.TH apropos "" "" Command
.PC "Find manual pages on a given topic"
\fBapropos \fItopic \fB[ \fItopic \fB... ]\fR
.PP
This command implements a simplified version of the Berkeley command
.BR apropos .
It prints every line in the file
.B man.index
that contains a
.IR topic .
In this way, you can find what manual pages are available on a given topic.
For example, the command
.DM
	apropos daemon
.DE
.PP
prints something like the following:
.DM
.ta 0.5i 1.5i
	daemon	Definition
	hpd	Spooler daemon for laser printer
	lpd	Spooler daemon for line printer
	lpshut	Turn off the printer daemon despooler
.DE
.PP
You can also use
.B apropos
to nudge your memory when you cannot recall the name
of a given command or library function.
.PP
.B apropos
normally reads its information from the index files kept in directory
.BR /usr/man .
.B apropos
assumes that every file in that directory that ends in the string
.B .index
is an index file.
For details on index files and their format, see the Lexicon entry for
.BR man .
.PP
.II MANPATH
.II "environmental variables^MANPATH"
If the environmental variable
.B MANPATH
is set,
.B apropos
searches the index files in each directory that it names.
.B MANPATH
must name one or more directories, with directories separated by a colon `:'.
.SH Files
\fB/usr/man/*.index\fR
.SH "See Also"
.Xr commands, commands
.Xr help, help
.Xr man, man
.Xr "Using COHERENT" using_coh
