If you have not ever been in a situation where you needed help, please say aye!…this time the “nays” have it. In every facet of our lives there is always a point when we look for something to give us an explanation, an example or direction on how a particular activity can be done. So it’s not new for us to ask for help when necessary. The journey in the world of Linux is not a bed of roses, there are bound to be some hiccups along the way of learning. This should not discourage you because Linux is up to the task of providing a smooth sailing all the way.
Sometimes it occurs that you need help in remembering what arguments or options that is available to use with a command or the proper syntax of entering commands. Linux through the command line (shell) offer variety of ways for its users to get help. They include the following;
Using man pages
The System Programmer’s Manual pages (shortened to man) is the common and most important way of getting help when using commands on the CLI. The man pages not only describe commands but they also provide description of configuration files and other features of the Linux installation. And again it is simple to use; simply type man followed by the command you want to get information about (for example to get information about the cat command simply type: man cat on the command line).
Using the –help command option
Almost every command in Linux accept the help (- – help) option that enables you to get specific information about that command. With simply typing ls – – help would take you a long way.
Using the info pages
Just like the man pages the info pages provide similar information, but it’s more recent and fills gaps in using the man page system. To use it just type info followed by the topic, as in info cat to learn about the cat.
Using Programming documents
Most Linux programs comes with their own comprehensive documentation, usually in the form of README, readme.txt or something similar. They are mostly plain-text files so they could be read with less, cat or using your favourite text editor. A good place to look for them should be /usr/doc/package_name, /usr/share/doc/package_name or /usr/share/doc/packages/package_name.
Yeah, is it not obvious? That’s why we are here, to make your Linux experience as enjoyable and easy as possible. There are many platforms on our website that you get to us, majorly through our contact page, our social media platforms (twitter, google+, facebook and Whatsapp) and emails.
DISTRO FORUMS
Some distro-specific online forums include the following;
Ubuntu – https://askubuntu.com
Fedora – https://fedoraforums.org
Mint – https://forums.linuxmint.com
Debian – https://forum.debian.net
Elementary – https://elementaryforums.com
Happy Linux’NG!
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