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?

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Here's my need: I have Portable Git on windows. It has a bash windows binary. But when it tries to show me help for some commands, the poor thing complains that "there is no manual reader". So if I get a man binary, I'll place it in the bin/ directory and all will be hunky-dory.

Answer 1

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 2

HELP is the equivalent Windows command for man. For instance:

C:\> HELP For more information on a specific command, type HELP command-name ASSOC          Displays or modifies file extension associations. ATTRIB         Displays or changes file attributes. BREAK          Sets or clears extended CTRL+C checking. BCDEDIT        Sets properties in boot database to control boot loading. CACLS          Displays or modifies access control lists (ACLs) of files. CALL           Calls one batch program from another. CD             Displays the name of or changes the current directory. CHCP           Displays or sets the active code page number. CHDIR          Displays the name of or changes the current directory. CHKDSK         Checks a disk and displays a status report. CHKNTFS        Displays or modifies the checking of disk at boot time. CLS            Clears the screen. CMD            Starts a new instance of the Windows command interpreter. COLOR          Sets the default console foreground and background colors. COMP           Compares the contents of two files or sets of files. COMPACT        Displays or alters the compression of files on NTFS partitions. CONVERT        Converts FAT volumes to NTFS.  You cannot convert the                current drive. COPY           Copies one or more files to another location. DATE           Displays or sets the date. DEL            Deletes one or more files. DIR            Displays a list of files and subdirectories in a directory. DISKCOMP       Compares the contents of two floppy disks. DISKCOPY       Copies the contents of one floppy disk to another. DISKPART       Displays or configures Disk Partition properties. DOSKEY         Edits command lines, recalls Windows commands, and                 creates macros. DRIVERQUERY    Displays current device driver status and properties. ECHO           Displays messages, or turns command echoing on or off. ENDLOCAL       Ends localization of environment changes in a batch file. ERASE          Deletes one or more files. EXIT           Quits the CMD.EXE program (command interpreter). FC             Compares two files or sets of files, and displays the                 differences between them. FIND           Searches for a text string in a file or files. FINDSTR        Searches for strings in files. FOR            Runs a specified command for each file in a set of files. FORMAT         Formats a disk for use with Windows. FSUTIL         Displays or configures the file system properties. FTYPE          Displays or modifies file types used in file extension                 associations. GOTO           Directs the Windows command interpreter to a labeled line in                 a batch program. GPRESULT       Displays Group Policy information for machine or user. GRAFTABL       Enables Windows to display an extended character set in                 graphics mode. HELP           Provides Help information for Windows commands. ICACLS         Display, modify, backup, or restore ACLs for files and                 directories. IF             Performs conditional processing in batch programs. LABEL          Creates, changes, or deletes the volume label of a disk. MD             Creates a directory. MKDIR          Creates a directory. MKLINK         Creates Symbolic Links and Hard Links MODE           Configures a system device. MORE           Displays output one screen at a time. MOVE           Moves one or more files from one directory to another                 directory. OPENFILES      Displays files opened by remote users for a file share. PATH           Displays or sets a search path for executable files. PAUSE          Suspends processing of a batch file and displays a message. POPD           Restores the previous value of the current directory saved by                 PUSHD. PRINT          Prints a text file. PROMPT         Changes the Windows command prompt. PUSHD          Saves the current directory then changes it. RD             Removes a directory. RECOVER        Recovers readable information from a bad or defective disk. REM            Records comments (remarks) in batch files or CONFIG.SYS. REN            Renames a file or files. RENAME         Renames a file or files. REPLACE        Replaces files. RMDIR          Removes a directory. ROBOCOPY       Advanced utility to copy files and directory trees SET            Displays, sets, or removes Windows environment variables. SETLOCAL       Begins localization of environment changes in a batch file. SC             Displays or configures services (background processes). SCHTASKS       Schedules commands and programs to run on a computer. SHIFT          Shifts the position of replaceable parameters in batch files. SHUTDOWN       Allows proper local or remote shutdown of machine. SORT           Sorts input. START          Starts a separate window to run a specified program or command. SUBST          Associates a path with a drive letter. SYSTEMINFO     Displays machine specific properties and configuration. TASKLIST       Displays all currently running tasks including services. TASKKILL       Kill or stop a running process or application. TIME           Displays or sets the system time. TITLE          Sets the window title for a CMD.EXE session. TREE           Graphically displays the directory structure of a drive or                 path. TYPE           Displays the contents of a text file. VER            Displays the Windows version. VERIFY         Tells Windows whether to verify that your files are written                correctly to a disk. VOL            Displays a disk volume label and serial number. XCOPY          Copies files and directory trees. WMIC           Displays WMI information inside interactive command shell.  For more information on tools see the command-line reference in the online help. 

Here is another example:

C:\> HELP SET Displays, sets, or removes cmd.exe environment variables.  SET [variable=[string]]    variable  Specifies the environment-variable name.   string    Specifies a series of characters to assign to the variable.  ...  (I cut several pages worth of information from its output) 

It provides a wealth of information. But alas, it is really no different than calling the /? parameter of the application you want to use anyway (ie: SET /?).

But, at least you can find the application you need without knowing its name by using the following:

C:\> HELP | find /i "ACL" CACLS          Displays or modifies access control lists (ACLs) of files. ICACLS         Display, modify, backup, or restore ACLs for files and