Knowledge

man page

Source 📝

169: 154: 38: 318: 2768: 2790: 278:, but have since not drastically changed). At the time, the availability of online documentation through the manual page system was regarded as a great advance. To this day, virtually every Unix command line application comes with a man page, and many Unix users perceive a program's lack of man pages as a sign of low quality; indeed, some projects, such as 799:
Some sections are further subdivided by means of a suffix; for example, in some systems, section 3C is for C library calls, 3M is for the math library, and so on. A consequence of this is that section 8 (system administration commands) is sometimes relegated to the 1M subsection of the main commands
183:), documentation was printed pages, available on the premises to users (staff, students...), organized into steel binders, locked together in one monolithic steel reading rack, bolted to a table or counter, with pages organized for modular information updates, replacement, errata, and addenda. 957:
does emit them as requested when it detects a supporting terminal. The BSD mandoc however only supports bold and underlined (as a replacement for italics) text via the typewriter backspace-then-overstrike sequence, which needs to be translated into ECMA-48 by
949:, this distinction is usually moot because man pages are viewed in the terminal (TTY) instead of laid out on paper. As a result, the "small font" macro is seldom used. On the other hand, bold and italic text is supported by the terminal via 973:
output and some additional content to generate a manual page. The manual would be barely more useful than the said output, but for GNU programs this is not an issue as texinfo is the main documentation system. A number of tools, including
896:
Other sections may be present, but these are not well standardized across man pages. Common examples include: OPTIONS, EXIT STATUS, RETURN VALUE, ENVIRONMENT, BUGS, FILES, AUTHOR, REPORTING BUGS, HISTORY and COPYRIGHT.
456:. The section refers to different ways the topic might be referenced - for example, as a system call, or a shell (command line) command or package, or a package's configuration file, or as a coding construct / header. 929:
language is more semantic in nature, and contains specialized macros for most standard sections such as program name, synopsis, function names, and the name of the authors. This information can be used to implement a
873:
In the case of a command, a formal description of how to run it and what command line options it takes. For program functions, a list of the parameters the function takes and which header file contains its
938:. Although it also includes directives to directly control the styling, it is expected that the specialized macros will cover most of the use-cases. Both the mandoc and the groff projects consider 1282: 1418: 719:
APIs are present in both sections 2 and 3, where section 2 contains APIs that are implemented as system calls and section 3 contains APIs that are implemented as library routines.
1334: 1308: 1360: 432:
For Linux, a man7.org service has been set up to serve manuals specific to the system. A ManKier service provides a wider selection, and integrates the TLDR pages too.
2026: 363:
command, which enables users to browse their man pages using an HTML browser. Systems with groff and man-db should use the higher-quality native HTML output (
224:), and others more detailed descriptions of operating system features. The printed version of the manual initially fit into a single binder, but as of 1449: 925:
functions, with directives for the title line, section headers, (bold, small or italic) fonts, paragraphs and adding/reducing indentation. The newer
1680: 1278: 1810: 2087: 2004: 1981: 1387: 1842: 1410: 301:
in the man-db version of the man command that would cause the command to return "gimme gimme gimme" when run at 00:30 (a reference to the
1951: 1150: 306: 1872: 1709: 1330: 1304: 994:
has an inbuilt man(7) converter – of appalling quality, according to mandoc's author who wrote a separate mdoc(7) converter.
2156: 1650: 239:
Later versions of the documentation imitated the first man pages' terseness. Ritchie added a "How to get started" section to the
1356: 180: 1252: 421:
service launched, which unified and shortened access to the man.cgi scripts of the major modern BSD projects through a unique
402:, and the terminal. It is meant to only support a subset of troff used in manual pages, specifically those using mdoc macros. 1506: 1221: 1189: 997:
Man pages are usually written in English, but translations into other languages may be available on the system. The GNU
2123: 1921: 2816: 965:
Some tools have been used to convert documents in a less contrived format to manual pages. Examples include GNU's
2821: 2781: 2776: 2826: 283: 2131:, freebsd.org – has also man pages for Darwin, Debian, HP-UX, IRIS, NetBSD, OpenBSD, NextSTEP, SunOS and more 1618: 1535: 1441: 255:
Editions. Versions of the software were named after the revision of the manual; the seventh edition of the
2134: 2617: 2149: 1084: 503:. The syntax for accessing the non-default manual section varies between different man implementations. 344:
man (appearance oriented) or mdoc (semantic oriented). This makes it possible to typeset a man page into
17: 860:
text display, possibly without any form of highlighting or font control. Sections present may include:
708: 286:
also distribute man pages as one of the primary forms of system documentation (having replaced the old
1672: 2753: 2723: 753: 309:. It was introduced in 2011 but first restricted and then removed in 2017 after finally being found. 2738: 1047: 349: 329: 217: 1802: 509: 2079: 1996: 1973: 1894: 1383: 2342: 2332: 459:
The same page name may appear in more than one section of the manual, such as when the names of
2794: 2499: 2168: 2142: 1834: 1734: 62: 2055: 1943: 1562: 1142: 451: 1476: 1079: 282:, go out of their way to write man pages for programs lacking one. The modern descendants of 2831: 2669: 1864: 8: 704: 627: 601: 464: 410:
Quite a few websites offer online access to manual pages from various Unix-like systems.
96: 81: 1822:
Concurrent with work on man(7), mdoc(7) will be actively supported and its use promoted.
1701: 867:
The name of the command or function, followed by a one-line description of what it does.
631: 298: 46: 1642: 837:(Section 3 tends to be the exception with the many suffixes for different languages.) 553:
The manual is generally split into eight numbered sections. Most systems today (e.g.
448:
Pages are traditionally referred to using the notation "name(section)": for example,
856:
All man pages follow a common layout that is optimized for presentation on a simple
274:
macros (which were completely revised between the Sixth and Seventh Editions of the
196:
was first published on November 3, 1971. The first actual man pages were written by
2569: 2474: 2469: 390:, a specialised compiler/formatter for man pages with native support for output in 168: 153: 89: 77: 73: 1182:
A Research Unix reader: annotated excerpts from the Programmer's Manual, 1971–1986
2748: 2692: 2597: 2398: 2301: 2076: 1473:"mdoc.su — Short manual page URLs for FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD and DragonFly BSD" 931: 828: 791: 205: 187: 1217: 139:
command does not require internet access, dating back to the times when printed
2687: 2622: 2607: 2544: 2504: 2383: 2347: 2241: 2117: 1180: 1097: 844:
cache the formatted versions of the last several pages viewed. One form is the
779: 566: 426: 263: 252: 248: 244: 240: 229: 197: 112: 107: 986:
format, as Markdown is not expressive enough to match the semantic content of
37: 2810: 2728: 2589: 2524: 2296: 2271: 2172: 1498: 648: 574: 570: 236:, it was split into two volumes with the printed man pages forming Volume 1. 233: 2702: 2602: 2519: 2514: 2418: 2327: 2291: 2246: 2164: 1176: 644: 341: 317: 201: 1865:"Italics and colour in manual pages on a nosh user-space virtual terminal" 800:
section. Some subsection suffixes have a general meaning across sections:
2638: 2612: 2549: 2539: 2529: 2494: 2484: 2479: 2362: 2352: 2306: 1090: 1018: 742: 679: 661: 614: 468: 460: 141: 118: 85: 1917: 2454: 2413: 2216: 2186: 2111: 1757: 1040: 1032: 946: 675: 391: 345: 2128: 2743: 2697: 2677: 2574: 2554: 2509: 2357: 2281: 2266: 2251: 2236: 2231: 2226: 2221: 1028: 922: 739: 368: 70: 31: 1005:
is known to search for localized manual pages under subdirectories.
880:
A textual description of the functioning of the command or function.
2439: 1253:"The Unix Tutorial / Part 3: Unix in the Microcomputer Marketplace" 1039:) that provides simple examples for common use cases, similar to a 979: 225: 213: 88:), formal standards and conventions, and even abstract concepts. A 2018: 2464: 2388: 1900: 1740: 1610: 1568: 1414: 1113: 1023: 991: 950: 379: 375:(from "WithOut man") allows to browse man pages from the editor. 322: 192: 172: 1780: 1588: 1527: 1058:
development environments) now provide end-user documentation in
482: 474: 2449: 2191: 1103: 1066:
for reading the help within the application. An HTML system in
975: 945:
Although man pages are, to troff, text laid out using 10-point
935: 764: 541: 387: 279: 259:, for example, came with the 7th Edition or Version 7 of Unix. 131: 722:
On some systems some of the following sections are available:
2682: 2579: 2559: 2489: 2408: 2311: 2286: 2261: 2211: 2206: 2201: 2196: 1786: 1763: 1594: 1121: 1067: 1051: 1017:
have enjoyed much popularity, with the possible exception of
857: 817: 716: 562: 558: 422: 399: 383: 337: 267: 2080:"Re: [Groff] man pages (tangential to Future Redux)" 1907:. "Font styles are applied by using back-spaced encoding..." 506:
On Solaris and illumos, for example, the syntax for reading
498: 490: 2733: 2707: 2643: 2564: 2459: 2444: 2403: 2393: 2337: 2165: 1117: 1108: 1059: 525:
On Linux and BSD derivatives the same invocation would be:
440:
To read a manual page for a Unix command, a user can type:
395: 356: 302: 221: 66: 2534: 2434: 2378: 2276: 1055: 775: 554: 414: 161: 2256: 2019:"command line - Linux man pages in different languages" 1384:"WoMan: Browse Unix Manual Pages "W.O. (without) Man"" 175:
section 8 intro man page, displaying in a text console
1411:"FreeBSD Quarterly Status Report, January-March 2013" 1331:"GIT commit b225d9e76fbb0a6a4539c0992fba88c83f0bd37e" 1305:"GIT commit 84bde8d8a9a357bd372793d25746ac6b49480525" 1279:"GIT commit 002a6339b1fe8f83f4808022a17e1aa379756d99" 1031:
system. There is also a third-party effort known as
352:, and various other formats for viewing or printing. 212:
also accumulated a set of short papers, some of them
1357:""Why does man print "gimme gimme gimme" at 00:30?"" 247:
provided the "Purple Card" pocket reference for the
2047: 1993:– for specific complaints by the author, see 1997:"Re: Groff man pages (tangential to Future Redux)" 1472: 418: 1050:applications (particularly those built using the 2808: 135:form of software documentation, even though the 2114:for a primary-source history of UNIX man pages. 1611:"Manual Pages for Research Unix Eighth Edition" 266:Edition the man pages were formatted using the 1218:"UNIX Evolution: 1975-1984 Part I - Diversity" 905:Manual pages can be written either in the old 2150: 2120:with nearly 300,000 well formatted man pages. 1994: 1349: 1250: 1471:Murenin, Constantine A. (23 February 2013). 1442:"announcing mdoc.su, short manual page URLs" 1440:Murenin, Constantine A. (19 February 2013). 1244: 1211: 1209: 978:, ronn, and md2man support conversion from 647:(usually devices, those found in /dev) and 569:11.4) inherit the numbering scheme used by 307:Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) 2789: 2157: 2143: 1188:(Technical report). CSTR. Bell Labs. 139. 1062:and include embedded HTML viewers such as 982:to manual pages. All these tools emit the 1971: 1728: 1726: 1643:"Unix Programmer's Manual - Introduction" 1215: 1135: 848:, simply piped to the pager for display. 1974:"New mandoc -mdoc -T markdown converter" 1206: 1171: 1169: 1167: 942:the preferred format for new documents. 892:A list of related commands or functions. 316: 220:programming language, and tools such as 167: 152: 36: 2124:What do the numbers in a man page mean? 1637: 1635: 1556: 1554: 1552: 1470: 1439: 1175: 208:in 1971. Aside from the man pages, the 14: 2809: 1723: 630:functions, covering in particular the 386:for formatting man pages in favour of 125:Man pages are often referred to as an 2138: 1845:from the original on 24 December 2019 1582: 1580: 1479:from the original on 17 December 2014 1421:from the original on 22 December 2014 1390:from the original on 11 November 2020 1363:from the original on 21 November 2017 1311:from the original on 5 September 2018 1164: 92:may invoke a man page by issuing the 1632: 1549: 1408: 1375: 1337:from the original on 9 November 2020 1285:from the original on 4 December 2017 164:application for viewing manual pages 2075: 1297: 1271: 1070:is also slated to replace texinfo. 336:The default format of man pages is 270:typesetting package and its set of 204:at the insistence of their manager 24: 2118:UNIX and Linux Man Page Repository 1995:Ingo Schwarze (28 February 2014). 1944:"Man Pages (GNU Coding Standards)" 1603: 1577: 1452:from the original on 7 August 2014 1381: 913:macros, or a combination of both ( 548: 405: 216:(e.g. for general Unix usage, the 25: 2843: 2105: 1924:from the original on 6 March 2023 1653:from the original on June 1, 2020 1224:from the original on 17 July 2012 2788: 2767: 2766: 2007:from the original on 2023-03-05. 1803:"Groff Mission Statement - 2014" 1409:Pali, Gabor, ed. (12 May 2013). 1216:Darwin, Ian; Collyer, Geoffrey. 934:for manuals by programs such as 756:routines (FreeBSD, SVR4, Linux) 435: 429:service for the *BSD man pages. 417:community saw a new open source 190:, no documentation existed. The 2090:from the original on 2023-03-05 2069: 2058:from the original on 2020-04-27 2040: 2029:from the original on 2023-03-11 2011: 1984:from the original on 2023-03-05 1965: 1954:from the original on 2023-03-05 1936: 1910: 1886: 1875:from the original on 2021-01-28 1857: 1827: 1813:from the original on 2020-12-03 1795: 1772: 1749: 1712:from the original on 2023-03-11 1694: 1683:from the original on 2020-08-03 1665: 1621:from the original on 2020-06-30 1538:from the original on 2020-04-25 1520: 1509:from the original on 2020-05-07 1491: 1464: 1433: 1402: 1195:from the original on 2017-11-11 1153:from the original on 2023-01-30 1147:FreeBSD General Commands Manual 1008: 545:in section 3 of the man pages. 359:systems have a package for the 1702:"lapack (l) - Linux Man Pages" 1323: 1251:Fiedler, Ryan (October 1983). 1027:" system, an early and simple 886:Some examples of common usage. 186:In the first two years of the 13: 1: 1128: 312: 1673:"System V release 4 manuals" 900: 45:utility, as seen in various 7: 1918:"help2man Reference Manual" 1677:bitsavers.trailing-edge.com 1085:List of Plan 9 applications 1073: 921:macro set provides minimal 27:Unix software documentation 10: 2848: 2097:– via lists.gnu.org. 1743:Miscellaneous Information 328:manual page, typeset into 148: 29: 2762: 2716: 2668: 2652: 2631: 2588: 2427: 2371: 2320: 2179: 1002: 998: 987: 983: 970: 966: 959: 954: 939: 926: 918: 914: 910: 906: 851: 76:. Topics covered include 2112:History of UNIX Manpages 1499:"Linux man pages online" 1234:Originally published in 577:uses a different order: 527: 516: 444:man<command_name> 442: 257:Unix Programmer's Manual 193:Unix Programmer's Manual 30:Not to be confused with 2817:Technical communication 1446:freebsd-doc@freebsd.org 1046:In addition, some Unix 471:coincide. Examples are 145:manuals were the norm. 122:to display its output. 2822:Unix SUS2008 utilities 2782:Unix SUS2008 utilities 2777:Standard Unix programs 2169:command-line interface 703:System administration 413:In February 2013, the 333: 290:macros with the newer 176: 165: 63:software documentation 50: 2827:Plan 9 from Bell Labs 1124:graphical man utility 1080:List of Unix commands 425:-based deterministic 320: 171: 156: 41:The man page for the 40: 2670:Software development 2129:FreeBSD Manual Pages 1839:The GNU Troff Manual 1706:www.systutorials.com 1649:. November 3, 1971. 1241:(11), November 1984. 1013:Few alternatives to 1382:Wright, Francis J. 539:which searches for 297:There was a hidden 210:Programmer's Manual 179:Before Unix (e.g., 65:usually found on a 47:Linux distributions 767:library functions 632:C standard library 340:, with either the 334: 243:introduction, and 177: 166: 51: 2804: 2803: 1903:General Commands 1647:www.bell-labs.com 1597:General Commands 1571:General Commands 840:Some versions of 835: 834: 797: 796: 714: 713: 106:typically uses a 78:computer programs 16:(Redirected from 2839: 2792: 2791: 2770: 2769: 2372:User environment 2159: 2152: 2145: 2136: 2135: 2099: 2098: 2096: 2095: 2086:(Mailing list). 2077:Raymond, Eric S. 2073: 2067: 2066: 2064: 2063: 2044: 2038: 2037: 2035: 2034: 2015: 2009: 2008: 2003:(Mailing list). 1992: 1990: 1989: 1969: 1963: 1962: 1960: 1959: 1940: 1934: 1933: 1931: 1929: 1914: 1908: 1898: 1897: 1890: 1884: 1883: 1881: 1880: 1861: 1855: 1854: 1852: 1850: 1831: 1825: 1824: 1819: 1818: 1799: 1793: 1784: 1783: 1776: 1770: 1761: 1760: 1753: 1747: 1738: 1737: 1730: 1721: 1720: 1718: 1717: 1698: 1692: 1691: 1689: 1688: 1669: 1663: 1662: 1660: 1658: 1639: 1630: 1629: 1627: 1626: 1607: 1601: 1592: 1591: 1584: 1575: 1566: 1565: 1558: 1547: 1546: 1544: 1543: 1524: 1518: 1517: 1515: 1514: 1495: 1489: 1488: 1486: 1484: 1468: 1462: 1461: 1459: 1457: 1448:(Mailing list). 1437: 1431: 1430: 1428: 1426: 1406: 1400: 1399: 1397: 1395: 1379: 1373: 1372: 1370: 1368: 1353: 1347: 1346: 1344: 1342: 1327: 1321: 1320: 1318: 1316: 1301: 1295: 1294: 1292: 1290: 1275: 1269: 1268: 1266: 1264: 1248: 1242: 1233: 1231: 1229: 1213: 1204: 1203: 1201: 1200: 1194: 1187: 1173: 1162: 1161: 1159: 1158: 1139: 1100: 1093: 1065: 1038: 1026: 1016: 1004: 1000: 989: 985: 972: 969:, which takes a 968: 961: 956: 941: 928: 920: 916: 912: 909:macros, the new 908: 843: 803: 802: 725: 724: 664:and conventions 580: 579: 535: 532: 521: 513: 512: 502: 501: 494: 493: 486: 485: 478: 477: 455: 454: 366: 362: 327: 293: 289: 273: 138: 121: 115: 110:program such as 105: 95: 74:operating system 44: 21: 2847: 2846: 2842: 2841: 2840: 2838: 2837: 2836: 2807: 2806: 2805: 2800: 2758: 2712: 2664: 2648: 2627: 2584: 2428:Text processing 2423: 2367: 2316: 2175: 2163: 2108: 2103: 2102: 2093: 2091: 2074: 2070: 2061: 2059: 2046: 2045: 2041: 2032: 2030: 2017: 2016: 2012: 1987: 1985: 1972:Ingo Schwarze. 1970: 1966: 1957: 1955: 1942: 1941: 1937: 1927: 1925: 1916: 1915: 1911: 1893: 1892: 1891: 1887: 1878: 1876: 1863: 1862: 1858: 1848: 1846: 1833: 1832: 1828: 1816: 1814: 1801: 1800: 1796: 1779: 1778: 1777: 1773: 1756: 1755: 1754: 1750: 1733: 1732: 1731: 1724: 1715: 1713: 1700: 1699: 1695: 1686: 1684: 1671: 1670: 1666: 1656: 1654: 1641: 1640: 1633: 1624: 1622: 1609: 1608: 1604: 1587: 1586: 1585: 1578: 1561: 1560: 1559: 1550: 1541: 1539: 1526: 1525: 1521: 1512: 1510: 1497: 1496: 1492: 1482: 1480: 1469: 1465: 1455: 1453: 1438: 1434: 1424: 1422: 1407: 1403: 1393: 1391: 1380: 1376: 1366: 1364: 1355: 1354: 1350: 1340: 1338: 1329: 1328: 1324: 1314: 1312: 1303: 1302: 1298: 1288: 1286: 1277: 1276: 1272: 1262: 1260: 1249: 1245: 1227: 1225: 1214: 1207: 1198: 1196: 1192: 1185: 1174: 1165: 1156: 1154: 1141: 1140: 1136: 1131: 1096: 1089: 1076: 1063: 1036: 1022: 1014: 1011: 1001:and the mandoc 932:semantic search 903: 854: 841: 829:X Window System 820:specifications 792:X Window System 551: 549:Manual sections 537: 536: 533: 530: 523: 522: 519: 508: 507: 497: 496: 489: 488: 481: 480: 473: 472: 450: 449: 446: 445: 438: 408: 406:Online services 367:) instead. The 364: 360: 325: 315: 291: 287: 271: 188:history of Unix 151: 136: 117: 111: 103: 93: 61:) is a form of 42: 35: 28: 23: 22: 15: 12: 11: 5: 2845: 2835: 2834: 2829: 2824: 2819: 2802: 2801: 2799: 2798: 2786: 2785: 2784: 2779: 2763: 2760: 2759: 2757: 2756: 2754:true and false 2751: 2746: 2741: 2736: 2731: 2726: 2720: 2718: 2714: 2713: 2711: 2710: 2705: 2700: 2695: 2690: 2685: 2680: 2674: 2672: 2666: 2665: 2663: 2662: 2656: 2654: 2650: 2649: 2647: 2646: 2641: 2635: 2633: 2629: 2628: 2626: 2625: 2620: 2615: 2610: 2605: 2600: 2594: 2592: 2590:Shell builtins 2586: 2585: 2583: 2582: 2577: 2572: 2567: 2562: 2557: 2552: 2547: 2542: 2537: 2532: 2527: 2522: 2517: 2512: 2507: 2502: 2497: 2492: 2487: 2482: 2477: 2472: 2467: 2462: 2457: 2452: 2447: 2442: 2437: 2431: 2429: 2425: 2424: 2422: 2421: 2416: 2411: 2406: 2401: 2396: 2391: 2386: 2381: 2375: 2373: 2369: 2368: 2366: 2365: 2360: 2355: 2350: 2345: 2340: 2335: 2330: 2324: 2322: 2318: 2317: 2315: 2314: 2309: 2304: 2299: 2294: 2289: 2284: 2279: 2274: 2269: 2264: 2259: 2254: 2249: 2244: 2239: 2234: 2229: 2224: 2219: 2214: 2209: 2204: 2199: 2194: 2189: 2183: 2181: 2177: 2176: 2173:shell builtins 2162: 2161: 2154: 2147: 2139: 2133: 2132: 2126: 2121: 2115: 2107: 2106:External links 2104: 2101: 2100: 2068: 2039: 2010: 1964: 1935: 1909: 1885: 1856: 1826: 1794: 1771: 1748: 1722: 1693: 1664: 1631: 1602: 1576: 1548: 1519: 1490: 1463: 1432: 1401: 1374: 1348: 1322: 1296: 1270: 1243: 1205: 1177:McIlroy, M. D. 1163: 1133: 1132: 1130: 1127: 1126: 1125: 1111: 1106: 1101: 1094: 1087: 1082: 1075: 1072: 1010: 1007: 953:, and groff's 902: 899: 894: 893: 890: 887: 884: 881: 878: 875: 871: 868: 865: 853: 850: 833: 832: 831:documentation 826: 822: 821: 815: 811: 810: 807: 795: 794: 788: 784: 783: 773: 769: 768: 762: 758: 757: 751: 747: 746: 737: 733: 732: 729: 712: 711: 701: 698: 694: 693: 692:Miscellaneous 690: 687: 683: 682: 673: 670: 666: 665: 659: 656: 652: 651: 642: 639: 635: 634: 625: 622: 618: 617: 612: 609: 605: 604: 598: 595: 591: 590: 587: 584: 550: 547: 528: 517: 469:macro packages 443: 437: 434: 427:URL shortening 407: 404: 314: 311: 245:Lorinda Cherry 198:Dennis Ritchie 150: 147: 108:terminal pager 26: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 2844: 2833: 2830: 2828: 2825: 2823: 2820: 2818: 2815: 2814: 2812: 2797: 2796: 2787: 2783: 2780: 2778: 2775: 2774: 2773: 2765: 2764: 2761: 2755: 2752: 2750: 2747: 2745: 2742: 2740: 2737: 2735: 2732: 2730: 2727: 2725: 2722: 2721: 2719: 2717:Miscellaneous 2715: 2709: 2706: 2704: 2701: 2699: 2696: 2694: 2691: 2689: 2686: 2684: 2681: 2679: 2676: 2675: 2673: 2671: 2667: 2661: 2658: 2657: 2655: 2653:Documentation 2651: 2645: 2642: 2640: 2637: 2636: 2634: 2630: 2624: 2621: 2619: 2616: 2614: 2611: 2609: 2606: 2604: 2601: 2599: 2596: 2595: 2593: 2591: 2587: 2581: 2578: 2576: 2573: 2571: 2568: 2566: 2563: 2561: 2558: 2556: 2553: 2551: 2548: 2546: 2543: 2541: 2538: 2536: 2533: 2531: 2528: 2526: 2523: 2521: 2518: 2516: 2513: 2511: 2508: 2506: 2503: 2501: 2498: 2496: 2493: 2491: 2488: 2486: 2483: 2481: 2478: 2476: 2473: 2471: 2468: 2466: 2463: 2461: 2458: 2456: 2453: 2451: 2448: 2446: 2443: 2441: 2438: 2436: 2433: 2432: 2430: 2426: 2420: 2417: 2415: 2412: 2410: 2407: 2405: 2402: 2400: 2397: 2395: 2392: 2390: 2387: 2385: 2382: 2380: 2377: 2376: 2374: 2370: 2364: 2361: 2359: 2356: 2354: 2351: 2349: 2346: 2344: 2341: 2339: 2336: 2334: 2331: 2329: 2326: 2325: 2323: 2319: 2313: 2310: 2308: 2305: 2303: 2300: 2298: 2295: 2293: 2290: 2288: 2285: 2283: 2280: 2278: 2275: 2273: 2270: 2268: 2265: 2263: 2260: 2258: 2255: 2253: 2250: 2248: 2245: 2243: 2240: 2238: 2235: 2233: 2230: 2228: 2225: 2223: 2220: 2218: 2215: 2213: 2210: 2208: 2205: 2203: 2200: 2198: 2195: 2193: 2190: 2188: 2185: 2184: 2182: 2178: 2174: 2171:programs and 2170: 2167: 2160: 2155: 2153: 2148: 2146: 2141: 2140: 2137: 2130: 2127: 2125: 2122: 2119: 2116: 2113: 2110: 2109: 2089: 2085: 2081: 2078: 2072: 2057: 2053: 2049: 2043: 2028: 2024: 2020: 2014: 2006: 2002: 1998: 1983: 1979: 1975: 1968: 1953: 1949: 1945: 1939: 1923: 1919: 1913: 1906: 1902: 1899: –  1896: 1889: 1874: 1870: 1866: 1860: 1844: 1840: 1836: 1830: 1823: 1812: 1808: 1804: 1798: 1792: 1788: 1785: –  1782: 1775: 1769: 1766:File Formats 1765: 1762: –  1759: 1758:groff_tmac(5) 1752: 1746: 1742: 1739: –  1736: 1729: 1727: 1711: 1707: 1703: 1697: 1682: 1678: 1674: 1668: 1652: 1648: 1644: 1638: 1636: 1620: 1616: 1615:man.cat-v.org 1612: 1606: 1600: 1596: 1593: –  1590: 1583: 1581: 1574: 1570: 1567: –  1564: 1557: 1555: 1553: 1537: 1533: 1529: 1523: 1508: 1504: 1500: 1494: 1478: 1474: 1467: 1451: 1447: 1443: 1436: 1420: 1416: 1412: 1405: 1389: 1385: 1378: 1362: 1358: 1352: 1336: 1332: 1326: 1310: 1306: 1300: 1284: 1280: 1274: 1259:. p. 132 1258: 1254: 1247: 1240: 1237: 1223: 1219: 1212: 1210: 1191: 1184: 1183: 1178: 1172: 1170: 1168: 1152: 1148: 1144: 1138: 1134: 1123: 1119: 1115: 1112: 1110: 1107: 1105: 1102: 1099: 1095: 1092: 1088: 1086: 1083: 1081: 1078: 1077: 1071: 1069: 1061: 1057: 1053: 1049: 1044: 1042: 1034: 1030: 1025: 1020: 1019:GNU Project's 1006: 995: 993: 981: 977: 963: 952: 948: 943: 937: 933: 924: 898: 891: 888: 885: 882: 879: 876: 872: 869: 866: 863: 862: 861: 859: 849: 847: 838: 830: 827: 824: 823: 819: 816: 813: 812: 808: 805: 804: 801: 793: 789: 786: 785: 781: 777: 774: 771: 770: 766: 763: 760: 759: 755: 752: 749: 748: 744: 741: 738: 735: 734: 730: 727: 726: 723: 720: 718: 710: 706: 702: 699: 696: 695: 691: 688: 685: 684: 681: 677: 674: 671: 668: 667: 663: 660: 657: 654: 653: 650: 646: 645:Special files 643: 640: 637: 636: 633: 629: 626: 623: 620: 619: 616: 613: 610: 607: 606: 603: 599: 596: 593: 592: 588: 585: 582: 581: 578: 576: 572: 571:Research Unix 568: 564: 560: 556: 546: 544: 543: 526: 515: 511: 504: 500: 492: 484: 476: 470: 466: 462: 457: 453: 441: 436:Command usage 433: 430: 428: 424: 420: 416: 411: 403: 401: 397: 393: 389: 385: 381: 376: 374: 370: 358: 353: 351: 347: 343: 342:macro package 339: 331: 324: 319: 310: 308: 304: 300: 295: 285: 281: 277: 269: 265: 260: 258: 254: 250: 246: 242: 241:Third Edition 237: 235: 234:Research Unix 231: 227: 223: 219: 215: 211: 207: 203: 199: 195: 194: 189: 184: 182: 174: 170: 163: 159: 155: 146: 144: 143: 134: 133: 128: 123: 120: 114: 109: 100: 98: 91: 87: 83: 79: 75: 72: 68: 64: 60: 56: 48: 39: 33: 19: 2793: 2771: 2659: 2092:. Retrieved 2083: 2071: 2060:. Retrieved 2051: 2048:"TLDR pages" 2042: 2031:. Retrieved 2022: 2013: 2000: 1986:. Retrieved 1978:undeadly.org 1977: 1967: 1956:. Retrieved 1947: 1938: 1926:. Retrieved 1912: 1904: 1888: 1877:. Retrieved 1868: 1859: 1847:. Retrieved 1838: 1829: 1821: 1815:. Retrieved 1806: 1797: 1790: 1789:Miscellanea 1774: 1767: 1751: 1744: 1714:. Retrieved 1705: 1696: 1685:. Retrieved 1676: 1667: 1655:. Retrieved 1646: 1623:. Retrieved 1614: 1605: 1598: 1572: 1540:. Retrieved 1531: 1522: 1511:. Retrieved 1502: 1493: 1481:. Retrieved 1466: 1454:. Retrieved 1445: 1435: 1423:. Retrieved 1404: 1392:. Retrieved 1377: 1365:. Retrieved 1351: 1341:25 September 1339:. Retrieved 1325: 1313:. Retrieved 1299: 1287:. Retrieved 1273: 1261:. Retrieved 1256: 1246: 1238: 1236:Microsystems 1235: 1226:. Retrieved 1197:. Retrieved 1181: 1155:. Retrieved 1146: 1137: 1045: 1012: 1009:Alternatives 996: 964: 944: 904: 895: 874:declaration. 855: 845: 839: 836: 809:Description 798: 743:header files 731:Description 721: 715: 680:screensavers 662:File formats 615:System calls 589:Description 552: 540: 538: 524: 505: 461:system calls 458: 447: 439: 431: 412: 409: 377: 372: 354: 335: 321:Part of the 296: 275: 261: 256: 238: 209: 206:Doug McIlroy 202:Ken Thompson 191: 185: 178: 157: 140: 130: 126: 124: 102:By default, 101: 86:system calls 58: 54: 52: 2832:Online help 2180:File system 1948:www.gnu.org 1849:31 December 1807:www.gnu.org 1483:25 December 1456:25 December 1425:25 December 1367:22 November 1315:22 November 1289:22 November 1228:22 December 877:DESCRIPTION 806:Subsection 382:deprecated 230:7th Edition 160:, an early 142:out-of-band 80:(including 59:manual page 57:(short for 18:Unix manual 2811:Categories 2772:Categories 2094:2023-03-05 2062:2020-05-05 2033:2020-05-05 2023:Ask Ubuntu 1988:2023-03-05 1958:2023-03-05 1879:2021-01-21 1817:2021-01-02 1716:2021-05-29 1687:2020-05-06 1625:2020-05-06 1542:2020-05-05 1513:2020-05-05 1263:30 January 1199:2015-02-01 1157:2023-07-15 1129:References 1041:cheatsheet 1033:TLDR pages 947:Roman type 745:(Unix v6) 510:printf(3C) 392:PostScript 365:man --html 346:PostScript 313:Formatting 299:Easter egg 2632:Searching 2321:Processes 1895:mandoc(1) 1029:hypertext 923:rich text 901:Authoring 782:commands 740:C library 586:System V 378:In 2010, 369:GNU Emacs 214:tutorials 71:Unix-like 32:Main Page 2440:basename 2088:Archived 2056:Archived 2027:Archived 2005:Archived 1982:Archived 1952:Archived 1922:Archived 1873:Archived 1869:jdebp.eu 1843:Archived 1811:Archived 1710:Archived 1681:Archived 1651:Archived 1619:Archived 1536:Archived 1507:Archived 1503:man7.org 1477:Archived 1450:Archived 1419:Archived 1394:3 August 1388:Archived 1361:Archived 1335:Archived 1309:Archived 1283:Archived 1222:Archived 1190:Archived 1179:(1987). 1151:Archived 1143:"man(1)" 1074:See also 980:Markdown 967:help2man 889:SEE ALSO 883:EXAMPLES 870:SYNOPSIS 846:cat page 728:Section 705:commands 602:commands 600:General 575:System V 573:. While 465:commands 371:program 361:man2html 262:For the 228:and the 226:PWB/UNIX 55:man page 2545:strings 2465:dirname 2389:logname 2338:crontab 2052:tldr.sh 1928:5 March 1901:FreeBSD 1741:FreeBSD 1735:mdoc(7) 1569:FreeBSD 1532:ManKier 1528:"About" 1415:FreeBSD 1386:. GNU. 1114:ManOpen 1098:apropos 992:DocBook 951:ECMA-48 917:). The 709:daemons 649:drivers 628:Library 583:Common 567:Solaris 518:man-s3c 499:exit(3) 491:exit(2) 463:, user 419:mdoc.su 380:OpenBSD 323:FreeBSD 253:Seventh 173:OpenBSD 149:History 127:on-line 97:command 82:library 2525:printf 2450:csplit 2192:chattr 1905:Manual 1791:Manual 1781:man(7) 1768:Manual 1745:Manual 1657:May 6, 1599:Manual 1589:man(1) 1573:Manual 1563:man(1) 1104:README 999:man-db 976:pandoc 971:--help 955:grotty 936:mandoc 915:mandoc 852:Layout 765:LAPACK 754:Kernel 565:, and 542:printf 534:printf 520:printf 483:man(7) 475:man(1) 452:ftp(1) 388:mandoc 332:format 326:man(1) 284:4.4BSD 280:Debian 276:Manual 264:Fourth 132:online 2749:sleep 2703:strip 2683:ctags 2618:unset 2598:alias 2580:xargs 2560:troff 2520:patch 2515:paste 2490:iconv 2419:write 2409:uname 2312:umask 2302:touch 2292:split 2287:rmdir 2262:mkdir 2247:fuser 2212:cksum 2207:chgrp 2202:chown 2197:chmod 2084:groff 2001:Groff 1835:"man" 1787:Linux 1764:Linux 1595:Linux 1193:(PDF) 1186:(PDF) 1122:macOS 1068:Emacs 1052:GNOME 858:ASCII 818:POSIX 717:POSIX 676:Games 563:Linux 559:macOS 487:, or 467:, or 423:nginx 400:XHTML 384:troff 373:WoMan 355:Some 338:troff 305:song 292:-mdoc 268:troff 249:Sixth 2795:List 2734:expr 2708:yacc 2693:make 2644:grep 2639:find 2623:wait 2613:test 2608:echo 2565:uniq 2550:tail 2540:sort 2530:read 2505:more 2495:join 2485:head 2480:fold 2460:diff 2445:comm 2404:tput 2399:talk 2394:mesg 2384:exit 2363:time 2353:nice 2348:kill 2307:type 2242:file 2166:Unix 1930:2023 1851:2019 1659:2020 1485:2014 1458:2014 1427:2014 1396:2020 1369:2017 1343:2018 1317:2017 1291:2017 1265:2015 1257:BYTE 1230:2012 1118:NeXT 1109:RTFM 1091:info 1064:yelp 1060:HTML 1054:and 1037:tldr 1024:info 988:mdoc 960:less 940:mdoc 927:mdoc 864:NAME 790:The 707:and 678:and 514:is: 495:and 479:and 396:HTML 357:Unix 303:ABBA 288:-man 272:-man 251:and 222:Yacc 200:and 181:GCOS 158:xman 119:less 113:more 90:user 84:and 67:Unix 2729:cal 2688:lex 2660:man 2535:sed 2455:cut 2435:awk 2414:who 2379:env 2297:tee 2277:pwd 2272:pax 2217:cmp 2187:cat 1056:KDE 1048:GUI 1015:man 1003:man 984:man 919:man 911:doc 907:man 842:man 776:Tcl 700:1M 555:BSD 529:man 415:BSD 350:PDF 330:PDF 294:). 232:of 162:X11 137:man 129:or 116:or 104:man 94:man 69:or 43:sed 2813:: 2744:od 2739:lp 2724:bc 2698:nm 2678:ar 2603:cd 2575:wc 2570:vi 2555:tr 2510:nl 2500:m4 2475:ex 2470:ed 2358:ps 2343:fg 2333:bg 2328:at 2282:rm 2267:mv 2257:ls 2252:ln 2237:df 2232:du 2227:dd 2222:cp 2082:. 2054:. 2050:. 2025:. 2021:. 1999:. 1980:. 1976:. 1950:. 1946:. 1920:. 1871:. 1867:. 1841:. 1837:. 1820:. 1809:. 1805:. 1725:^ 1708:. 1704:. 1679:. 1675:. 1645:. 1634:^ 1617:. 1613:. 1579:^ 1551:^ 1534:. 1530:. 1505:. 1501:. 1475:. 1444:. 1417:. 1413:. 1359:. 1333:. 1307:. 1281:. 1255:. 1220:. 1208:^ 1166:^ 1149:. 1145:. 1116:– 1043:. 990:. 962:. 787:x 780:Tk 772:n 761:l 750:9 736:0 697:8 689:5 686:7 672:6 669:6 658:4 655:5 641:7 638:4 624:3 621:3 611:2 608:2 597:1 594:1 561:, 557:, 398:, 394:, 348:, 99:. 53:A 2158:e 2151:t 2144:v 2065:. 2036:. 1991:. 1961:. 1932:. 1882:. 1853:. 1719:. 1690:. 1661:. 1628:. 1545:. 1516:. 1487:. 1460:. 1429:. 1398:. 1371:. 1345:. 1319:. 1293:. 1267:. 1239:5 1232:. 1202:. 1160:. 1120:/ 1035:( 1021:" 825:x 814:p 778:/ 531:3 218:C 49:. 34:. 20:)

Index

Unix manual
Main Page

Linux distributions
software documentation
Unix
Unix-like
operating system
computer programs
library
system calls
user
command
terminal pager
more
less
online
out-of-band

X11

OpenBSD
GCOS
history of Unix
Unix Programmer's Manual
Dennis Ritchie
Ken Thompson
Doug McIlroy
tutorials
C

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.