MAN(1MAN) COMMAND REFERENCE MAN(1MAN) NAME man - find and print manual entries SYNOPSIS man [ -a ] [ -b separator ] [ -i ignoresecs ] [ -n ] [ -o ] [ -r ] [ -s ] [ section ] title ... man [ -k (apropos(1man) options) ] man [ -f (whatis(1man) options) ] DESCRIPTION When called with the -k option, the utility apropos is executed with the remaining arguments. When called with the -f option, the utility whatis is executed with the remaining arguments. Normally, man searches a set of directories named in the file /usr/lib/man/directories for a formatted manual page entry file and either prints the name or the file contents. Each manual page file has a name of the form `title.section'. A `section' is a number followed by zero or more alphabetic characters. For example, this document is contained in the file `man.1'. The `title' to be searched for is given on the command line. An ordered list of known `section' names is found in the file /usr/lib/man/sections. By default, all known sections are searched for manual entries. If the section argument is given, only that section or set of sections is printed. If the section argument is of the form `#+', all sections that begin with the number specified by `#' are searched. If the -i option is given, the sections in ignoresecs are ignored. The ignoresecs argument is a list of section names separated by commas, spaces, and/or tabs. The default search method takes each section and searches for matching pages in all directories. The alternate method, which takes each directory and searches for matching pages in all sections, is available by specifying the -s option. By default, if the standard output is a terminal, the output is piped through more(1). If the standard output is not a terminal, the output is printed with no processing. All pages are printed together, separated by a separator, which is described later. This line serves to separate the pages on the lineprinter or within more, where it can also be used to search for the beginning of the next page in a series. Printed 5/12/88 1
MAN(1MAN) COMMAND REFERENCE MAN(1MAN) Man searches for manual pages in subdirectories of the directories specified in /usr/lib/man/directories. Each entry in this file has a corresponding command directory. The environment variable PATH is used to order the manual page directories. This means that if /bin is in the search path before /usr/local , manual pages corresponding to the commands in /bin are searched before those corresponding to /usr/local. In order to tailor the actions of the man command, the file $HOME/.manrc may be set up. This file may contain one of each of the following entries, except for personal:, of which there may be up to 20: options: options where options is a list of command line options not including -f, -k, and -i. ignore: sections where sections is a list of section names to ignore separated by commas, spaces, and/or tabs. This entry is ignored if the -i option is given or if a section to search is specified on the command line. output: command where command is a command line which is run by the shell. The command must be able to read from the standard input. personal: directory where directory is the name of a directory which contains subdirectories as described in man(5man). These directories are searched in the order they appear in the manrc file for manual pages before any other directories. If directory begins with the sequence $HOME/ , the $HOME is replaced by the value of the HOME environment variable. sections: sections where sections is an ordered list of sections separated by commas, spaces, and/or tabs. This list may include `+' sections as well as specific sections. For example, the list ``1sh, 1+, 2+, 3+, 3f, 4+, 5+, 7+, 8+'' specifies that section `1sh' is to be searched before any other sections beginning with a 1, and section `3f' is to be searched after all other sections beginning with 3. tty-sep: separator where separator is text to be printed between manual page entries when the output is going Printed 5/12/88 2
MAN(1MAN) COMMAND REFERENCE MAN(1MAN) to a terminal. The text is taken from the first non-whitespace character to the end of the line. The following special escaped characters are processed as in echo(1sh): \n (newline), \f (formfeed), \r (carriage return), \b (backspace), (tab), \\ (backslash), and \c (inhibit final newline). Unless the line contains a \c or ends with a backslash (except for \\), a newline is added to the separator. notty-sep: separator where separator is text to be printed between manual page entries when the output is not going to a terminal. OPTIONS -a Print information for all manual pages. Normally, only the first page is used. -b separator Print the given separator between manual page entries. Backslashes in the separator string are processed as described above under the $HOME/.manrc ``tty-sep'' entry. This option overrides the ``tty-sep'' and ``notty-sep'' entries in the $HOME/.manrc file. An empty separator causes nothing to be printed between manual entries. -f Execute the command whatis with the remaining arguments. -i ignoresecs Ignore the sections in the ignoresecs list. This option overrides the -k Execute the command apropos with the remaining arguments. -n Print only the pathnames of the files containing the matching pages. -o Print output with no processing even if standard output is a terminal. -r Ignore the ``options:'' entry in $HOME/.manrc. -s Use the alternate search method (by directory). EXAMPLES The following invocation will print the manual page for the subroutine exit in any of the subsections of section 3, if it exists. Printed 5/12/88 3
MAN(1MAN) COMMAND REFERENCE MAN(1MAN) man 3+ exit FILES /usr/lib/man/sections Known manual page sections /usr/lib/man/directories Manual page search directory information $HOME/.manrc Man command control information VARIABLES PATH The user's execution path. HOME The user's home directory. RETURN VALUE [NO_ERRS] Command completed without error. [USAGE] Incorrect command line syntax. Execution terminated. [NP_WARN] An error warranting a warning message occurred. Execution continues. [NP_ERR] An error occurred that was not a system error. Execution terminated. [P_WARN] A system error occurred. Execution continues. See intro(2) for more information on system errors. [NP_WARN] An error warranting a warning message occurred. Execution continues. CAVEATS There is no way to specify which directories to search other than in the PATH variable. Since output is piped to another process, the message ``Broken pipe'' may appear if the output command is terminated before the entire manual page is processed. Man is insensitive to the case of section names. For example, section `1c' is the same as `1C'. If the -k option or the -f option is used, that option must be the first option. Options appearing before the -k or -f will be ignored, with the exception of arguments that are invalid to man. Printed 5/12/88 4
MAN(1MAN) COMMAND REFERENCE MAN(1MAN) The man command knows how to avoid the index format data (if there is any) at the bottom of the formatted manual page entry, so it is best to always use man to access manual page entries. SEE ALSO apropos(1man), buildif(1man), echo(1sh), help(1man), makewhatis(1man), manintro(1man), more(1), section(1man), whatis(1man), man(5man), manindex(5man), whatis(5man), and catman(8man). Printed 5/12/88 5
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