Where is the 'man' Program for Windows (Program to open UNIX man pages)?

user_2119053 0
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I'm looking for the windows executable for the linux man (manual reader).

I tried googling around, but got frustrated with the kind of results it came up with, owing to 'man' being such a common phrase.

I got results that read "man executed in texas..".

So I look to the SO community now. Any clues?

Here's my need: I have Portable Git on windows. It has a bash windows binary. But when it tries to show me help for some commands, the poor thing complains that "there is no manual reader". So if I get a man binary, I'll place it in the bin/ directory and all will be hunky-dory.

manpage windows
13 Answers

If you are looking to open linux style man pages in Windows, then get Groff for Windows to view the man pages on your command line as follows:

groff -Tascii -mm your_file | more
user_719600

If you install Cygwin, you'll get a man command ... That will of course not cover Windows concepts though; Windows documentation is not delivered in man file format.

unwind_281690

Install cygwin and set the path in windows command prompt as

set PATH=C:\cygwin\bin;%PATH%

and just give 'man' it should work..

user_1104730

In Windows, the commands that are part of the command interpreter (cmd.exe), such as the dir, copy, ren, and such commands will display some help information with the /? switch.

Some examples:

dir /?
rename /?
copy /?

This is a hold out from the DOS days when many of the commands and programs used the backslash for the switches, and ? was used for displaying usage and help information, hence the /? switch.

Also, typing help at the command interpreter will also display a listing of all the command interpreter's commands. help <command_name> will also bring up help information as well.

Microsoft provides a Command Reference which has usage and options available for each command.

coobird_171720

assuming you have loaded and are using the Windows Subsystem for Unix Applications from a shell (I prefer the C shell) its in /usr/share/man. Just: 

   set MANPATH "/usr/share/man"

in your .cshrc or .login startup files and you will then be able use the command: 

   man 1 csh

to get manual information on the "csh" command from manual set 1.

hope this helps. - Deck

user_5508150

I had a similar issue, you can try using --help and it should give you the info you need For Example

ls --help
user_134228270

Windows Help is typically published via .CHM files or online through the Microsoft Knowledge Base and MSDN. There isn't a central repository of help like on *NIX systems.

user_716740
user_94501520

You can also try this for viewing man pages from Windows. It is very simple, just use below from a Windows command prompt (no need to install it):

mandoc.exe manpage.1 | more

Note: You can also put mandoc.exe in your PATH.

user_16245520

If you are using Powershell 7+, then you can use the following command to get man like helpful documentation. For example, if you wanted more information on dir, you can use the following command within PS.

Get-Help dir

"Displays information about PowerShell commands and concepts."

Reference:

user_68525200

In DOS, you can type HELP

Jon_629230

Most windows commands have a /h switch for usage and brief routine information.

user_1106620
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