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Top Forums UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers man synopsis standard compliance Post 302149645 by drl on Thursday 6th of December 2007 07:18:45 PM
Old 12-06-2007
Hi.

Is this convincing?
Quote:
bold text type exactly as shown.
italic text replace with appropriate argument.
[-abc] any or all arguments within [ ] are optional.
-a|-b options delimited by | cannot be used together.
argument ... argument is repeatable.
[expression] ... entire expression within [ ] is repeatable.

The command or function illustration is a pattern that should match all
possible invocations. In some cases it is advisable to illustrate sev-
eral exclusive invocations as is shown in the SYNOPSIS section of this
manual page.

-- excerpt from GNU/Linux man man
I agree that consistency is to be valued - especially for a set of commands in a specific project -- however, {GNU/Linux, Solaris, other *nix}-universe consistency and consensus is unlikely in my opinion. It may even be undesirable -- too many rules have a chilling effect on innovation.

Your particular situation may be saying more about your developers than about the *nix universe.

Best wishes ... cheers, drl
 

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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)
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