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The Man Page Viewer brings traditional Unix man pages to Time Capsule’s graphical environment. It provides formatted manual pages for 28 essential Unix commands, complete with syntax highlighting, clickable examples, and cross-referenced related commands.

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Features

  • 28 Manual Pages: Essential Unix commands
  • Clickable Examples: Copy command examples with one click
  • Cross-References: Navigate between related commands
  • Search: Find text within man pages
  • Keyboard Navigation: Vi-style shortcuts
  • Index View: Browse all available commands
  • Terminal Integration: Launch from man command

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Opening Man Viewer

Launch in several ways: From Panel: Click Man Viewer icon From Terminal Lab: 
man ls
man grep
man
Direct Launch: Opens to index of all commands

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The 28 Manual Pages

Man Viewer includes comprehensive documentation for:

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File Operations

  • ls - List directory contents
  • cd - Change directory
  • pwd - Print working directory
  • cat - Concatenate and display files
  • mkdir - Make directories
  • rmdir - Remove directories
  • rm - Remove files
  • cp - Copy files
  • mv - Move/rename files
  • touch - Create empty files

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Text Processing

  • grep - Search text patterns
  • sed - Stream editor
  • awk - Pattern scanning and processing
  • head - Output first part of files
  • tail - Output last part of files
  • wc - Word, line, character count
  • sort - Sort lines of text
  • uniq - Report or omit repeated lines

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System Information

  • ps - Process status
  • top - Display processes
  • df - Disk free space
  • du - Disk usage
  • free - Memory usage

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File Permissions

  • chmod - Change file permissions
  • chown - Change file owner

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Archiving

  • tar - Archive files
  • gzip - Compress files

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Other

  • echo - Display a line of text

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Man Page Format

Each manual page follows Unix man page conventions: 
LS(1)                User Commands                LS(1)

NAME
       ls - list directory contents

SYNOPSIS
       ls [OPTION]... [FILE]...

DESCRIPTION
       List information about the FILEs (the current
       directory by default). Sort entries alphabetically
       if none of -cftuvSUX nor --sort is specified.

       -a, --all
              do not ignore entries starting with .

       -l     use a long listing format

       -h, --human-readable
              with -l, print sizes in human readable format

EXAMPLES
  [1] ls
      List files in current directory

  [2] ls -la
      List all files including hidden with details

SEE ALSO
       dir, cd, pwd

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Sections

  • NAME: Command name and brief description
  • SYNOPSIS: Command syntax with options
  • DESCRIPTION: Detailed explanation of functionality
  • OPTIONS: Available flags and arguments
  • EXAMPLES: Practical usage examples (clickable)
  • SEE ALSO: Related commands (clickable links)

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Using Man Pages

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Reading Pages

Scrolling:
  • Mouse wheel: Scroll content
  • Page Up/Down: Jump by screen
  • Arrow keys: Line-by-line scrolling
Navigation:
  • Sections are highlighted in bold
  • Options are indented
  • Examples are numbered and clickable

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Clickable Examples

Example commands can be copied: 
EXAMPLES
  [1] ls -la
      List all files including hidden with details

  [2] ls -lh
      List with human-readable file sizes
Click [1] or [2] to copy the command to clipboard. Status bar confirms: “Copied: ls -la”

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Cross-Referenced Commands

Related commands are clickable links: 
SEE ALSO
       dir, cd, pwd
Click any command name to jump to its man page.

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Index View

Press i or launch without arguments to see all commands: 
AVAILABLE COMMANDS

  ls(1) - list directory contents
  cd(1) - change the working directory
  pwd(1) - print name of current/working directory
  cat(1) - concatenate files and print on standard output
  mkdir(1) - make directories
  ...

USAGE
  Click on a command name to view its manual page
  Or use the Terminal Lab: man <command>
Status bar: “28 manual pages available”

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Keyboard Shortcuts

KeyAction
qQuit man viewer
h or ?Show help
/Search in current page
iReturn to index
←Go back to previous page
↑ / ↓Scroll content
PgUp / PgDnPage up/down

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Search Function

Press / to search within the current man page:
  1. Enter search term
  2. Press Enter
  3. Matches are highlighted in yellow
  4. Status shows: Found: "term"
Search is case-insensitive. Example: 
Search: option
→ Found: "option"
(All instances of "option" highlighted)

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History Navigation

Man Viewer maintains page history:
  • Press ← to go back
  • Navigate through previously viewed pages
  • History persists within session
Example flow: 
Index → ls → grep → back to ls → back to Index

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Help Screen

Press h or ? to view help: 
MAN VIEWER HELP

KEYBOARD COMMANDS

  q           Quit man viewer
  h, ?        Show this help
  /           Search in current page
  i           Show index of all pages
  ←           Go back to previous page
  ↑↓          Scroll up/down
  PgUp/PgDn   Page up/down

MOUSE COMMANDS

  Click on command names to view their manual pages
  Click on [number] to copy example to clipboard
  Click on related commands to navigate

TERMINAL LAB INTEGRATION

  man <command>   Open manual page for command
  man             Show index of all pages

Press any key to return

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Terminal Lab Integration

From Terminal Lab (free mode): Open specific page: 
man ls
man grep
man chmod
Open index: 
man
Status messages: 
Opening manual page for ls...
Opening man page viewer...
Man Viewer opens in separate window showing the requested page.

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Example Man Page: ls

Complete example of ls manual page: 
LS(1)                User Commands                LS(1)

NAME
       ls - list directory contents

SYNOPSIS
       ls [OPTION]... [FILE]...

DESCRIPTION
       List information about the FILEs (the current
       directory by default). Sort entries alphabetically
       if none of -cftuvSUX nor --sort is specified.

       Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory
       for short options too.

       -a, --all
              do not ignore entries starting with .

       -l     use a long listing format

       -h, --human-readable
              with -l, print sizes in human readable
              format (e.g., 1K 234M 2G)

       -t     sort by modification time, newest first

       -r, --reverse
              reverse order while sorting

EXAMPLES
  [1] ls
      List files in current directory

  [2] ls -la
      List all files including hidden with details

  [3] ls -lh
      List with human-readable file sizes

SEE ALSO
       dir, cd, pwd

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Common Commands Overview

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Most Used Man Pages

File Viewing:
  • ls - List files
  • cat - Display file contents
  • head / tail - View file start/end
Text Search:
  • grep - Search for patterns
  • sed - Edit text streams
  • awk - Process text columns
System Info:
  • ps - Running processes
  • top - Live process monitor
  • df - Disk space
  • free - Memory usage
File Management:
  • cp - Copy files
  • mv - Move/rename files
  • rm - Remove files
  • chmod - Change permissions

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Tips and Tricks

Best way to learn:
  1. Read the SYNOPSIS for command syntax
  2. Check DESCRIPTION for detailed info
  3. Copy EXAMPLES to Terminal Lab
  4. Experiment in Terminal Lab free mode
  5. Follow SEE ALSO links for related commands
Navigate efficiently:
  • Press i to return to index anytime
  • Click SEE ALSO links to explore related commands
  • Use ← to go back through history
  • Press q to quit quickly
Use examples in Terminal Lab:
  1. Click example number (e.g., [2])
  2. Example copied to clipboard
  3. Switch to Terminal Lab
  4. Paste with Ctrl+V
  5. Modify as needed
  6. Press Enter to run
Find specific info quickly:
  • Press / to search
  • Type option name (e.g., “recursive”)
  • Press Enter to highlight all matches
  • Scroll to view each occurrence
Manual sections in Unix:
  • Section 1: User commands (most common)
  • Section 5: File formats
  • Section 8: System administration
Time Capsule focuses on Section 1 (user commands).

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Source Code

Man Page Viewer is implemented in:
  • /src/scripts/features/manviewer.ts: Core viewer logic (374 lines)
  • /src/data/manpages.json: All 28 manual pages with full content
  • Clickable example system with clipboard integration
  • Cross-reference navigation between pages
  • Search highlighting with case-insensitive matching
  • History tracking for back navigation
  • Section syntax highlighting