MAN(1)                               BSD                                MAN(1)



NAME
     man - display reference manual information

SYNOPSIS
     man [ - ] [ -M path ] [ section ] title ...
     man -k keyword ...
     man -f file ...

DESCRIPTION
     man displays information from the BSD Command Reference and BSD
     Programmer's Reference.  man displays entries in an edit pad (if you are
     using a Domain workstation) or a terminal screen. It allows you to obtain
     one-line descriptions of commands specified by name, or for all commands
     whose description contains any of a set of keywords.  It can also provide
     on-line access to the sections of the printed manual.

     When the standard output is connected to a Display Manager pad (the
     normal case when you are using a Domain workstation), man displays the
     manual page in a read-only edit pad.  You can resize the pad, scroll
     through or copy portions of the text, turn the pad into an icon, or do
     any other operation allowed on a read-only edit pad.  When you finish
     reading the manual entry, close the window by positioning the cursor in
     the window and pressing <EXIT>.

     man looks for the manual page in either of two forms, the nroff source or
     preformatted pages.  If either version is available, the manual page is
     displayed. If the preformatted version is available, and it has a more
     recent modify time than the nroff source, it is displayed. Otherwise, the
     manual page is usually formatted with nroff and displayed.

     NOTE: Domain/OS provides only the preformatted manual pages.

OPTIONS
     section        Look for title in the given section.  The section argument
                    is either an Arabic section number (for example, 3)
                    optionally followed by a single-letter classifier (for
                    instance, 1g, indicating a graphics program in section 1),
                    or one of the words "new," "local," "old," "public," or
                    "apollo." If you omit the section argument, man searches
                    all sections of the manual, giving preference to commands
                    over subroutines in system libraries, and printing the
                    first entry it finds.

     -              Pipe the output through more(1) with the option -s to
                    crush out useless blank lines and to stop after each page
                    on the screen.  Press the spacebar to continue, or CTRL/D
                    to scroll 11 more lines when the output stops.

     -M path        Search for manual subdirectories in path.  Normally man
                    checks in a standard location (/usr/man) for manual
                    information. The search path is a list of directories
                    (separated by colons) in which manual subdirectories may
                    be found, e.g., "/usr/local:/usr/man". If you supply a
                    search path with the -k or -f options, it must be
                    specified first.

     -k keyword ... Print a one-line synopsis of each entry whose listing in
                    the table of contents contains the specified keyword(s).

     -f file ...    Print a one-line synopsis of each entry that is related to
                    the named system file.

     local          Print a local entry.  You can add your own entries to the
                    directory /usr/man/manl (man-ell, not man-one).  Filenames
                    in this directory must have the suffix .l (a dot followed
                    by a lowercase L).

EXAMPLES
     To find out if there are any entries pertaining to the file /etc/rc:

     %  man -f /etc/rc
     rc (8)              - boot time shell script


     To see a local entry in the file /usr/man/manl/roff.l:

     % man local roff


NOTES
     Since Domain/OS does not supply nroff sources for BSD manual pages, you
     cannot print copies on local printers.

BUGS
     The manual is supposed to be reproducible either on the phototypesetter
     or on a typewriter.  However, on a typewriter some information is
     necessarily lost.

FILES
     /usr/man              Standard manual area
     /usr/man/man?/*       Directories containing source for manuals
                           (not supplied on Domain/OS)
     /usr/man/cat?/*       Directories containing preformatted pages
     /usr/man/whatis       Keyword database

SEE ALSO
     apropos(1), more(1), whereis(1)