What Manual Pages Are Available on man7.org and How to Use Them

Updated

man7.org hosts an online mirror of Linux manual pages, maintained by Michael Kerrisk, the longtime maintainer of the Linux man-pages project. You can browse or search pages covering system calls, library functions, commands, file formats, and more — without installing anything locally. It's most useful when you're on a machine without man installed, reading from a phone, or want to link someone directly to a specific page.

What kinds of manual pages are available

The online collection follows the standard Linux manual section structure:

Section Content Example
1 User commands ls, grep
2 System calls open, fork
3 Library functions printf, malloc
4 Special files / devices null, tty
5 File formats and conventions proc, passwd
6 Games —
7 Miscellaneous / overviews signal, socket
8 System administration commands mount, iptables

Section 3 also contains the POSIX and C library pages (often labeled 3p for POSIX). The site covers Linux manual pages, and because many of these pages document interfaces shared with Unix systems, they're frequently useful for Unix-family work too — but the authoritative source for a specific Unix variant is that vendor's own documentation.

How to browse and search

Browse by section: The site lists pages grouped by section number, so you can scan section 2 for system calls or section 5 for file formats.

Search: Use the site's search to find a page by name. If a name exists in multiple sections (for example open in section 2 and open in section 3), you'll get the matching pages and can pick the right one.

Direct URLs: Each page has a stable URL, which makes it convenient to share a link to a specific function or command in documentation, issues, or chat.

Relationship to the man-pages project

The man-pages project is the upstream source for most of the section 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8 pages on Linux. man7.org is Kerrisk's site and serves as the online home for that project alongside the rendered pages. That means the content you read online reflects the same pages that ship with Linux distributions, though a given distribution may carry a slightly older or patched version.

Practical notes

  • Version differences matter. A page online may be newer than what's installed on your system. If behavior doesn't match, check man locally or the page's version notes.
  • Not a tutorial. Manual pages document interfaces precisely; they assume you know the surrounding concepts. For learning, pair them with a guide or book.
  • The site also hosts related material from Kerrisk, including information about The Linux Programming Interface and training courses, but the manual pages are the core reference content.

If you need a quick, linkable, install-free reference for a Linux interface, man7.org is a reasonable first stop. If you need the exact behavior of the software on your own machine, use the local man command instead.