man(1) — Commands
Digital
NAME
man − Displays reference pages
SYNOPSIS
man [−] [-M pathname] [-t] [section] title ...
man [-] [-M pathname] [-t] [section title ...]...
man [-M pathname] -f title ...
man [-M pathname] -k keyword ...
The man command displays reference pages for the command, system call, subroutine, or special file you name in the title argument.
FLAGS
-Does not pipe output through more.
-f titleDescribes the specified command, call, function, or special file name if the whatis keyword database exists. Performs the same function as the whatis command.
-k keywordLocates reference pages by keyword if the whatis keyword database exists. Performs the same function as the apropos command.
-M pathnameSpecifies an alternative search path.
-P pathnameSpecifies an alternative search path. (Provided for compatibility with other systems.)
-tUses troff instead of nroff to format the reference page if troff is available on your system.
DESCRIPTION
The man program provides online access to the system’s reference pages. If a section specifier is given, man looks in that reference section for the given titles. The section specifier is either a section number (0-9) or one of the letters C L F n l p o. Also, a specific section of the local manual can be specified by appending a number to the section; that is, 15 would indicate section 15 of the local manual. If section is omitted, man searches all sections, except 0 and 9, giving preference to commands over library subroutines, and displays the first reference page it finds, if any.
If section C or 1 is specified, man searches sections C, n, l, o, p, and 1 in that order. Sections 0 and 9 are not standard, but, if they exist, the man command will search them when they are specified.
The section argument can be followed by a multi-character 7-bit ASCII subsection starting with a character. If section is omitted, or if section is a single digit or single letter, man displays a matching page in the subsection that sorts first alphabetically whenever there are multiple matching pages. When section includes a subsection suffix (for example, 3sv), man searches only that section for the specified page.
The section and title arguments can be paired so that a series of pages can be searched for in a section or multiple sections can be searched for a page or pages.
Normally man checks in standard locations (/usr/share/man and /usr/local/man) for reference information. This behavior can be changed by supplying a search path with the -M flag. The search path is a colon-separated list of directories in which man expects to find the standard subdirectories (for example, /usr/share/man::/usr/local/man). This search path can also be set with the MANPATH environment variable.
If the standard output is a teletype and the - (single minus sign) flag is not provided, man uses more −svf command, or the pager provided by the PAGER environment variable, to display the reference page.
The FORTRAN version of Section 3 can be specified by supplying man with the section 3f.
If the specified reference page is not already formatted, but the source file exists, the man command processes the file through nroff using the macro package described in man(5) or rsml(5) and the lp device. If the appropriate /usr/share/man/can? directory or current appropriate $MANPATH directory/cat? exists, the formatted output is saved there and then displayed by the more command or the default pager to standard output (unless standard output is not a teletype or the - flag was specified). Saved formatted output is displayed by the more command or the default pager.
If the specified reference page is preformatted, but the source also exists and is more recent than the preformatted file, the source is reformatted and the preformatted file is replaced by the new version.
When a specified reference page is not formatted or is being reformatted again, an appropriate status message is displayed, unless the standard output is not a teletype device (for example, when the output from the man command is redirected to a file or piped to another command). on all teletype devices.
If the source file for the specified reference page exists and the first line of the file is one of the following two lines, the title2 reference page is displayed, assuming it exists:
.so man?/title2.section
.soman?/title2.section
The man command will reformat the title2 reference page, if necessary, and save the output in the file title2.section in the appropriate cat? directory, assuming the cat? directory exists. Such ".so man" source reference pages are known as "cross-reference" reference pages.
If the specified reference page is preformatted and stored in a "packed" format, the reference page is unpacked by the pcat command and displayed using more or the default pager. The unpacked output is not saved.
The man command automatically processes source files that contain tables or equations through tbl and neqn before invoking nroff. The man command always invokes nroff with the -Tlp option to format output for the term(4) lp device. If standard output is a teletype and the − flag is not specified, the output, or preformatted file, is displayed using more -svf, unless an alternate pager was specified or the MORE environment variable was set to a different set of more command options. The vf options are used in case the lp nroff device driver generates special device control codes.
RESTRICTIONS
The man command changes directory to /usr/share/man, /usr/local/man, or any directories specified with the -M flag or the MANPATH environment variable. Some reference pages assume this change of directory. Therefore, an attempt to format some reference pages can fail if any .so directives specifying partial pathnames do not start with man?/.
If a matching source reference page exists, but there is no matching preformatted reference page and the appropriate man/cat? directory does not exist, nroff will format the source file, but you will not be able to scroll backwards in the display.
The /usr/share/man/man? directories for Sections C, L, F, n, l, p, o, 0, and 9 are optional. Only your system administrator can create them.
The .../man/cat? directories are not required. Your system administrator can create them using the catman(1) command.
The man -f and man -k commands fail unless the whatis keyword database exists for the specified .../man directory. DEC OSF/1 does not provide an initial /usr/share/man/whatis file. Your system administrator creates the whatis file by invoking catman. The system administrator should use the -w option with catman whenever new reference pages are installed.
The -t option requires the installation of software not provided by Digital. Digital makes no guarantees about using such software.
Source reference pages for formatted for the nroff lp device. The lp device driver supplied with DEC OSF/1 is set to generate output for Digital Equipment Corporation devices as specified in term(4). If your system administrator changes the supplied setting for the lp device, all preformatted reference page files created by man or catman should be deleted and reformatted for the new lp device.
Preformatted reference pages may not be in a format suitable for printing on your hardcopy printers. To format a reference page for a specific printer, move to the reference page directory and issue a command such as the following:
% cd /usr/share/man
% tbl man1/ls.1 |neqn |nroff -Tdevice -man -h | lpr -Pmyprinter
Replace the device argument with /usr/share/lib/term/tabdevice, where device is the name of a device listed in term(4).
If the reference page has tables and the hardcopy device is not capable of reverse line movements, the reference page might not print properly.
If the MORE environment variable is set, it should include the v and f flags in order for preformatted reference pages to display properly.
However, preformatted reference pages might not be in a format suitable for display on non-Digital terminals. To format a reference page for a specified terminal, move to the reference page directory and issue a command such as the following:
% cd /usr/share/man
% tbl man1/ls.1 |neqn |nroff -Tdevice -man -h | more -svf
Replace the device argument with /usr/share/lib/term/tabdevice, where device is the name of a device listed in term(4).
DEC OSF/1 contains no nroff support for non-Digital terminals or printers.
FILES
/usr/share/manDefault reference page directory.
/usr/share/man/man?Directories containing nroff sources for reference pages.
/usr/share/man/cat?/∗Directories containing standard preformatted reference pages.
/usr/share/man/cat?/.zPacked preformatted reference pages (if any).
/usr/local/man/man?Directories containing nroff sources for local reference pages.
/usr/local/man/cat?/∗Directories containing local reference pages.
/usr/share/man/whatisThe whatis keyword database created by catman.
/usr/local/man/whatisLocal whatis keyword database created by catman.
pathname/manDirectory containing reference page information to be searched when the -M flag is specified or when the MANPATH environment variable is set. This directory is assumed to have the same organization as /usr/share/man.
RELATED INFORMATION
Commands: apropos(1), catman(1), more(1), neqn(1), nroff(1), page(1), pcat(1), tbl(1), whatis(1), whereis(1), man(5), rsml(5)