This example runs the command man printf and pipes the output to head to show the first few lines of the online manual documentation pages (often referred to as the man pages). The man page opens with a brief description of the printf command and its synopsis. By filtering the output with the head command, you have a quick overview without scrolling through the entire manual. It's a useful pattern for getting a fast summary of any command.

This example uses man -k to search all man page summaries for the keyword sprintf (and then piping the output to head for brevity). Each line shows a command or function name alongside a description. This is useful for discovering related commands when you only know part of a name. Type man man for details on the manual.

This example runs the command whatis chmod to display a one-line description of the chmod command pulled from the man pages. The result confirms that chmod is used to change file modes or access control lists. Running whatis is a quick alternative to opening the full man page when you just need a reminder.