Man page

Man page format is a text format for help files. It is widely used on Unix and related computer systems.

How to display
Man pages can be displayed by a standard utility named man. They are usually first installed in a central location.

The man utility can display files directly, without needing them to be installed, but the way to do that depends on the implementation. To display a file named, say, xyzformat.5, at least one of the following commands is likely to work:

$ man xyzformat.5 $ man ./xyzformat.5 $ man -l xyzformat.5 $ nroff -man xyzformat.5 $ groff -man -Tutf8 xyzformat.5

If all else fails, read the manual:

$ man man

Specifications

 * http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/lucid/man7/man.7.html

Or run:

$ man 7 man

Software

 * man
 * man-db

Links

 * Wikipedia: Man page