MANINDEX(5MAN)          COMMAND REFERENCE          MANINDEX(5MAN)



NAME
     manindex - manual page index format structure

DESCRIPTION
     In order to work with the commands help(1man) and
     section(1man), formatted manual pages must have a index
     format table at the end of the file.  This table is built by
     the command buildif(1man), which may be automatically
     invoked by catman(8man).

     The table consists of three sections, the header, the data,
     and the foot.  The header is a line consisting of a formfeed
     (^L), the word `%%index%%', and a newline.  The data section
     consists of lines which tell where the useful data for the
     sections of the manual page is found.  This is described in
     more detail later.  The foot of the table consists of the
     word `%%index%%', a 12-digit, 0-padded decimal number which
     tells how many bytes of data are in the table (header and
     foot included), and a newline.  The entire table is in
     printable ASCII characters.

     The data section of the index format table consists of lines
     with the following form:


          section:begin,length;...<newline>

     The section is a two-letter abbreviation for the section
     name.  The following table shows the section names and their
     abbreviations:


          NAME                  na
          SYNOPSIS              sy
          DESCRIPTION           de
          OPTIONS               op
          EXAMPLES              ex
          FILES                 fi
          DIAGNOSTICS           di
          VARIABLES             va
          RETURN VALUE          rv
          CAVEATS               ca
          SEE ALSO              se
          REFERENCES            re

     These abbreviations correspond to commands in help and the
     section-list in section. The begin portion of the line is
     the decimal offset (beginning at 0) in the manual entry at
     which point the data for the section begins.  The length
     portion is the length of this data portion.  There may be
     multiple begin,length pairs for each section.  The first
     pair always exists.  Subsequent pairs exist when the section



Printed 10/17/86                                                1

MANINDEX(5MAN)          COMMAND REFERENCE          MANINDEX(5MAN)



     contains a page boundary.  If a section doesn't exist in a
     manual entry, no line is generated in the table for it.

EXAMPLES
     Assume that a manual page contains the sections NAME,
     SYNOPSIS, DESCRIPTION, EXAMPLES, RETURN VALUE, CAVEATS, and
     SEE ALSO, and that the DESCRIPTION section contains two page
     breaks and that the RETURN VALUE section contains one page
     break.  The following shows a possible index format table
     (note that newlines are given as `\n' and the formfeed is
     given as `\f').



          \f%%index%%\n
          na:72,60;\n
          sy:132,139;\n
          de:271,1772;2349,1741;4396,361;\n
          ex:4757,905;\n
          rv:5662,189;6157,205;\n
          ca:6362,767;\n
          se:7129,277;\n
          %%index%%000000000148\n


     Note that this data begins 148 bytes from the end of the
     file.

CAVEATS
     The command man(1man) knows not to print the index format
     data whereas other programs do not.  It is best to only use
     man to print out manual pages.

SEE ALSO
     apropos(1man), buildif(1man), help(1man), makewhatis(1man),
     man(1man), section(1man), whatis(1man), man(5man),
     whatis(5man), catman(8man).


















Printed 10/17/86                                                2

%%index%%
na:72,81;
de:153,2389;2686,126;
ex:2812,794;
ca:3606,247;
se:3853,418;
%%index%%000000000104