My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way

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ZDNET’s key takeaways

• Read Linux man pages the easy way with GNOME or KDE tools.
• Skip the terminal – search and scroll man pages in a GUI instead.
• Save your favorite man pages with handy bookmarks and print options.

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A man page is a manual page dedicated to a specific command, and every Linux distribution includes them. Man pages are a great way to get an in-depth look at how a command works.

Say, for example, you wanted to learn about the chmod command. You could either run a Google search (and risk being inundated with AI slop) or read the man page. Man pages can be a bit intimidating at first, but once you get used to the layout, you’ll have no trouble with them.

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But there’s always a way to make things a bit easier. With a nod to irony, some users prefer to use a GUI to read about commands they’ll have to work with from within a terminal window. There were once some decent GUI apps for man pages (such as xman), but many of those GUIs have vanished from sight.

There are still tools that make it possible to view man pages within a GUI. Although the layout of the man pages doesn’t change within a GUI app, these apps make it possible to search through a man page for a string, so you don’t have to scroll to find what you’re looking for.

I want to introduce you to two tools that could help you read man pages more easily: one for GNOME and one for Plasma Desktop. Each app is installed by default, so you can jump right into using them on your respective desktop.

Let’s get into it.

GNOME Help

GNOME Help is the help application for the GNOME desktop environment. GNOME Help (also known as “Yelp”) allows you to search for helpful information. You can read information about the desktop, networking, web and email, sound, video and pictures, files, folders and search, and more.

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The one caveat to GNOME Help is that although the GUI includes a search tool, it cannot search for man pages, which means you can’t open a man page within the app. Another caveat is that Yelp isn’t exactly in active development. That’s fine because the app still works as expected.

The good news is that you can open a man page in GNOME Help from the command line. For example, if you need to learn about the chmod command, you could issue the command:

yelp man:chmod

The above command would open the chmod man page in Yelp.

But why would you bother opening a man page in a GUI that requires you to open the man page with a command? For me, there are two reasons: search and scrolling.

By opening a man page in Yelp, you can hit the Ctrl+F keyboard shortcut to bring up the search field, where you can search for particular words or strings within a man page.

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For example, you might need to understand what the –no-preserve-root option means. You could search for root and be taken right to the entry (or any entry that includes root).

Another reason to use Yelp is that you can more easily scroll through the man page using your mouse, rather than your keyboard, and even print a man page if needed.

Finally, you can create bookmarks. If you find a particular man page that you’ll need to refer to regularly, add it as a bookmark so you can go directly to it from the bookmark popup. Bookmark all the man pages you use, and you’ll have quick access to them.

KDE Help Center

The Plasma Desktop has a much easier method of viewing man pages, thanks to the KDE Help Center. Instead of opening the KDE Help Center with a command, you can open the app from the desktop menu and expand the “UNIX manual pages” entry in the left sidebar.

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You can then select subcategories such as User Commands or System Calls. Scroll through the list of man pages in the main pane, and once you find the one you’re looking for, click it and read.

Or, you could use the built-in search and click the man page you want to view from the results. You can also narrow your search with method, max result, and scope selection.

You can also add bookmarks and even print a man page if necessary.

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Either tool makes reading Linux man pages considerably easier, even if only for the searching, scrolling, and printing options. Which tool you use will depend on the desktop environment you prefer. However, both apps do a great job presenting man pages in a way that may not be quite as intimidating to new users.