xref: /netbsd-src/usr.bin/man/man.1 (revision 4472dbe5e3bd91ef2540bada7a7ca7384627ff9b)
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34.\"     @(#)man.1	8.2 (Berkeley) 1/2/94
35.\"
36.Dd January 2, 1994
37.Dt MAN 1
38.Os
39.Sh NAME
40.Nm man
41.Nd display the on-line manual pages
42.Pq aka Dq Em man pages
43.Sh SYNOPSIS
44.Nm ""
45.Oo Fl acw Ns \&| Ns Fl h Oc
46.Op Fl C Ar file
47.Op Fl M Ar path
48.Op Fl m Ar path
49.Op Fl S Ar srch
50.Op Ar section
51.Ar name Ar ...
52.Nm ""
53.Op Fl k
54.Op Fl C Ar file
55.Op Fl M Ar path
56.Op Fl m Ar path
57.Ar keyword Ar ...
58.Sh DESCRIPTION
59The
60.Nm
61utility
62displays the
63.Bx
64man pages entitled
65.Ar name .
66.Pp
67The options are as follows:
68.Bl -tag -width indent
69.It Fl a
70Display all of the man pages for a specified
71.Ar section
72and
73.Ar name
74combination.
75(Normally, only the first man page found is displayed.)
76.It Fl C
77Use the specified
78.Ar file
79instead of the default configuration file.
80This permits users to configure their own man environment.
81See
82.Xr man.conf 5
83for a description of the contents of this file.
84.It Fl c
85Copy the man page to the standard output instead of using
86.Xr more 1
87to paginate it.
88This is done by default if the standard output is not a terminal device.
89.It Fl h
90Display only the
91.Dq Tn SYNOPSIS
92lines of the requested man pages,
93in the same manner as
94.Xr whatis 1 .
95.It Fl k
96Display the header lines for any man pages matching
97.Ar keyword Ns Pq s ,
98in the same manner as
99.Xr apropos 1 .
100.It Fl M
101Override the list of standard directories which
102.Nm
103searches for man pages.
104The supplied
105.Ar path
106must be a colon (``:'') separated list of directories.
107This search path may also be set using the environment variable
108.Ev MANPATH .
109The subdirectories to be searched, and their search order,
110is specified by the ``_subdir'' line in the
111.Nm
112configuration file.
113.It Fl m
114Augment the list of standard directories which
115.Nm
116searches for man pages.
117The supplied
118.Ar path
119must be a colon (``:'') separated list of directories.
120These directories will be searched before the standard directories or
121the directories specified using the
122.Fl M
123option or the
124.Ev MANPATH
125environment variable.
126The subdirectories to be searched, and their search order,
127is specified by the ``_subdir'' line in the
128.Nm
129configuration file.
130.It Fl S
131Display only man pages that have the specified string in their
132filenames.  This allows the man page search process criteria to be
133narrowed without having to change the MANPATH or ``_default''
134variables.
135.It Fl w
136List the pathnames of the man pages which
137.Nm
138would display for the specified
139.Ar section
140and
141.Ar name
142combination.
143.El
144.Pp
145The optional
146.Ar section
147argument restricts the directories that
148.Nm
149will search.
150The
151.Nm
152configuration file (see
153.Xr man.conf 5 )
154specifies the possible
155.Ar section
156values that are currently available.
157Except when used with the
158.Ql Fl k
159option,
160if only a single argument is specified or if the first argument is
161not a valid section,
162.Nm
163assumes that the argument is the name of a man page to be displayed.
164.Sh ENVIRONMENT
165.Bl -tag -width MANPATHX
166.It Ev MACHINE
167As some man pages are intended only for specific architectures,
168.Nm
169searches any subdirectories,
170with the same name as the current architecture,
171in every directory which it searches.
172Machine specific areas are checked before general areas.
173The current machine type may be overridden by setting the environment
174variable
175.Ev MACHINE
176to the name of a specific architecture.
177.It Ev MANPATH
178The standard search path used by
179.Nm
180may be overridden by specifying a path in the
181.Ev MANPATH
182environment
183variable.
184The format of the path is a colon (``:'') separated list of directories.
185The subdirectories to be searched as well as their search order
186is specified by the ``_subdir'' line in the
187.Nm
188configuration file.
189.It Ev PAGER
190The pagination command used for writing the output.
191If the
192.Ev PAGER
193environment variable is null or not set, the standard pagination program
194.Xr more 1
195will be used.
196.El
197.Sh FILES
198.Bl -hang -width /etc/man.conf -compact
199.It Pa /etc/man.conf
200default man configuration file.
201.It Pa /usr/{share,X11R6,X11,pkg,local}/man/whatis.db
202standard whatis/apropos database search path,
203set in
204.Pa /etc/man.conf Ns .
205.El
206.Sh SEE ALSO
207.Xr apropos 1 ,
208.Xr whatis 1 ,
209.Xr whereis 1 ,
210.Xr man.conf 5 ,
211.Xr mdoc 7 ,
212.Xr mdoc.samples 7
213.Sh STANDARDS
214.Nm ""
215conforms to
216.St -xcu5 .
217.\"and is expected to conform to
218.\".St -p1003.2-?? .
219.Sh BUGS
220The on-line man pages are, by necessity, forgiving toward stupid
221display devices, causing a few man pages to be not as nicely formatted
222their typeset counterparts.
223