Where is the 'man' Program for Windows (Program to open UNIX man pages)?

Question

I'm looking for the windows executable for the linux man (manual reader).

I tried googling around, but got frustrated with the kind of results it came up with, owing to 'man' being such a common phrase.

I got results that read "man executed in texas..".

So I look to the SO community now. Any clues?

Answer 1

Install cygwin.

Answer 2

If you install Cygwin, you'll get a man command ... That will of course not cover Windows concepts though; Windows documentation is not delivered in man file format.

Answer 3

In DOS, you can type HELP

Answer 4

Most windows commands have a /h switch for usage and brief routine information.

Answer 5

In Windows, the commands that are part of the command interpreter (cmd.exe), such as the dir, copy, ren, and such commands will display some help information with the /? switch.

Some examples:

dir /?
rename /?
copy /?

This is a hold out from the DOS days when many of the commands and programs used the backslash for the switches, and ? was used for displaying usage and help information, hence the /? switch.

Also, typing help at the command interpreter will also display a listing of all the command interpreter's commands. help <command_name> will also bring up help information as well.

Microsoft provides a Command Reference which has usage and options available for each command.

Answer 6

Windows Help is typically published via .CHM files or online through the Microsoft Knowledge Base and MSDN. There isn't a central repository of help like on *NIX systems.

Answer 7

If you are looking to open linux style man pages in Windows, then get Groff for Windows to view the man pages on your command line as follows:

groff -Tascii -mm your_file | more

Answer 8

Install cygwin and set the path in windows command prompt as

set PATH=C:\cygwin\bin;%PATH%

and just give 'man' it should work..

Answer 9

In the start menu there is an entry "Help and Support".