man5/crontab.5.gz
sysadmin@localhost:~$

5.3.2 Step 2
Note that the output from the previous example includes files that have crontabas part of
their name. To find files that are just named crontab, use the following command:

locate -b "\crontab"
sysadmin@localhost:~$ locate -b "\crontab"
/etc/crontab
/usr/bin/crontab
sysadmin@localhost:~$

Note: The locate command makes use of a database that is traditionally updated once per
day (normally in the middle of the night). This database contains a list of all files that were
on the system when the database was last updated.

As a result, any files that you created today will not normally be searchable with
thelocate command. If you have access to the system as the root user (the system
administrator account), you can manually update this file by running
the updatedbcommand. Regular users can not update the database file.

Another possible solution to searching for "newer" files is to make use of

the findcommand. This command searches the live filesystem, rather than a static
database. The find command isn't part of the Linux Essentials objectives for this lab, so it
is only mentioned here. Execute man find if you want to explore this command on your
own or wait for the lab that explores the find command.

5.3.3 Step 3
You may just want to find where a command (or its man pages) is located. This can be
accomplished with the whereis command :

whereis passwd
sysadmin@localhost:~$ whereis passwd
passwd: /usr/bin/passwd /etc/passwd /usr/share/man/man1/passwd.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/passwd.1ssl.gz /usr/share/man/man5/passwd.5.gz
sysadmin@localhost:~$

The whereis command only searches for commands and man pages, not just any file.

Recall from earlier that there is more than one passwd man page on the system. This is
why you see multiple file names and man pages (the files that end in .gz are man pages)
when you execute the previous command.