Commands Reference, Volume 3, i - m
man_Command
Purpose
Displays manual entries online.
Syntax
man [ [ [ -c ] [ -t ] [ Section ] ] | [ -k | -f ] ] [ -F ]
[ -m ] [ -MPath ] [ -r ] [ -a ] Title ...
Description
The man command provides reference information on topics, such
as
commands, subroutines, and files. The man command provides
one-line
descriptions of commands specified by name. The man command
also provides
information on all commands whose descriptions contain a set
of
user-specified keywords.
The man command formats a specified set of manual pages. If
you specify a
section for the Section parameter, the man command searches in
that
section of the manual pages for the title specified by the Ti-
tle
parameter. The value of the Section parameter can be either an
Arabic
number from 1 through 8 or a letter.
The Section letters are:
C Specifies commands (including system management com-
mands).
F Specifies file-type manual pages.
L Specifies library functions.
n Specifies new.
l Specifies local.
o Specifies old.
p Specifies public.
Note:
The n, l, o, and p section specifiers are not valid for read-
ing the
hypertext information bases, which contain the operating sys-
tem
documentation.
The Section numbers are:
1 Indicates user commands and daemons.
2 Indicates system calls and kernel services.
3 Indicates subroutines.
4 Indicates special files, device drivers, and hard-
ware.
5 Indicates configuration files.
6 Indicates games.
7 Indicates miscellaneous commands.
8 Indicates administrative commands and daemons.
Note:
The operating system documentation in the hypertext informa-
tion databases
is grouped into three sections only: command manual pages (in
section 1,
equivalent to section C), subroutine manual pages (in section
3,
equivalent to section L), and file manual pages (in section 4,
equivalent
to section F). When searching for hypertext information, spec-
ifying
section 1, 6, 7, or 8 will default to the command manual
pages, section 2
or 3 will default to the subroutine manual pages, and section
4 or 5 will
default to the file manual pages.
If the Section parameter is omitted, the man command searches
all sections
of the manual.
The search path the man command uses is a list of directories
separated by
a : (colon) in which manual subdirectories can be found. The
MANPATH
environment variable value is used for the default path. The
MANPATH
environment variable is not valid when reading the hypertext
information
bases.
The man command displays the manual pages as follows:
1. The man command searches the nroff directories (man?) un-
der the
/usr/share/man directory.
2. The man command searches the formatted version directories
(cat?)
under the /usr/share/man directory. If the formatted ver-
sion is
available, and if it has a more recent modify time than
the nroff
command source, the man command displays the formatted
version.
Otherwise, the manual page is formatted with the nroff
command and
displayed. If the user has permission, the formatted manu-
al page is
deposited in the proper place, so that later invocations
of the man
command do not format the page again.
Note:
There is no nroff source for the supplied manual pages.
However, you
can put nroff source for manual pages into the man direc-
tories and the
man command can locate and process the nroff source.
3. If the man command does not find a manual page in the
/usr/share/man/man or /usr/share/man/cat directory, the
man command
searches the paths specified through -M option or MANPATH
environment
variable for nroff directories (man?) and formatted ver-
sion
directories (cat?).
4. If the man command does not find a manual page in the
/usr/share/man/man or /usr/share/man/cat or the user-spec-
ified man/cat
directory, the man command reads from the hypertext infor-
mation bases.
The hypertext information bases reside in the
/usr/share/man/info
directory structure and contain the operating system docu-
mentation.
When reading from the hypertext databases, the man command
does not
put any manual pages in the /usr/share/man/cat directory
structure.
The man command converts the HTML file into a formatted
text file to
fit on the display, and displays the manual page using the
command
described by the PAGER environment variable.
5. If the man command does not find a manual page in hyper-
text
information bases reside in the /usr/share/man/info direc-
tory
structure, then it looks for user-specified hypertext in-
formation base
(through -M or MANPATH). The user-defined hypertext infor-
mation base,
should follow the following directory structure:
BasePath[/%{ L | l }]/DocLibraryname/Section/com-
mand_or_routine_or_filename.htm
Where:
* %L represents the ISO language notation specified us-
ing the
LC_MESSAGES, %l represents the first 2 characters of
the ISO
language notation specified using the LC_MESSAGES.
For example,
for LC_MESSAGES=en_US the documents can be placed in
Path/en_US
or Path/en.
* DocLibraryname represents the name of the documenta-
tion library.
* Section represents the section name, which must be
one of the
following:
* cmds -- Represents Commands Section
* libs -- Represents Library Section
* files -- Represents Files Section
Note:
If -m option is specified, then the search for manual
pages will be
done only in the order of paths specified through -M or
the MANPATH
environment variable.
When accessing the HTML databases, man looks for the operating
system
library before it proceeds to other LPP libraries. Within
these libraries,
it processes information in the following order:
cmds Commands Reference
libs Subroutines, System Calls
files Files Reference
If the standard output is a tty, the man command pipes its
output using
the more command with the -s and -v flags. The -s flag elimi-
nates
multiple blank lines and stops after each page on the screen.
The -v flag
suppresses the display of nonprinting characters to the
screen. To
continue scrolling, press the space bar. To scroll an addi-
tional 11 lines
when the output stops, press the Ctrl-D key sequence.
The PAGER environment variable can be set to whatever pager is
desired.
The default value is the more command. To change the default
pager,
enter:
PAGER=Somepager
export PAGER
For example, if there are customized manual pages which are
formatted with
reverse or fractional line feeds, the PAGER environment vari-
able may be
set to /usr/bin/pg so that the line feeds are not printed as
control
characters. This procedure is not necessary for the manual
pages.
When the man command uses a hypertext database, it can re-
trieve several
articles. For example, man open displays several articles. The
use of
SIGINT (Ctrl-C) exits the man command completely. On the other
hand, man
open close also displays several articles but the use of SIG-
INT (Ctrl-C)
causes man to display the close command information instead of
exiting.
Using SIGINT (Ctrl-C) again exits the man command completely.
When specifying one of the Network Computing System library
routines that
contains a $ (dollar sign) in its name, enter a (backslash)
preceding
the $.
Flags
-a Display all matching entries.
-c Displays the manual information using the cat command.
Displays entries in the keyword database related only
to the
command name given as the final parameter. You can en-
ter more than
-f one command name, each separated by a space. Use this
flag to
search for command articles only. To use the -f flag, a
root user
must have previously entered catman -w to create the
/usr/share/man/whatis file.
-F Display only the first matching entry.
Displays each line in the keyword database that con-
tains a string
of characters matching the title given as the final pa-
rameter. You
-k can enter more than one title, each separated by a
space. To use
the -k flag, a root user must have previously entered
catman
-w to create the /usr/share/man/whatis file.
-m Only search in the paths specified in MANPATH or -M.
Changes the standard location where the man command
searches for
manual information. The path is a colon-separated list
of paths,
where the following special symbols can be used:
-MPath * %D - The default AIX^(R) paths for man pages.
* %L - A locale-specific directory location corre-
sponding to the
LC_MESSAGES category of the current locale.
* %l - A locale-specific directory location corre-
sponding to the
first 2 characters of the LC_MESSAGES category of
the current.
Searches remotely for the manual information. If for
any reason the
remote search fails, then man performs a local search
for the
requested man page. Any of the following conditions can
cause the
remote search to fail:
* The remote machine is not reachable.
* There is a problem reading the URL.
* Java^(TM) is not installed or it is not found in
the user's
search path, specified in the PATH environment
variable.
-r
Note:
The DOCUMENT_SERVER_MACHINE_NAME environment variable
should be set
to the name of the documentation search server machine
the user
wants to use. If the AIX Base Documentation is not sup-
ported for
the host's locale, the man command searches for the
documentation
for an alternate locale. If the search is successful,
the
documentation page is displayed after conversion to the
local
host's locale. If the alternate locale is not installed
on the
local host, the man command fails to display the docu-
mentation
page.
Formats the manual information using the troff command.
This flag
-t is ignored if the manual page is found in a hypertext
information
base.
Exit Status
This command returns the following exit values:
0 Successful completion.
>0 An error occurred.
Examples
1. To display information about the grep command, enter:
man grep
2. To display information about the rpc_$register library
routine, enter:
man rpc_egister
3. To display all entries in the /usr/share/man/whatis key-
word database
that contain the "mkdir" string , enter:
man -k mkdir
The output is equivalent to the apropos command. You re-
ceive output
from the -k flag only when the /usr/share/man/whatis key-
word database
already exists.
4. To display all entries from the keyword database related
to the nroff
and troff commands, enter:
man -f nroff troff
The output is equivalent to the whatis command. You re-
ceive output
from the -f flag only when the /usr/share/man/whatis key-
word database
already exists.
5. To display all ftp command related articles in the
/usr/share/man or
/usr/share/man/local path, enter:
man -M/usr/share/man:/usr/share/man/local ftp
6. To display all matching entries, type the following:
man -a Title
7. To display only the first matching entry, type the follow-
ing:
man -F Title
8. To search only in the paths specified in MANPATH or -M,
type the
following:
man -m -M PATH Title
9. To search in the user-defined PATH, type the following:
man -M PATH Title
Files
/usr/bin/man Contains the man command.
/usr/share/man Standard manual directory structure.
/usr/share/man/cat?/* Directory containing preformatted
pages.
/usr/share/man/whatis Contains the keyword database.
/usr/share/man/man?/* Directory containing nroff format
manual pages.
Related Information
The apropos command, catman command, more command, whatis
command, whereis command.
________________________________________________________________________________
Commands Reference, Volume 3, i - m
man_Command
Purpose
Displays manual entries online.
Syntax
man [ [ [ -c ] [ -t ] [ Section ] ] | [ -k | -f ] ] [ -F ]
[ -m ] [ -MPath ] [ -r ] [ -a ] Title ...
Description
The man command provides reference information on topics, such
as
commands, subroutines, and files. The man command provides
one-line
descriptions of commands specified by name. The man command
also provides
information on all commands whose descriptions contain a set
of
user-specified keywords.
The man command formats a specified set of manual pages. If
you specify a
section for the Section parameter, the man command searches in
that
section of the manual pages for the title specified by the Ti-
tle
parameter. The value of the Section parameter can be either an
Arabic
number from 1 through 8 or a letter.
The Section letters are:
C Specifies commands (including system management com-
mands).
F Specifies file-type manual pages.
L Specifies library functions.
n Specifies new.
l Specifies local.
o Specifies old.
p Specifies public.
Note:
The n, l, o, and p section specifiers are not valid for read-
ing the
hypertext information bases, which contain the operating sys-
tem
documentation.
The Section numbers are:
1 Indicates user commands and daemons.
2 Indicates system calls and kernel services.
3 Indicates subroutines.
4 Indicates special files, device drivers, and hard-
ware.
5 Indicates configuration files.
6 Indicates games.
7 Indicates miscellaneous commands.
8 Indicates administrative commands and daemons.
Note:
The operating system documentation in the hypertext informa-
tion databases
is grouped into three sections only: command manual pages (in
section 1,
equivalent to section C), subroutine manual pages (in section
3,
equivalent to section L), and file manual pages (in section 4,
equivalent
to section F). When searching for hypertext information, spec-
ifying
section 1, 6, 7, or 8 will default to the command manual
pages, section 2
or 3 will default to the subroutine manual pages, and section
4 or 5 will
default to the file manual pages.
If the Section parameter is omitted, the man command searches
all sections
of the manual.
The search path the man command uses is a list of directories
separated by
a : (colon) in which manual subdirectories can be found. The
MANPATH
environment variable value is used for the default path. The
MANPATH
environment variable is not valid when reading the hypertext
information
bases.
The man command displays the manual pages as follows:
1. The man command searches the nroff directories (man?) un-
der the
/usr/share/man directory.
2. The man command searches the formatted version directories
(cat?)
under the /usr/share/man directory. If the formatted ver-
sion is
available, and if it has a more recent modify time than
the nroff
command source, the man command displays the formatted
version.
Otherwise, the manual page is formatted with the nroff
command and
displayed. If the user has permission, the formatted manu-
al page is
deposited in the proper place, so that later invocations
of the man
command do not format the page again.
Note:
There is no nroff source for the supplied manual pages.
However, you
can put nroff source for manual pages into the man direc-
tories and the
man command can locate and process the nroff source.
3. If the man command does not find a manual page in the
/usr/share/man/man or /usr/share/man/cat directory, the
man command
searches the paths specified through -M option or MANPATH
environment
variable for nroff directories (man?) and formatted ver-
sion
directories (cat?).
4. If the man command does not find a manual page in the
/usr/share/man/man or /usr/share/man/cat or the user-spec-
ified man/cat
directory, the man command reads from the hypertext infor-
mation bases.
The hypertext information bases reside in the
/usr/share/man/info
directory structure and contain the operating system docu-
mentation.
When reading from the hypertext databases, the man command
does not
put any manual pages in the /usr/share/man/cat directory
structure.
The man command converts the HTML file into a formatted
text file to
fit on the display, and displays the manual page using the
command
described by the PAGER environment variable.
5. If the man command does not find a manual page in hyper-
text
information bases reside in the /usr/share/man/info direc-
tory
structure, then it looks for user-specified hypertext in-
formation base
(through -M or MANPATH). The user-defined hypertext infor-
mation base,
should follow the following directory structure:
BasePath[/%{ L | l }]/DocLibraryname/Section/com-
mand_or_routine_or_filename.htm
Where:
* %L represents the ISO language notation specified us-
ing the
LC_MESSAGES, %l represents the first 2 characters of
the ISO
language notation specified using the LC_MESSAGES.
For example,
for LC_MESSAGES=en_US the documents can be placed in
Path/en_US
or Path/en.
* DocLibraryname represents the name of the documenta-
tion library.
* Section represents the section name, which must be
one of the
following:
* cmds -- Represents Commands Section
* libs -- Represents Library Section
* files -- Represents Files Section
Note:
If -m option is specified, then the search for manual
pages will be
done only in the order of paths specified through -M or
the MANPATH
environment variable.
When accessing the HTML databases, man looks for the operating
system
library before it proceeds to other LPP libraries. Within
these libraries,
it processes information in the following order:
cmds Commands Reference
libs Subroutines, System Calls
files Files Reference
If the standard output is a tty, the man command pipes its
output using
the more command with the -s and -v flags. The -s flag elimi-
nates
multiple blank lines and stops after each page on the screen.
The -v flag
suppresses the display of nonprinting characters to the
screen. To
continue scrolling, press the space bar. To scroll an addi-
tional 11 lines
when the output stops, press the Ctrl-D key sequence.
The PAGER environment variable can be set to whatever pager is
desired.
The default value is the more command. To change the default
pager,
enter:
PAGER=Somepager
export PAGER
For example, if there are customized manual pages which are
formatted with
reverse or fractional line feeds, the PAGER environment vari-
able may be
set to /usr/bin/pg so that the line feeds are not printed as
control
characters. This procedure is not necessary for the manual
pages.
When the man command uses a hypertext database, it can re-
trieve several
articles. For example, man open displays several articles. The
use of
SIGINT (Ctrl-C) exits the man command completely. On the other
hand, man
open close also displays several articles but the use of SIG-
INT (Ctrl-C)
causes man to display the close command information instead of
exiting.
Using SIGINT (Ctrl-C) again exits the man command completely.
When specifying one of the Network Computing System library
routines that
contains a $ (dollar sign) in its name, enter a (backslash)
preceding
the $.
Flags
-a Display all matching entries.
-c Displays the manual information using the cat command.
Displays entries in the keyword database related only
to the
command name given as the final parameter. You can en-
ter more than
-f one command name, each separated by a space. Use this
flag to
search for command articles only. To use the -f flag, a
root user
must have previously entered catman -w to create the
/usr/share/man/whatis file.
-F Display only the first matching entry.
Displays each line in the keyword database that con-
tains a string
of characters matching the title given as the final pa-
rameter. You
-k can enter more than one title, each separated by a
space. To use
the -k flag, a root user must have previously entered
catman
-w to create the /usr/share/man/whatis file.
-m Only search in the paths specified in MANPATH or -M.
Changes the standard location where the man command
searches for
manual information. The path is a colon-separated list
of paths,
where the following special symbols can be used:
-MPath * %D - The default AIX^(R) paths for man pages.
* %L - A locale-specific directory location corre-
sponding to the
LC_MESSAGES category of the current locale.
* %l - A locale-specific directory location corre-
sponding to the
first 2 characters of the LC_MESSAGES category of
the current.
Searches remotely for the manual information. If for
any reason the
remote search fails, then man performs a local search
for the
requested man page. Any of the following conditions can
cause the
remote search to fail:
* The remote machine is not reachable.
* There is a problem reading the URL.
* Java^(TM) is not installed or it is not found in
the user's
search path, specified in the PATH environment
variable.
-r
Note:
The DOCUMENT_SERVER_MACHINE_NAME environment variable
should be set
to the name of the documentation search server machine
the user
wants to use. If the AIX Base Documentation is not sup-
ported for
the host's locale, the man command searches for the
documentation
for an alternate locale. If the search is successful,
the
documentation page is displayed after conversion to the
local
host's locale. If the alternate locale is not installed
on the
local host, the man command fails to display the docu-
mentation
page.
Formats the manual information using the troff command.
This flag
-t is ignored if the manual page is found in a hypertext
information
base.
Exit Status
This command returns the following exit values:
0 Successful completion.
>0 An error occurred.
Examples
1. To display information about the grep command, enter:
man grep
2. To display information about the rpc_$register library
routine, enter:
man rpc_egister
3. To display all entries in the /usr/share/man/whatis key-
word database
that contain the "mkdir" string , enter:
man -k mkdir
The output is equivalent to the apropos command. You re-
ceive output
from the -k flag only when the /usr/share/man/whatis key-
word database
already exists.
4. To display all entries from the keyword database related
to the nroff
and troff commands, enter:
man -f nroff troff
The output is equivalent to the whatis command. You re-
ceive output
from the -f flag only when the /usr/share/man/whatis key-
word database
already exists.
5. To display all ftp command related articles in the
/usr/share/man or
/usr/share/man/local path, enter:
man -M/usr/share/man:/usr/share/man/local ftp
6. To display all matching entries, type the following:
man -a Title
7. To display only the first matching entry, type the follow-
ing:
man -F Title
8. To search only in the paths specified in MANPATH or -M,
type the
following:
man -m -M PATH Title
9. To search in the user-defined PATH, type the following:
man -M PATH Title
Files
/usr/bin/man Contains the man command.
/usr/share/man Standard manual directory structure.
/usr/share/man/cat?/* Directory containing preformatted
pages.
/usr/share/man/whatis Contains the keyword database.
/usr/share/man/man?/* Directory containing nroff format
manual pages.
Related Information
The apropos command, catman command, more command, whatis
command, whereis command.