#!/bin/bash
#
# Requires "whatis", "cat", "grep", "tr", "less"

clear

[ -z $1 ]&&{
cat << !

*** "howto" - a friendler "whatis" / a more relaxed "apropos" *** 
                  by Ben Okopnik, 4/1997

Please enter a topic to search for, like:
    howto to stop worrying and learn to love the bomb
    
!
exit
}

typeset -i answer
FNAME=$(mktemp /tmp/tempfile.XXXXXX)
trap 'rm $FNAME; rm /tmp/howto' 0
ALL="$@"

whatis -w \*|grep -v "::"|grep -v "\(3pm\)"|grep -v "\(3ncurses\)"\
|tr -d '"' > $FNAME

echo "I've found these matches to your request:"

while [ 1 ]
do
    echo
    echo "0." `grep -ic "$ALL" $FNAME` "for '"$@"'"

    count=1
    for n in "$@"
    do
	echo $count"." `grep -ic $n $FNAME` "for '"$n"'"
	count=$(($count+1))
    done

    echo
    echo "Please enter the line number to display or '$(($#+1))' to quit:"
    read answer
    clear

    if [ $answer -gt $# ]
    then 
	clear
	exit
    fi

    echo "*******************************" > /tmp/howto
    if [ $answer = 0 ]
    then
        echo "Matches for '$ALL':" >> /tmp/howto
	echo "*******************************" >> /tmp/howto
        grep -i "$ALL" $FNAME >> /tmp/howto
    else
        echo "Matches for '${!answer}':" >> /tmp/howto
        echo "*******************************" >> /tmp/howto
	grep -i ${!answer} $FNAME >> /tmp/howto
    fi
    echo >> /tmp/howto

    less -P "Press 'q' to exit the viewer" /tmp/howto
    clear
done

    Source: geocities.com/thetropics/5011/scripts

               ( geocities.com/thetropics/5011)                   ( geocities.com/thetropics)