Command: whatis
WHATIS displays descriptions of programs based on the Appinfo
(.LSM) files.
Use APROPOS to find programs that are apropriate for the given
subject.
Use WHATIS with a program name to get a one line description of that
program.
Use WHATIS without a program name to get a one line description of
all the external programs and utilities in your FreeDOS installation.
Internal commands (commands of command.com) are not displayed.
Syntax:
APROPOS [options] subject
Find commands related to the given subject
WHATIS [options] [command]
Displays a one-line description of the given command.
If no command is specified, all commands and their
one-line descriptions are listed
WHATIS /B [options]
Rebuilds the whatis database for use with WHATIS and APROPOS
Options:
/S [path] Non-default path to the lsm appinfo files.
/D [path] Non-default path for whatis database location.
/? Shows the help.
Comments:
This are FreeDOS clones of the Linux commands "apropos and whatis"
APROPOS and WHATIS base their help on the lsm files stored in the
APPINFO directory.
The first time it is run, APROPOS / WHATIS builds a database and stores
it in the help directory in the FreeDOS installation. This database can
be recreated by using:
WHATIS /B
Examples:
apropos edit will display a list of editors
apropos disk will display a list of disk utilities
whatis edit will display a short information about edit
whatis will display a short information about the DOS commands
See also:
apropos
fasthelp
fdhelp
help
How to use the Help
htmlhelp
Copyright © 2003 Robert Platt, updated 2007 by W. Spiegl.
This file is derived from the FreeDOS Spec Command HOWTO.
See the file H2Cpying for copying conditions.