RTFM

2018-01-21

RTFM = Read The Fucking Manual

How to know which parameters to use with a command?

In GNU/Linux you can usually issue a command with '--help' parameter, which will display a help page for you. If not, try '-h', '-H', '-?' or none parameters.

You can read man(ual) pages with:

$ man <command or keyword>

If you're not sure what you're looking for, try:

$ apropos <search term>

If you don't know what a command does, there is:

$ whatis <command>

and on Arch Linux (for packages):

$ pacman -Qi <packagename>

on Debian-based distros that would be:

$ apt show <packagename>

For online man pages check 'info' command, it seems to work just like 'man'.

If you don't know where a certain program is, you can use:

$ whereis <name>

If you're still clueless STFW.

STFW = Search the Friendly Web

Try to avoid proprietary search engines like Google or Bing if you can.

I suggest using: https://searx.me/

And https://stackoverflow.com/ is your friend.

Here are some more references: http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Read before you post.