Apropos

apropos Plugin

Search the manual page names and descriptions for keywords. Essential for finding the right command when you can't remember its name.

Commands

Search

• apropos search keyword <keyword> — Search man pages for a keyword
• apropos self version — Show apropos version info
• apropos _ _ <args> — Passthrough to apropos CLI

Usage Examples

• "Find all commands related to compression"
• "Search for commands that deal with encryption"
• "List all commands in section 8 (system administration)"

Installation

# Pre-installed on most Linux systems
# If missing:
apt-get install man-db
supercli plugins install ./plugins/apropos --on-conflict replace --json

Examples

# Basic keyword search
apropos compression

# Exact match
apropos --exact compression

# Regex search
apropos --regex "^git.*"

# Search only section 1 (user commands)
apropos --section 1 compression

# Search with shell wildcards
apropos --wildcard "git-*"

# Show full output without trimming
apropos --long compression

Key Features

• Search man page names and descriptions by keyword
• Regex and wildcard support for flexible matching
• Filter by manual section
• Exact match mode for precise lookups
• Long output mode to see full descriptions