xref: /netbsd-src/usr.bin/man/man.1 (revision e4d7c2e329d54c97e0c0bd3016bbe74f550c3d5e)
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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 Ar section
50.Ar name Ar ...
51.Nm ""
52.Op Fl k
53.Op Fl C Ar file
54.Op Fl M Ar path
55.Op Fl m Ar path
56.Ar keyword Ar ...
57.Sh DESCRIPTION
58The
59.Nm
60utility
61displays the
62.Bx
63man pages entitled
64.Ar name .
65.Pp
66The options are as follows:
67.Bl -tag -width indent
68.It Fl a
69Display all of the man pages for a specified
70.Ar section
71and
72.Ar name
73combination.
74(Normally, only the first man page found is displayed.)
75.It Fl C
76Use the specified
77.Ar file
78instead of the default configuration file.
79This permits users to configure their own man environment.
80See
81.Xr man.conf 5
82for a description of the contents of this file.
83.It Fl c
84Copy the man page to the standard output instead of using
85.Xr more 1
86to paginate it.
87This is done by default if the standard output is not a terminal device.
88.It Fl h
89Display only the
90.Dq Tn SYNOPSIS
91lines of the requested man pages,
92in the same manner as
93.Xr whatis 1 .
94.It Fl k
95Display the header lines for any man pages matching
96.Ar keyword Ns Pq s ,
97in the same manner as
98.Xr apropos 1 .
99.It Fl M
100Override the list of standard directories which
101.Nm
102searches for man pages.
103The supplied
104.Ar path
105must be a colon (``:'') separated list of directories.
106This search path may also be set using the environment variable
107.Ev MANPATH .
108The subdirectories to be searched, and their search order,
109is specified by the ``_subdir'' line in the
110.Nm
111configuration file.
112.It Fl m
113Augment the list of standard directories which
114.Nm
115searches for man pages.
116The supplied
117.Ar path
118must be a colon (``:'') separated list of directories.
119These directories will be searched before the standard directories or
120the directories specified using the
121.Fl M
122option or the
123.Ev MANPATH
124environment variable.
125The subdirectories to be searched, and their search order,
126is specified by the ``_subdir'' line in the
127.Nm
128configuration file.
129.It Fl w
130List the pathnames of the man pages which
131.Nm
132would display for the specified
133.Ar section
134and
135.Ar name
136combination.
137.El
138.Pp
139The optional
140.Ar section
141argument restricts the directories that
142.Nm
143will search.
144The
145.Nm
146configuration file (see
147.Xr man.conf 5 )
148specifies the possible
149.Ar section
150values that are currently available.
151Except when used with the
152.Ql Fl k
153option,
154if only a single argument is specified or if the first argument is
155not a valid section,
156.Nm
157assumes that the argument is the name of a man page to be displayed.
158.Sh ENVIRONMENT
159.Bl -tag -width MANPATHX
160.It Ev MACHINE
161As some man pages are intended only for specific architectures,
162.Nm
163searches any subdirectories,
164with the same name as the current architecture,
165in every directory which it searches.
166Machine specific areas are checked before general areas.
167The current machine type may be overridden by setting the environment
168variable
169.Ev MACHINE
170to the name of a specific architecture.
171.It Ev MANPATH
172The standard search path used by
173.Nm
174may be overridden by specifying a path in the
175.Ev MANPATH
176environment
177variable.
178The format of the path is a colon (``:'') separated list of directories.
179The subdirectories to be searched as well as their search order
180is specified by the ``_subdir'' line in the
181.Nm
182configuration file.
183.It Ev PAGER
184The pagination command used for writing the output.
185If the
186.Ev PAGER
187environment variable is null or not set, the standard pagination program
188.Xr more 1
189will be used.
190.El
191.Sh FILES
192.Bl -hang -width /etc/man.conf -compact
193.It Pa /etc/man.conf
194default man configuration file.
195.It Pa /usr/{share,X11R6,X11,pkg,local}/man/whatis.db
196standard whatis/apropos database search path,
197set in
198.Pa /etc/man.conf Ns .
199.El
200.Sh SEE ALSO
201.Xr apropos 1 ,
202.Xr whatis 1 ,
203.Xr whereis 1 ,
204.Xr man.conf 5 ,
205.Xr mdoc 7 ,
206.Xr mdoc.samples 7
207.Sh STANDARDS
208.Nm ""
209conforms to
210.St -xcu5 .
211.\"and is expected to conform to
212.\".St -p1003.2-?? .
213.Sh BUGS
214The on-line man pages are, by necessity, forgiving toward stupid
215display devices, causing a few man pages to be not as nicely formatted
216their typeset counterparts.
217