catman - Linux

Overview

Catman is a command-line tool that combines the functionality of ‘cat’ and ‘man’. It displays the contents of a manual page while allowing interactive navigation through its sections.

Syntax

catman [OPTIONS] [MANPAGE]

Parameters

  • MANPAGE: The manual page to display (without the .1 extension).

Options/Flags

  • -h, –help: Display usage information and exit.
  • -l, –less: Use less pager for interactive navigation.
  • -p, –pager: Specify the pager to use (e.g., ‘more’, ‘less’, ‘pager’).
  • -s, –sections: Specify which sections of the manual page to display. Default: ‘all’.
  • -w, –wrap: Wrap lines to fit the terminal width.
  • -c, –color: Colorize the output (depends on pager support).
  • -f, –follow: Track the manual page file changes and update the display.

Examples

Simple Page Display

catman ls

Interactive Navigation (using ‘less’ pager)

catman -l ping

Specify Pager and Sections

catman -p more -s 1,2,5 nginx

Colorized Output

catman -c curl

Common Issues

  • Manual page not found: Ensure the manual page exists and is accessible.
  • Pager not recognized: Specify a valid pager using the -p option.
  • Interactive navigation not working: Check if the pager supports interactive mode.

Integration

Catman can be integrated into scripts or chained with other commands:

man | catman -p less
cat config.txt | catman -s 5

Related Commands

  • man: Display manual pages.
  • less: Interactive pager.
  • more: Basic pager.