ching(6) [bsd man page]
CHING(6) Games Manual CHING(6) NAME
ching - the book of changes and other cookies SYNOPSIS
/usr/games/ching [ hexagram ] DESCRIPTION
The I Ching or Book of Changes is an ancient Chinese oracle that has been in use for centuries as a source of wisdom and advice. The text of the oracle (as it is sometimes known) consists of sixty-four hexagrams, each symbolized by a particular arrangement of six straight (---) and broken (- -) lines. These lines have values ranging from six through nine, with the even values indicating the broken lines. Each hexagram consists of two major sections. The Judgement relates specifically to the matter at hand (E.g., "It furthers one to have somewhere to go.") while the Image describes the general attributes of the hexagram and how they apply to one's own life ("Thus the supe- rior man makes himself strong and untiring."). When any of the lines have the values six or nine, they are moving lines; for each there is an appended judgement which becomes signifi- cant. Furthermore, the moving lines are inherently unstable and change into their opposites; a second hexagram (and thus an additional judgement) is formed. Normally, one consults the oracle by fixing the desired question firmly in mind and then casting a set of changes (lines) using yarrow-stalks or tossed coins. The resulting hexagram will be the answer to the question. Using an algorithm suggested by S. C. Johnson, the UNIX oracle simply reads a question from the standard input (up to an EOF) and hashes the individual characters in combination with the time of day, process id and any other magic numbers which happen to be lying around the system. The resulting value is used as the seed of a random number generator which drives a simulated coin-toss divination. The answer is then piped through nroff for formatting and will appear on the standard output. For those who wish to remain steadfast in the old traditions, the oracle will also accept the results of a personal divination using, for example, coins. To do this, cast the change and then type the resulting line values as an argument. The impatient modern may prefer to settle for Chinese cookies; try fortune(6). SEE ALSO
It furthers one to see the great man. DIAGNOSTICS
The great prince issues commands, Founds states, vests families with fiefs. Inferior people should not be employed. BUGS
Waiting in the mud Brings about the arrival of the enemy. If one is not extremely careful, Somebody may come up from behind and strike him. Misfortune. 7th Edition May 20, 1985 CHING(6)
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is a text formatter. Its input consists of the text to be out- put, intermixed with formatting commands. A formatting command is a line containing the control character followed by a two character command name, and possibly one or more arguments. The control character is initially . (dot). The formatted output is produced on standard output. The formatting commands are listed below, with being a number, being a character, and being a title. A + before n means it may be signed, indicating a positive or negative change from the current value. Initial values for where relevant, are given in parentheses. .ad Adjust right margin. .ar Arabic page numbers. .br Line break. Subsequent text will begin on a new line. .bl n Insert n blank lines. .bp +n Begin new page and number it n. No n means +1. .cc c Control character is set to c. .ce n Center the next n input lines. .de zz Define a macro called zz. A line with .. ends definition. .ds Double space the output. Same as .ls 2. .ef t Even page footer title is set to t. .eh t Even page header title is set to t. .fi Begin filling output lines as full as possible. .fo t Footer titles (even and odd) are set to t. .hc c The character c (e.g., %) tells roff where hyphens are permitted. .he t Header titles (even and odd) are set to t. .hx Header titles are suppressed. .hy n Hyphenation is done if n is 1, suppressed if it is 0. Default is 1. .ig Ignore input lines until a line beginning with .. is found. .in n Indent n spaces from the left margin; force line break. .ix n Same as .in but continue filling output on current line. .li n Literal text on next n lines. Copy to output unmodified. .ll +n Line length (including indent) is set to n (65). .ls +n Line spacing: n (1) is 1 for single spacing, 2 for double, etc. .m1 n Insert n (2) blank lines between top of page and header. .m2 n Insert n (2) blank lines between header and start of text. .m3 n Insert n (1) blank lines between end of text and footer. .m4 n Insert n (3) blank lines between footer and end of page. .na No adjustment of the right margin. .ne n Need n lines. If fewer are left, go to next page. .nn +n The next n output lines are not numbered. .n1 Number output lines in left margin starting at 1. .n2 n Number output lines starting at n. If 0, stop numbering. .ni +n Indent line numbers by n (0) spaces. .nf No more filling of lines. .nx f Switch input to file f. .of t Odd page footer title is set to t. .oh t Odd page header title is set to t. .pa +n Page adjust by n (1). Same as .bp .pl +n Paper length is n (66) lines. .po +n Page offset. Each line is started with n (0) spaces. .ro Page numbers are printed in Roman numerals. .sk n Skip n pages (i.e., make them blank), starting with next one. .sp n Insert n blank lines, except at top of page. .ss Single spacing. Equivalent to .ls 1. .ta Set tab stops, e.g., .ta 9 17 25 33 41 49 57 65 73 (default). .tc c Tabs are expanded into c. Default is space. .ti n Indent next line n spaces; then go back to previous indent. .tr ab Translate a into b on output. .ul n Underline the letters and numbers in the next n lines.