whatis(1)

NAME
     whatis - describe what a command is

SYNOPSIS
     whatis command ...

DESCRIPTION
     whatis looks up a given command and gives the header line from the manual
     section.  You can then run the man(1) command to get more information.
     If the line starts `name(section) ...' you can do `man section name' to
     get the documentation for it.  Try `whatis ed' and then you should do
     `man 1 ed' to get the manual.

     whatis is actually just the -f option to the man(1) command.

FILES
     /usr/share/catman/whatis Data base

SEE ALSO
     apropos(1), man(1), makewhatis(1M).

CAVEATS
     whatis (man -f) requires that the whatis database be kept up to date by
     running makewhatis(1M) after installing or removing software from the
     system.  If the whatis database is not kept up to date, whatis (man -f)
     will not find entries for new manual pages and will erroneously refer to
     manual pages which no longer exist on the system.