When I type the ‘man ls‘ command in Alpine Linux, I get an error message: bash: man: command not found. How do I install and use man pages in Alpine Linux?

The man command used to display the on-line manual pages on Alpine Linux. The man page(s) may not be installed to save disk space, especially on Linux containers. Here is the quick and easy command option to install man command and man pages in Alpine Linux.

Adblock detected 😱

My website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to my visitors. I get it! Ads are annoying but they help keep this website running. It is hard to keep the site running and producing new content when so many people block ads. Please consider donating money to the nixCraft via PayPal/Bitcoin, or become a supporter using Patreon.

How to get man pages working in Alpine Linux

Type the following apk command to install man pages:
# apk add man man-pages
Sample outputs:

Examples

To display man page use the following simple syntax:
man command
man {section} command-name
Each man page comes in sections. The table below shows the section numbers of the manual followed by the types of pages they contain:

• Section # 1 : User command (executable programs or shell commands)
• Section # 2 : System calls (functions provided by the kernel)
• Section # 3 : Library calls (functions within program libraries)
• Section # 4 : Special files (usually found in /dev)
• Section # 5 : File formats and conventions eg /etc/passwd
• Section # 6 : Games
• Section # 7 : Miscellaneous (including macro packages and conventions),
• Section # 8 : System administration commands (usually only for root user)
• Section # 9 : Kernel routines [Non standard]

For example, to display ls command man page, enter:
$ man ls
OR
$ man 5 passwd
See how to install man pages on a Ubuntu Linux.