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whatis(1)
NAME
  whatis - Describes a command's function

SYNOPSIS
  whatis [-M pathname] keyword...

  The whatis command looks up a keyword, which may be a command, system call,
  library function, or special filename and displays the NAME line from the
  reference page.  You can then issue the man command to display additional
  information.

OPTIONS
  -M pathname
      Specifies an alternative search path.  The search path is a list of
      directories, separated by : (colons), in which whatis expects to find
      the standard manual subdirectories. (For more information, see the man
      command.)

DESCRIPTION
  The whatis command is equivalent to the man command with the -f option.

EXAMPLES
  To find out what function the ls command performs, enter:

       whatis ls

FILES
  /usr/share/man/whatis
      Keyword database.

  /usr/lbin/mkwhatis
      Creates the whatis keyword database.

  /usr/lbin/getNAME
      Used by mkwhatis to extract keywords from the manuals.

SEE ALSO
  Commands:  apropos(1), man(1), catman(8)