Man page
Man page format is a text format for help files. It is widely used on Unix and related computer systems. It is based on troff format.
Contents |
How to display
Man pages can be displayed by a standard utility named man. They are usually first installed in a central location.
The man utility can display files directly, without needing them to be installed, but the way to do that depends on the implementation. To display a file named, say, xyzformat.5, at least one of the following commands is likely to work:
$ man xyzformat.5 $ man ./xyzformat.5 $ man -l xyzformat.5 $ nroff -man xyzformat.5 $ groff -man -Tutf8 xyzformat.5
If all else fails, read the manual:
$ man man
Specifications
Or run:
$ man 7 man
Writing a man page
Normally specific software is used to create a man page, however, one can do that via a regular text editor.
| code | meaning | .TH | First command (see below) |
|---|---|---|---|
| .SH | Section header | ||
| .SS | Subheading | ||
| .P | Paragraph | ||
| .HP | Paragraph with heading indent | ||
| .RS | Start nested indentation | ||
| .RE | End nested indentation | ||
| .I | Italics | ||
| .B | Bold | ||
| .\" | Comment |
The first command (non-comment block) is often (but not necessarily) .TH, it's format consists of the following:
| block name | meaning | example |
|---|---|---|
| name | Name of the command that is being documented | command |
| section | Manual section (depending on what the command is, if it is software, then 1) | 1 |
| centre-footer | Usually a date of editing of the manual page | "2015 April 23" |
| left-footer | Text that goes in the bottom left | |
| centre-header | Text that goes in the top centre |
- Todo: There seems to be .IX block that often duplicates what other blocks do. What is it?
