Julia EvansFeb 20

when do you usually use the man page for a complex command line tool to answer a question you have? (like git, openssl, rsync, curl, etc)

(edit: no need to say "i use --help then man")

I’d look there first
57.6%
Only after trying other options first
33.2%
Never
6.4%
Other / not sure
2.8%
Poll ended at .
Show threadJulia EvansFeb 20

i'm very curious about everyone who says "I'd look there first", if I want to figure out how to do something new I think I'll usually google how to do it rather than look at the man page, and then maybe later look at the man page to look up the details

(I've gotten enough of these answers:
- "I like that man pages don't require changing context"
- "with the man page I know I have the right version of the docs")

Show threadRussell Davis
@b0rk that's basically what I do. program builtin help then as it's no help Google/other search engine then if i still need to know something hit the man page
Feb 20 at 2:19pmWeb