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'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")
@b0rk i remember this: when i learned about man and started using it, the stuff i wanted to know usually was on page 5 (quick reference / parameters). But i always forget that so it felt frustrating and abandoned them.
Instead I use --help command options. I only go to man when i want to learn the full and long version. But sometimes I do.
Julia Evans
r-hold