intro(1)						      General Commands Manual							  intro(1)

NAME

       intro - introduction to command utilities and application programs

DESCRIPTION

       This  section  describes  commands accessible by users, as opposed to system calls in Section(2) or library routines in Section(3), which
       are accessible by user programs.

   Command Syntax
       Unless otherwise noted, commands described in this section accept options and other arguments according to the following syntax:

	      name [ option ( s )] [ cmd_arg ( s )]

       where the elements are defined as follows:

	      name	Name of an executable file.

	      option	One or more options can appear on a command line.  Each takes one of the following forms:

			     A single letter representing an option without an argument.

			     Two or more single-letter options
				    combined into a single command-line argument.

			     A single-letter option followed by a required argument where:
				       arg_letter
					      is the single letter representing an option that requires an argument,
				       opt_arg
					      is an argument (character string) satisfying the preceding arg_letter,
				       <>     represents optional white space.

	      cmd_arg	Path name (or other command argument) not beginning with or by itself indicating the  standard	input.	 If  two  or  more
			cmd_args appear, they must be separated by white space.

   Manual Entry Formats
       All manual entries follow an established topic format, but not all topics are included in each entry.

       Gives the name(s) of the entry and briefly states its purpose.

       Summarizes the use of the entry or program entity being described.  A few
			   conventions are used:

			   strings  are  literals, and are to be typed exactly as they appear in the manual (except for parameters in the SYNOPSIS
			   section of entries in Sections 2 and 3).

			   Italic strings represent substitutable argument names and names of manual entries found elsewhere in the manual.

			   Square brackets [] around an argument name indicate that the argument is optional.

			   Ellipses (...) are used to show that the previous argument can be repeated.

			   A final convention is used by the commands themselves.  An argument beginning with a dash (-), a plus sign (+),  or	an
			   equal  sign	(=)  is  often taken to be some sort of option argument, even if it appears in a postion where a file name
			   could appear.  Therefore it is unwise to have file names that begin with -, +, or =.

       Discusses the function and behavior of each entry.

       Information under this heading pertains to programming for various spoken
			   languages.  Typical entries indicate support for single- and/or multi-byte characters, the effect  of  language-related
			   environment variables on system behavior, and other related information.

       Information under this heading is applicable only if you are using the
			   networking feature described there (such as NFS).

       Discusses various values returned upon completion of program calls.

       Discusses diagnostics indications that may be produced.	Self-explanatory
			   messages are not listed.

       Lists error conditions and their corresponding error message or return
			   value.

       Provides examples of typical usage, where appropriate.

       Points out potential pitfalls.

       Points out variations in HP-UX operation that are related to the user or
			   specific hardware or hardware combinations.

       Indicate the origin of the software documented by the manual entry.

       Lists file names that are built into the program or command.

       Provides pointers to related topics.

       Discusses known bugs and deficiencies, occasionally suggesting fixes.

       This section	   lists the standard specifications to which the HP-UX component conforms.

RETURN VALUE

       Upon  termination,  each command returns two bytes of status, one supplied by the system giving the cause for termination, and (in the case
       of ``normal'' termination) one supplied by the program (for descriptions, see wait(2) and exit(2)).  The system-supplied byte is 0 for nor-
       mal  termination.   The	byte  provided by the program is customarily 0 for successful execution and non-zero to indicate errors or failure
       such as incorrect parameters in the command line, or bad or inaccessible data.  Values returned are usually called variously ``exit code'',
       ``exit status'', ``return code'', or ``return value'', and are described only where special conventions are involved.

WARNINGS

       Some  commands produce unexpected results when processing files containing null characters.  These commands often treat text input lines as
       strings, and therefore become confused when they encounter a null character (the string terminator) within a line.

SEE ALSO

       getopt(1), exit(2), wait(2), getopt(3C), hier(5), introduction(9).

       Web access to HP-UX documentation at

																	  intro(1)