'man' should be removed as an alias on Windows installations #19652
Description
Summary of the new feature / enhancement
The man alias on Windows is not needed and adds confusion when using PowerShell with multiple operating systems.
On Windows
PS> get-command man
CommandType Name Version Source
----------- ---- ------- ------
Alias man -> help
On Linux
PS> get-command man
CommandType Name Version Source
----------- ---- ------- ------
Application man 0.0.0.0 /usr/bin/man
So depending on the system you are using they return completely different information.
On Linux
PS> man pwsh
PWSH(1) PWSH(1)
NAME
pwsh - PowerShell command-line shell and .NET REPL
SYNOPSIS
pwsh [-NoLogo] [-NoExit] [-NoProfile] [-NonInteractive] [-InputFormat {Text | XML}] [-OutputFormat {Text |
XML}] [-EncodedCommand Base64EncodedCommand] [-File filePath args] [-ExecutionPolicy ExecutionPolicy] [-Com‐
mand { - | script-block [-args arg-array] | string [CommandParameters] } ]
DESCRIPTION
PowerShell is an automation and configuration management platform. It consists of a cross-platform (Windows,
Linux and macOS) command-line shell and associated scripting language.
But on Windows,
PS> man pwsh
Get-Help:
Line |
64 | $help = Get-Help @PSBoundParameters
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| Get-Help could not find pwsh in a help file in this session. To download updated help topics type: "Update-Help". To get help online, search for the help topic in the TechNet library at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=107116.
man as a command has no historical lineage on Windows except for with Unix/shell emulators. help does, and even existed in MSDOS commmand.com.
Having man as an alias does not "make PowerShell like bash" because it returns completely different information.
Proposed technical implementation details (optional)
Remove the 'man' alias on windows installations.