# info > catman

---
type: CommandReference
command: catman
mode: man
section: 8
source: man-pages
---

## Quick Reference

- `catman` — format all default manual page hierarchies and sections
- `catman 1 8` — format only sections 1 and 8
- `catman -M /usr/share/man` — specify an alternate manual page hierarchy path
- `catman -d` — print debugging information during formatting

## Name

catman - create or update the pre-formatted manual pages

## Synopsis

`catman [-d?V] [-M path] [-C file] [section]...`

## Options

- `-d, --debug` — print debugging information
- `-M path, --manpath=path` — specify an alternate colon-delimited manual page hierarchy search path (default: all paths from man-db configuration)
- `-C file, --config-file=file` — use this user configuration file instead of `~/.manpath`
- `-?, --help` — print a help message and exit
- `--usage` — print a short usage message and exit
- `-V, --version` — display version information

The environment variables `MANSECT` (colon-delimited list of sections) and `MANPATH` (colon-delimited hierarchy search path) affect the default behaviour; see `manpath(5)` for details.

## See Also

- [man(1)](http://localhost/phpMan.php/man/man/1/markdown)
- [manpath(5)](http://localhost/phpMan.php/man/manpath/5/markdown)
- [mandb(8)](http://localhost/phpMan.php/man/mandb/8/markdown)