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An introduction to info

This tip introduces the info command. Just about everyone has used the man command to look up information on a command, but the info command is less well known.

However, it's actually the preferred documentation method of many programmers. So if man doesn't have what you're looking for, try using info instead.

info uses the concept of nodes for information. Each page of information on a topic is a node and you can navigate between nodes using n to move forward and p to move backwards. To get started with info, just type info at the command prompt. There's an easy to follow tutorial you can view by typing h or, for just a list of available commands, type ?.

If you're looking for documentation on a specific command, you can use info command (e.g. info tar). If you're not quite sure what the command name is, but want to search, add the --apropos=STRING option. For example, if you're looking for documentation on mysqld, you could use info --apropos=mysqld. This displays a list of nodes with information on mysqld.

This is just an introduction to info, but hopefully it will help you get to know your system a little better. Remember, to get started with the primer, use info and the press h.

From http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/20030922-newsletter.xml

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