The pacman package manager is one of the main difference between Arch Linux and other major distributions like Red Hat and Ubuntu/Debian. It combines a simple binary package format with an easy-to-use build system. The aim of pacman is to easily manage packages, either from the official repositories or the user’s own builds.
If you ever used Ubuntu or Debian-based distributions, you might have used the apt-get or apt commands. Pacman is the equivalent in Arch Linux. If you just installed Arch Linux, one of the first few things to do after installing Arch Linux is to learn to use pacman commands.
I mostly use the Pamac GUI front-end to do my daily updates but if there are ever any errors or issues I always drop to using Pacman as it better describes any problems and usually suggests the fix needed without any further fuss.
Here are some basics on Pacman at Using Pacman Commands in Linux [Beginner’s Guide]
New to Arch Linux or Manjaro? Here are some essential pacman commands you should know to better manage your system.