---
name: "mancha"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "chawan"
version: "0.5.0-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/mancha"
---

# mancha(1)

view manual pages via cha(1)

## NAME

mancha - view manual pages via [cha(1)](/cha/1.md)

## SYNOPSIS

**mancha** \[**-M** *path*\] \[*section*\] *name*

**mancha** \[**-M** *path*\] \[*section*\] **-k** *keyword*

**mancha** **-l** *file*

## DESCRIPTION

**mancha** enables viewing man pages using the Chawan browser. It is analogous to the [**w3mman**(1)](/w3mman/1.md) utility.

**mancha** executes [**cha**(1)](/cha/1.md) with the appropriate *man:*, *man-k:* or *man-l:* URLs. The protocol adapter then opens the man page and injects markup into it, e.g. man page references are converted into *man:* links.

## OPTIONS

Command line options are:

- **-M** *path*

  Set *path* as the MANPATH environment variable. See [**man**(1)](/man/1.md) for details of how this is interpreted.

- **-k** *keyword*

  Use *keyword* for keyword-based man page search.

- **-l** *file*

  Open the specified local *file* as a man page.

## ENVIRONMENT

Following environment variables are used:

- **MANCHA\_CHA**

  If set, the contents of the variable are used instead of *cha*. (Note that the *cha* command is called through [**system**(3)](/system/3.md), so you do not have to override it so long as *cha* is found in your **PATH**.)

- **MANCHA\_MAN**

  If set, the contents of the variable are used instead of */usr/bin/man*.

- **MANCHA\_APROPOS**

  If set, the contents of the variable are used instead of */usr/bin/man*.

  (This is not a typo; normally (except on FreeBSD), **mancha** assumes that [**man**(1)](/man/1.md) is compatible with [**apropos**(1)](/apropos/1.md) and accepts the *-s* parameter. Overriding **MANCHA\_MAN** therefore also overrides the command used for **man-k**, so long as **MANCHA\_APROPOS** is not set.)

## SEE ALSO

[**man**(1)](/man/1.md), [**cha**(1)](/cha/1.md), [**cha-cgi**(5)](/cha-cgi/5.md), [**w3mman**(1)](/w3mman/1.md)