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man(1) General Commands Manual man(1)
Name
man - displays manual pages online
Syntax
man -k keyword...
man -f page_title...
man [ options ] [ -roff_options ]... [ section ] page_title...
man [ options ] [ section page_title... ]...
/usr/bin/man [ option ] [ section ] page_title...
/usr/bin/man [ options ] [ section page_title... ]...
Description
There are two commands: and For most users, is the default command. The command
which man
shows you which command is the default. The recommended default is
Both the commands provide online displays of specified reference pages.
The /usr/ucb/man Command.
The basic function of this command is to provide online displays of reference pages. You can use options, however, to direct the command
to display one line summaries of reference pages which contain specific keywords, to display one line summaries of specific reference
pages, to use special formatting options when preparing the reference page for display or printing, and to search alternate reference page
directories for specified reference pages.
If an option is not used, the command formats and displays one or more specified reference pages. If there are multiple reference pages
which match a specified name, only the first matching reference page is displayed. If there are multiple matches in a section for a speci-
fied name, the matching page in the first alphabetically occurring subsection is displayed.
If you specify the command with a section argument, the command looks in that section of the reference pages for the specified page titles.
A section consists of a number in the range 0 to 9, optionally followed by an alphanumeric subsection, or section can be the name `local',
`new', `old', or `public'. Numbers 0 and 9 are non-standard. If a is omitted, the command searches all sections of the reference pages.
The command displays commands (both standard and local) over subroutines in system libraries, and displays the first occurrence it finds,
if any. If Section 1 is specified, the sections n, l, and o are also searched, if they exist.
The section and page_title... arguments can be paired, so that multiple pages can be searched for in a section, and multiple sections can
be searched for a page or pages.
All displays are directed to standard out, unless redirected, or unless the option is specified. If the standard output is a teletype
device, the command completes the following: pipes the output through the command using the option -s to eliminate unnecessary blank lines
and invokes the command using the option -s to display a screen at a time.
If a specified reference page is not already formatted, but the source file exists, the command preprocesses the file through the command.
The command next pipes the output to the command, or to the command if the option was specified, using the macros package. If the output
was directed to the command, the output is then piped through the postprocessor, then directed to standard out. If the appropriate direc-
tory exists, the formatted display is saved there.
The /usr/bin/man Command
The command performs the same basic function as the command, that is, formats and displays or prints specified reference pages. It does
not provide all the functions of and there are some differences in common functions.
The command searches for the specified reference pages, and formats and displays all reference pages matching the specified names. If no
section is specified, all sections 1 through 8 are searched. In the case of multiple matches, the display order is in numeric section
order, and ASCII subsection order within a section.
All displays are directed to standard out, unless redirected, or unless an option is used which requests processing through the command.
If a option was not specified, then the standard output is to a teletype device. If the standard output is a teletype device, the pipes
the output through the postprocessor, then directs the output to standard out.
The command does not use preformatted files. It searches only the directories for source files.
If a specified file exists, it is always preprocessed through the command.
If an option is not used, the command formats and displays specified reference pages using the command.
If multiple options are specified, only the last one is executed, except that multiple roff_options are accepted and executed.
Options
/usr/ucb/man Options
The following options are recognized only by the command. Note that the options and do not have the same functionality as the correspond-
ing options.
- Squeeze multiple blank lines from output.
-f Display one line summaries of each page title specified on the command line.
-k Display one line summaries of each reference page that contains the specified keyword or keywords.
-P manpath Search the specified manpath directory instead of
-s Remove unnecessary blank lines.
-t Phototypesets the output through the command.
This option requires the installation of the command, which is unsupported. When the -t option is specified, the output is
directed, by -t option, to the printer or typesetter specified by the PRINTER environment variable. PRINTER must be set to a
printer which is capable of handling output files. The default is the lp printer (see description of the -t option for more
information).
/usr/bin/man Options
The following options are recognized by the command. Note that the options and do not have the same functionality as the corresponding
options.
-roff_options
Inserts the specified roff_option in front of the -man option when the appropriate *roff text formatter is called (the other
options determine which *roff formatter is called). Multiple roff_options can be specified. If a null value is specified, the
results are unpredictable.
-e | -et | -te
Preproceses the display with the command, then performs the same steps as the option.
This option requires the installation of the and commands, which are unsupported.
-ek | -ke Preproceses the display with the command, then performs the same steps as the option.
This option requires the installation of the and commands, which are unsupported.
-k Formats the display through the command, using troff's option, then directs the output to the command.
This option requires the installation of the and commands, which are unsupported.
-n Formats the display through the command. This is the default.
-ne | -en Preproceses the display with the command, then performs the same steps as the option.
This option requires the installation of the command, which is unsupported.
-t Photypesets the output through the command.
This option requires the installation of the command, which is unsupported.
-w Shows where the specified reference pages are located, relative to the directory.
Restrictions
The reference pages are reproducible on phototypesetters or on hardcopy devices. However, some devices do not properly handle special
characters which causes information to be lost.
Some options require the installation of unsupported software. Use of these options is at your own risk.
Options which call the or commands will generally fail when used with the ULTRIX reference pages, because any ULTRIX reference pages which
use commands were preprocessed through the text formatter before being packaged for shipment to you. text preprocessors generally report
numerous errors when attempts are made to reprocess files a second time through an text preprocessor.
Both and commands to the directory before searching for and formatting files. Some reference pages assume that this happens. Therefore,
an attempt to format some reference pages manually with a text formatter may fail if you are not sitting in the directory.
/usr/ucb/man Restrictions
If a specified reference page exists in the appropriate directory, but there is no appropriate directory, you will not be able to scroll
backwards in the display.
The man directories for sections n, l, o, p, 0 and 9 are optional directories. They must be created by the system administrator.
The directories are not required to exist. They must be created by the system administrator. This is generally done through the command.
Examples
/usr/ucb/man Examples
The following examples all assume the use of the default command:
The following example shows how to locate reference pages containing the keyword `graph':
% man -k graph
The following example shows how to display the reference page:
% man 1g graph
The following example shows how to display reference pages:
% man 1 plot 3 plot
The following example shows how to display and reference pages:
% man 1 chmod chown 2 chmod chown
The following example shows how to display a reference page in the directory. In order to locate the reference page here, it must have the
file name so its reference page title would be
% man local test
To locate the reference pages in Section 1:
% man 1 test 1sh5 test
If you have a directory which contains subdirectories, which also contain reference pages, then the following example shows how to display
a reference page located somewhere in a subdirectory of
% man -P /usr/local games
/usr/bin/man Examples
The following example shows how to display reference pages:
% /usr/bin/man chmod
The above displays all the reference pages from all sections of the installed reference pages.
The following example shows how to display all the reference pages in Section 1:
% /usr/bin/man 1 test
The following example shows how to locate all the reference pages:
% /usr/bin/man -w test
The following example shows how to locate all the reference pages in Section 3:
% /usr/bin/man -w 3 intro
The following example displays the reference page with a starting page number of 10.
% /usr/bin/man -n10 1 man
Files
The default command.
The alternate command.
These directories contain the online reference pages which
are divided into sections 1 through 8, n, l, o, and p. Sections 0 and 9 can also exist but these are non-standard sec-
tions.
These directories contain the files generated by the
and commands.
This file contains the summary lines of each reference page.
These directories contain reference pages to be searched by the
command when the manpath option is specified. These directories must have the same organization and format as
See Also
apropos(1), col(1), nroff(1), page(1), tbl(1), whatis(1), whereis(1), man(7), catman(8)
man(1)