Hi Reinhard -
On Sat, 29 Dec 2001, Reinhard Stebner wrote:
> regarding the man page, I do not understand how the screen is set up with
> all of the [] {} and <>. This is why I wanted someone to explain how the
> page is set up for me with man.
>
All those funny punctuation marks you mention will appear on the
line or lines called "synopsis", which is a summary of all the
possible formats for the particular command. Basically anything
enclosed in square brackets is optional - you can omit it if you
wish. If an item is followed by ellipses (several dots) you can
repeat it as often as you like. Items separated by the vertical
bar (|) are alternatives - you choose one or the other of them.
When a command talks about "options" it is essentially what DOS
calls "switches" except you do not use the slash as the leading
character, you use the dash instead.
When you use the "man" command you are automatically placed in
the "less" pager and can page through a command description with
all the standard commands supported by less. The space bar pages
forward by a full screenful, and the letter "q" exits the pager.
Want more? Type "man less".
Want to save a command description to a file? Use "redirection"
to a filename you choose. For instance:
man less > less.man
The file "less.man" is your own creation and contains a plain
text copy of the info on "less".
HTH - Chuck
Visit me at http://www.mhonline.net/~chuckh
The Moon is Full
