Shell Script 021-findman.sh

#!/bin/sh

# findman -- given a pattern and a man section, show all the matches
#   for that pattern from within all relevant man pages.

match1="/tmp/$0.1.$$"
matches="/tmp/$0.$$"
manpagelist=""

trap "rm -f $match1 $matches" EXIT

case $# 
in
  3 ) section="$1"  cmdpat="$2"  manpagepat="$3"	    ;;
  2 ) section=""    cmdpat="$1"  manpagepat="$2"	    ;;
  * ) echo "Usage: $0 [section] cmdpattern manpagepattern" >&2 
      exit 1
esac

if ! man -k "$cmdpat" | grep "($section" > $match1 ; then
  echo "No matches to pattern \"$cmdpat\". Try something broader?"; exit 1
fi

cut -d\( -f1 < $match1 > $matches	# command names only
cat /dev/null > $match1         	# clear the file...

for manpage in $(cat $matches)
do
  manpagelist="$manpagelist $manpage"
  man $manpage | col -b | grep -i $manpagepat | \
    sed "s/^/${manpage}: /" | tee -a $match1
done 

if [ ! -s $match1 ] ; then
cat << EOF
Command pattern "$cmdpat" had matches, but within those there were no 
matches to your man page pattern "$manpagepat" found in that set.
Man pages checked:$manpagelist
EOF
fi

exit 0