{ "mode": "man", "parameter": "MAN-PAGES", "section": "", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/MAN-PAGES/json", "generated": "2026-10-22T13:30:36Z", "synopsis": "man [section] title", "sections": { "NAME": { "content": "man-pages - conventions for writing Linux man pages\n", "subsections": [] }, "SYNOPSIS": { "content": "man [section] title\n", "subsections": [] }, "DESCRIPTION": { "content": "This page describes the conventions that should be employed when writing man pages for the\nLinux man-pages project, which documents the user-space API provided by the Linux kernel and\nthe GNU C library. The project thus provides most of the pages in Section 2, many of the\npages that appear in Sections 3, 4, and 7, and a few of the pages that appear in Sections 1,\n5, and 8 of the man pages on a Linux system. The conventions described on this page may also\nbe useful for authors writing man pages for other projects.\n", "subsections": [ { "name": "Sections of the manual pages", "content": "The manual Sections are traditionally defined as follows:\n" }, { "name": "1 User commands (Programs)", "content": "Commands that can be executed by the user from within a shell.\n" }, { "name": "2 System calls", "content": "Functions which wrap operations performed by the kernel.\n" }, { "name": "3 Library calls", "content": "All library functions excluding the system call wrappers (Most of the libc functions).\n" }, { "name": "4 Special files (devices)", "content": "Files found in /dev which allow to access to devices through the kernel.\n" }, { "name": "5 File formats and configuration files", "content": "Describes various human-readable file formats and configuration files.\n" }, { "name": "6 Games", "content": "Games and funny little programs available on the system.\n" }, { "name": "7 Overview, conventions, and miscellaneous", "content": "Overviews or descriptions of various topics, conventions, and protocols, character set\nstandards, the standard filesystem layout, and miscellaneous other things.\n" }, { "name": "8 System management commands", "content": "Commands like mount(8), many of which only root can execute.\n" }, { "name": "Macro package", "content": "New manual pages should be marked up using the groff an.tmac package described in man(7).\nThis choice is mainly for consistency: the vast majority of existing Linux manual pages are\nmarked up using these macros.\n" }, { "name": "Conventions for source file layout", "content": "Please limit source code line length to no more than about 75 characters wherever possible.\nThis helps avoid line-wrapping in some mail clients when patches are submitted inline.\n" }, { "name": "Title line", "content": "The first command in a man page should be a TH command:\n\n.TH title section date source manual-section\n\nThe arguments of the command are as follows:\n\ntitle The title of the man page, written in all caps (e.g., MAN-PAGES).\n\nsection\nThe section number in which the man page should be placed (e.g., 7).\n\ndate The date of the last nontrivial change that was made to the man page. (Within the\nman-pages project, the necessary updates to these timestamps are handled automatically\nby scripts, so there is no need to manually update them as part of a patch.) Dates\nshould be written in the form YYYY-MM-DD.\n\nsource The name and version of the project that provides the manual page (not necessarily the\npackage that provides the functionality).\n\nmanual-section\nNormally, this should be empty, since the default value will be good.\n" }, { "name": "Sections within a manual page", "content": "The list below shows conventional or suggested sections. Most manual pages should include at\nleast the highlighted sections. Arrange a new manual page so that sections are placed in the\norder shown in the list.\n\nNAME\nLIBRARY [Normally only in Sections 2, 3]\nSYNOPSIS\nCONFIGURATION [Normally only in Section 4]\nDESCRIPTION\nOPTIONS [Normally only in Sections 1, 8]\nEXIT STATUS [Normally only in Sections 1, 8]\nRETURN VALUE [Normally only in Sections 2, 3]\nERRORS [Typically only in Sections 2, 3]\nENVIRONMENT\nFILES\nATTRIBUTES [Normally only in Sections 2, 3]\nVERSIONS [Normally only in Sections 2, 3]\nSTANDARDS\nHISTORY\nNOTES\nCAVEATS\nBUGS\nEXAMPLES\nAUTHORS [Discouraged]\nREPORTING BUGS [Not used in man-pages]\nCOPYRIGHT [Not used in man-pages]\nSEE ALSO\n\nWhere a traditional heading would apply, please use it; this kind of consistency can make the\ninformation easier to understand. If you must, you can create your own headings if they make\nthings easier to understand (this can be especially useful for pages in Sections 4 and 5).\nHowever, before doing this, consider whether you could use the traditional headings, with\nsome subsections (.SS) within those sections.\n\nThe following list elaborates on the contents of each of the above sections.\n\nNAME The name of this manual page.\n\nSee man(7) for important details of the line(s) that should follow the .SH NAME com‐\nmand. All words in this line (including the word immediately following the \"\\-\")\nshould be in lowercase, except where English or technical terminological convention\ndictates otherwise.\n\nLIBRARY\nThe library providing a symbol.\n\nIt shows the common name of the library, and in parentheses, the name of the library\nfile and, if needed, the linker flag needed to link a program against it: (libfoo[,\n-lfoo]).\n\nSYNOPSIS\nA brief summary of the command or function's interface.\n\nFor commands, this shows the syntax of the command and its arguments (including op‐\ntions); boldface is used for as-is text and italics are used to indicate replaceable\narguments. Brackets ([]) surround optional arguments, vertical bars (|) separate\nchoices, and ellipses (...) can be repeated. For functions, it shows any required\ndata declarations or #include directives, followed by the function declaration.\n\nWhere a feature test macro must be defined in order to obtain the declaration of a\nfunction (or a variable) from a header file, then the SYNOPSIS should indicate this,\nas described in featuretestmacros(7).\n\nCONFIGURATION\nConfiguration details for a device.\n\nThis section normally appears only in Section 4 pages.\n\nDESCRIPTION\nAn explanation of what the program, function, or format does.\n\nDiscuss how it interacts with files and standard input, and what it produces on stan‐\ndard output or standard error. Omit internals and implementation details unless\nthey're critical for understanding the interface. Describe the usual case; for infor‐\nmation on command-line options of a program use the OPTIONS section.\n\nWhen describing new behavior or new flags for a system call or library function, be\ncareful to note the kernel or C library version that introduced the change. The pre‐\nferred method of noting this information for flags is as part of a .TP list, in the\nfollowing form (here, for a new system call flag):\n\nXYZFLAG (since Linux 3.7)\nDescription of flag...\n\nIncluding version information is especially useful to users who are constrained to us‐\ning older kernel or C library versions (which is typical in embedded systems, for ex‐\nample).\n\nOPTIONS\nA description of the command-line options accepted by a program and how they change\nits behavior.\n\nThis section should appear only for Section 1 and 8 manual pages.\n\nEXIT STATUS\nA list of the possible exit status values of a program and the conditions that cause\nthese values to be returned.\n\nThis section should appear only for Section 1 and 8 manual pages.\n\nRETURN VALUE\nFor Section 2 and 3 pages, this section gives a list of the values the library routine\nwill return to the caller and the conditions that cause these values to be returned.\n\nERRORS For Section 2 and 3 manual pages, this is a list of the values that may be placed in\nerrno in the event of an error, along with information about the cause of the errors.\n\nWhere several different conditions produce the same error, the preferred approach is\nto create separate list entries (with duplicate error names) for each of the condi‐\ntions. This makes the separate conditions clear, may make the list easier to read,\nand allows metainformation (e.g., kernel version number where the condition first be‐\ncame applicable) to be more easily marked for each condition.\n\nThe error list should be in alphabetical order.\n\nENVIRONMENT\nA list of all environment variables that affect the program or function and how they\naffect it.\n\nFILES A list of the files the program or function uses, such as configuration files, startup\nfiles, and files the program directly operates on.\n\nGive the full pathname of these files, and use the installation process to modify the\ndirectory part to match user preferences. For many programs, the default installation\nlocation is in /usr/local, so your base manual page should use /usr/local as the base.\n\nATTRIBUTES\nA summary of various attributes of the function(s) documented on this page. See at‐\ntributes(7) for further details.\n\nVERSIONS\nA summary of systems where the API performs differently, or where there's a similar\nAPI.\n\nSTANDARDS\nA description of any standards or conventions that relate to the function or command\ndescribed by the manual page.\n\nThe preferred terms to use for the various standards are listed as headings in stan‐\ndards(7).\n\nThis section should note the current standards to which the API conforms to.\n\nIf the API is not governed by any standards but commonly exists on other systems, note\nthem. If the call is Linux-specific or GNU-specific, note this. If it's available in\nthe BSDs, note that.\n\nIf this section consists of just a list of standards (which it commonly does), termi‐\nnate the list with a period ('.').\n\nHISTORY\nA brief summary of the Linux kernel or glibc versions where a system call or library\nfunction appeared, or changed significantly in its operation.\n\nAs a general rule, every new interface should include a HISTORY section in its manual\npage. Unfortunately, many existing manual pages don't include this information (since\nthere was no policy to do so when they were written). Patches to remedy this are wel‐\ncome, but, from the perspective of programmers writing new code, this information\nprobably matters only in the case of kernel interfaces that have been added in Linux\n2.4 or later (i.e., changes since Linux 2.2), and library functions that have been\nadded to glibc since glibc 2.1 (i.e., changes since glibc 2.0).\n\nThe syscalls(2) manual page also provides information about kernel versions in which\nvarious system calls first appeared.\n\nOld versions of standards should be mentioned here, rather than in STANDARDS, for example,\nSUS, SUSv2, and XPG, or the SVr4 and 4.xBSD implementation standards.\n\nNOTES Miscellaneous notes.\n\nFor Section 2 and 3 man pages you may find it useful to include subsections (SS) named\nLinux Notes and glibc Notes.\n\nIn Section 2, use the heading C library/kernel differences to mark off notes that de‐\nscribe the differences (if any) between the C library wrapper function for a system\ncall and the raw system call interface provided by the kernel.\n\nCAVEATS\nWarnings about typical user misuse of an API, that don't constitute an API bug or de‐\nsign defect.\n\nBUGS A list of limitations, known defects or inconveniences, and other questionable activi‐\nties.\n\nEXAMPLES\nOne or more examples demonstrating how this function, file, or command is used.\n\nFor details on writing example programs, see Example programs below.\n\nAUTHORS\nA list of authors of the documentation or program.\n\nUse of an AUTHORS section is strongly discouraged. Generally, it is better not to\nclutter every page with a list of (over time potentially numerous) authors; if you\nwrite or significantly amend a page, add a copyright notice as a comment in the source\nfile. If you are the author of a device driver and want to include an address for re‐\nporting bugs, place this under the BUGS section.\n\nREPORTING BUGS\nThe man-pages project doesn't use a REPORTING BUGS section in manual pages. Informa‐\ntion on reporting bugs is instead supplied in the script-generated COLOPHON section.\nHowever, various projects do use a REPORTING BUGS section. It is recommended to place\nit near the foot of the page.\n\nCOPYRIGHT\nThe man-pages project doesn't use a COPYRIGHT section in manual pages. Copyright in‐\nformation is instead maintained in the page source. In pages where this section is\npresent, it is recommended to place it near the foot of the page, just above SEE ALSO.\n\nSEE ALSO\nA comma-separated list of related man pages, possibly followed by other related pages\nor documents.\n\nThe list should be ordered by section number and then alphabetically by name. Do not\nterminate this list with a period.\n\nWhere the SEE ALSO list contains many long manual page names, to improve the visual\nresult of the output, it may be useful to employ the .ad l (don't right justify) and\n.nh (don't hyphenate) directives. Hyphenation of individual page names can be pre‐\nvented by preceding words with the string \"\\%\".\n\nGiven the distributed, autonomous nature of FOSS projects and their documentation, it\nis sometimes necessary—and in many cases desirable—that the SEE ALSO section includes\nreferences to manual pages provided by other projects.\n" } ] }, "FORMATTING AND WORDING CONVENTIONS": { "content": "The following subsections note some details for preferred formatting and wording conventions\nin various sections of the pages in the man-pages project.\n\nSYNOPSIS\nWrap the function prototype(s) in a .nf/.fi pair to prevent filling.\n\nIn general, where more than one function prototype is shown in the SYNOPSIS, the prototypes\nshould not be separated by blank lines. However, blank lines (achieved using .P) may be\nadded in the following cases:\n\n• to separate long lists of function prototypes into related groups (see for example\nlist(3));\n\n• in other cases that may improve readability.\n\nIn the SYNOPSIS, a long function prototype may need to be continued over to the next line.\nThe continuation line is indented according to the following rules:\n\n(1) If there is a single such prototype that needs to be continued, then align the continua‐\ntion line so that when the page is rendered on a fixed-width font device (e.g., on an\nxterm) the continuation line starts just below the start of the argument list in the\nline above. (Exception: the indentation may be adjusted if necessary to prevent a very\nlong continuation line or a further continuation line where the function prototype is\nvery long.) As an example:\n\nint tcsetattr(int fd, int optionalactions,\nconst struct termios *termiosp);\n\n(2) But, where multiple functions in the SYNOPSIS require continuation lines, and the func‐\ntion names have different lengths, then align all continuation lines to start in the\nsame column. This provides a nicer rendering in PDF output (because the SYNOPSIS uses a\nvariable width font where spaces render narrower than most characters). As an example:\n\nint getopt(int argc, char * const argv[],\nconst char *optstring);\nint getoptlong(int argc, char * const argv[],\nconst char *optstring,\nconst struct option *longopts, int *longindex);\n\nRETURN VALUE\nThe preferred wording to describe how errno is set is \"errno is set to indicate the error\" or\nsimilar. This wording is consistent with the wording used in both POSIX.1 and FreeBSD.\n\nATTRIBUTES\nNote the following:\n\n• Wrap the table in this section in a .ad l/.ad pair to disable text filling and a .nh/.hy\npair to disable hyphenation.\n\n• Ensure that the table occupies the full page width through the use of an lbx description\nfor one of the columns (usually the first column, though in some cases the last column if\nit contains a lot of text).\n\n• Make free use of T{/T} macro pairs to allow table cells to be broken over multiple lines\n(also bearing in mind that pages may sometimes be rendered to a width of less than 80\ncolumns).\n\nFor examples of all of the above, see the source code of various pages.\n", "subsections": [] }, "STYLE GUIDE": { "content": "The following subsections describe the preferred style for the man-pages project. For de‐\ntails not covered below, the Chicago Manual of Style is usually a good source; try also grep‐\nping for preexisting usage in the project source tree.\n", "subsections": [ { "name": "Use of gender-neutral language", "content": "As far as possible, use gender-neutral language in the text of man pages. Use of \"they\"\n(\"them\", \"themself\", \"their\") as a gender-neutral singular pronoun is acceptable.\n" }, { "name": "Formatting conventions for manual pages describing commands", "content": "For manual pages that describe a command (typically in Sections 1 and 8), the arguments are\nalways specified using italics, even in the SYNOPSIS section.\n\nThe name of the command, and its options, should always be formatted in bold.\n" }, { "name": "Formatting conventions for manual pages describing functions", "content": "For manual pages that describe functions (typically in Sections 2 and 3), the arguments are\nalways specified using italics, even in the SYNOPSIS section, where the rest of the function\nis specified in bold:\n\nint myfunction(int argc, char argv);\n\nVariable names should, like argument names, be specified in italics.\n\nAny reference to the subject of the current manual page should be written with the name in\nbold followed by a pair of parentheses in Roman (normal) font. For example, in the fcntl(2)\nman page, references to the subject of the page would be written as: fcntl(). The preferred\nway to write this in the source file is:\n\n.BR fcntl ()\n\n(Using this format, rather than the use of \"\\fB...\\fP()\" makes it easier to write tools that\nparse man page source files.)\n" }, { "name": "Use semantic newlines", "content": "In the source of a manual page, new sentences should be started on new lines, long sentences\nshould be split into lines at clause breaks (commas, semicolons, colons, and so on), and long\nclauses should be split at phrase boundaries. This convention, sometimes known as \"semantic\nnewlines\", makes it easier to see the effect of patches, which often operate at the level of\nindividual sentences, clauses, or phrases.\n" }, { "name": "Lists", "content": "There are different kinds of lists:\n\nTagged paragraphs\nThese are used for a list of tags and their descriptions. When the tags are constants\n(either macros or numbers) they are in bold. Use the .TP macro.\n\nAn example is this \"Tagged paragraphs\" subsection is itself.\n\nOrdered lists\nElements are preceded by a number in parentheses (1), (2). These represent a set of\nsteps that have an order.\n\nWhen there are substeps, they will be numbered like (4.2).\n\nPositional lists\nElements are preceded by a number (index) in square brackets [4], [5]. These repre‐\nsent fields in a set. The first index will be:\n\n0 When it represents fields of a C data structure, to be consistent with arrays.\n1 When it represents fields of a file, to be consistent with tools like cut(1).\n\nAlternatives list\nElements are preceded by a letter in parentheses (a), (b). These represent a set of\n(normally) exclusive alternatives.\n\nBullet lists\nElements are preceded by bullet symbols (\\[bu]). Anything that doesn't fit elsewhere\nis usually covered by this type of list.\n\nNumbered notes\nNot really a list, but the syntax is identical to \"positional lists\".\n\nThere should always be exactly 2 spaces between the list symbol and the elements. This\ndoesn't apply to \"tagged paragraphs\", which use the default indentation rules.\n" }, { "name": "Formatting conventions (general)", "content": "Paragraphs should be separated by suitable markers (usually either .P or .IP). Do not sepa‐\nrate paragraphs using blank lines, as this results in poor rendering in some output formats\n(such as PostScript and PDF).\n\nFilenames (whether pathnames, or references to header files) are always in italics (e.g.,\n), except in the SYNOPSIS section, where included files are in bold (e.g., #include\n). When referring to a standard header file include, specify the header file sur‐\nrounded by angle brackets, in the usual C way (e.g., ).\n\nSpecial macros, which are usually in uppercase, are in bold (e.g., MAXINT). Exception: don't\nboldface NULL.\n\nWhen enumerating a list of error codes, the codes are in bold (this list usually uses the .TP\nmacro).\n\nComplete commands should, if long, be written as an indented line on their own, with a blank\nline before and after the command, for example\n\nman 7 man-pages\n\nIf the command is short, then it can be included inline in the text, in italic format, for\nexample, man 7 man-pages. In this case, it may be worth using nonbreaking spaces (\\[ti]) at\nsuitable places in the command. Command options should be written in italics (e.g., -l).\n\nExpressions, if not written on a separate indented line, should be specified in italics.\nAgain, the use of nonbreaking spaces may be appropriate if the expression is inlined with\nnormal text.\n\nWhen showing example shell sessions, user input should be formatted in bold, for example\n\n$ date\nThu Jul 7 13:01:27 CEST 2016\n\nAny reference to another man page should be written with the name in bold, always followed by\nthe section number, formatted in Roman (normal) font, without any separating spaces (e.g.,\nintro(2)). The preferred way to write this in the source file is:\n\n.BR intro (2)\n\n(Including the section number in cross references lets tools like man2html(1) create properly\nhyperlinked pages.)\n\nControl characters should be written in bold face, with no quotes; for example, ^X.\n" }, { "name": "Spelling", "content": "Starting with release 2.59, man-pages follows American spelling conventions (previously,\nthere was a random mix of British and American spellings); please write all new pages and\npatches according to these conventions.\n\nAside from the well-known spelling differences, there are a few other subtleties to watch\nfor:\n\n• American English tends to use the forms \"backward\", \"upward\", \"toward\", and so on rather\nthan the British forms \"backwards\", \"upwards\", \"towards\", and so on.\n\n• Opinions are divided on \"acknowledgement\" vs \"acknowledgment\". The latter is predominant,\nbut not universal usage in American English. POSIX and the BSD license use the former\nspelling. In the Linux man-pages project, we use \"acknowledgement\".\n" }, { "name": "BSD version numbers", "content": "The classical scheme for writing BSD version numbers is x.yBSD, where x.y is the version num‐\nber (e.g., 4.2BSD). Avoid forms such as BSD 4.3.\n" }, { "name": "Capitalization", "content": "In subsection (\"SS\") headings, capitalize the first word in the heading, but otherwise use\nlowercase, except where English usage (e.g., proper nouns) or programming language require‐\nments (e.g., identifier names) dictate otherwise. For example:\n\n.SS Unicode under Linux\n" }, { "name": "Indentation of structure definitions, shell session logs, and so on", "content": "When structure definitions, shell session logs, and so on are included in running text, in‐\ndent them by 4 spaces (i.e., a block enclosed by .in +4n and .in), format them using the .EX\nand .EE macros, and surround them with suitable paragraph markers (either .P or .IP). For\nexample:\n\n.P\n.in +4n\n.EX\nint\nmain(int argc, char *argv[])\n{\nreturn 0;\n}\n.EE\n.in\n.P\n" }, { "name": "Preferred terms", "content": "The following table lists some preferred terms to use in man pages, mainly to ensure consis‐\ntency across pages.\nTerm Avoid using Notes\n───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────\nbit mask bitmask\nbuilt-in builtin\nEpoch epoch For the UNIX Epoch\n(00:00:00, 1 Jan\n1970 UTC)\nfilename file name\nfilesystem file system\nhostname host name\ninode i-node\nlowercase lower case, lower-case\nnonzero non-zero\npathname path name\npseudoterminal pseudo-terminal\nprivileged port reserved port, system\nport\nreal-time realtime, real time\nrun time runtime\nsaved set-group-ID saved group ID, saved\nset-GID\nsaved set-user-ID saved user ID, saved\nset-UID\nset-group-ID set-GID, setgid\nset-user-ID set-UID, setuid\nsuperuser super user, super-user\nsuperblock super block, super-\nblock\nsymbolic link symlink\ntimestamp time stamp\ntimezone time zone\nuppercase upper case, upper-case\nusable useable\nuser space userspace\nusername user name\nx86-64 x8664 Except if referring\nto result of \"un‐\name -m\" or similar\nzeros zeroes\n\nSee also the discussion Hyphenation of attributive compounds below.\n" }, { "name": "Terms to avoid", "content": "The following table lists some terms to avoid using in man pages, along with some suggested\nalternatives, mainly to ensure consistency across pages.\nAvoid Use instead Notes\n───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────\n\n32bit 32-bit same for 8-bit, 16-bit,\netc.\ncurrent process calling process A common mistake made by\nkernel programmers when\nwriting man pages\nmanpage man page, manual page\nminus infinity negative infinity\nnon-root unprivileged user\nnon-superuser unprivileged user\nnonprivileged unprivileged\nOS operating system\nplus infinity positive infinity\npty pseudoterminal\ntty terminal\nUnices UNIX systems\nUnixes UNIX systems\n" }, { "name": "Trademarks", "content": "Use the correct spelling and case for trademarks. The following is a list of the correct\nspellings of various relevant trademarks that are sometimes misspelled:\n\nDG/UX\nHP-UX\nUNIX\nUnixWare\n" }, { "name": "NULL, NUL, null pointer, and null byte", "content": "A null pointer is a pointer that points to nothing, and is normally indicated by the constant\nNULL. On the other hand, NUL is the null byte, a byte with the value 0, represented in C via\nthe character constant '\\0'.\n\nThe preferred term for the pointer is \"null pointer\" or simply \"NULL\"; avoid writing \"NULL\npointer\".\n\nThe preferred term for the byte is \"null byte\". Avoid writing \"NUL\", since it is too easily\nconfused with \"NULL\". Avoid also the terms \"zero byte\" and \"null character\". The byte that\nterminates a C string should be described as \"the terminating null byte\"; strings may be de‐\nscribed as \"null-terminated\", but avoid the use of \"NUL-terminated\".\n" }, { "name": "Hyperlinks", "content": "For hyperlinks, use the .UR/.UE macro pair (see groffman(7)). This produces proper hyper‐\nlinks that can be used in a web browser, when rendering a page with, say:\n\nBROWSER=firefox man -H pagename\n" }, { "name": "Use of e.g., i.e., etc., a.k.a., and similar", "content": "In general, the use of abbreviations such as \"e.g.\", \"i.e.\", \"etc.\", \"cf.\", and \"a.k.a.\"\nshould be avoided, in favor of suitable full wordings (\"for example\", \"that is\", \"and so on\",\n\"compare to\", \"also known as\").\n\nThe only place where such abbreviations may be acceptable is in short parenthetical asides\n(e.g., like this one).\n\nAlways include periods in such abbreviations, as shown here. In addition, \"e.g.\" and \"i.e.\"\nshould always be followed by a comma.\n" }, { "name": "Em-dashes", "content": "The way to write an em-dash—the glyph that appears at either end of this subphrase—in *roff\nis with the macro \"\\[em]\". (On an ASCII terminal, an em-dash typically renders as two hy‐\nphens, but in other typographical contexts it renders as a long dash.) Em-dashes should be\nwritten without surrounding spaces.\n" }, { "name": "Hyphenation of attributive compounds", "content": "Compound terms should be hyphenated when used attributively (i.e., to qualify a following\nnoun). Some examples:\n\n32-bit value\ncommand-line argument\nfloating-point number\nrun-time check\nuser-space function\nwide-character string\n" }, { "name": "Hyphenation with multi, non, pre, re, sub, and so on", "content": "The general tendency in modern English is not to hyphenate after prefixes such as \"multi\",\n\"non\", \"pre\", \"re\", \"sub\", and so on. Manual pages should generally follow this rule when\nthese prefixes are used in natural English constructions with simple suffixes. The following\nlist gives some examples of the preferred forms:\n\ninterprocess\nmultithreaded\nmultiprocess\nnonblocking\nnondefault\nnonempty\nnoninteractive\nnonnegative\nnonportable\nnonzero\npreallocated\nprecreate\nprerecorded\nreestablished\nreinitialize\nrearm\nreread\nsubcomponent\nsubdirectory\nsubsystem\n\nHyphens should be retained when the prefixes are used in nonstandard English words, with\ntrademarks, proper nouns, acronyms, or compound terms. Some examples:\n\nnon-ASCII\nnon-English\nnon-NULL\nnon-real-time\n\nFinally, note that \"re-create\" and \"recreate\" are two different verbs, and the former is\nprobably what you want.\n" }, { "name": "Generating optimal glyphs", "content": "Where a real minus character is required (e.g., for numbers such as -1, for man page cross\nreferences such as utf-8(7), or when writing options that have a leading dash, such as in\nls -l), use the following form in the man page source:\n\n\\-\n\nThis guideline applies also to code examples.\n\nThe use of real minus signs serves the following purposes:\n\n• To provide better renderings on various targets other than ASCII terminals, notably in PDF\nand on Unicode/UTF-8-capable terminals.\n\n• To generate glyphs that when copied from rendered pages will produce real minus signs when\npasted into a terminal.\n\nTo produce unslanted single quotes that render well in ASCII, UTF-8, and PDF, use \"\\[aq]\"\n(\"apostrophe quote\"); for example\n\n\\[aq]C\\[aq]\n\nwhere C is the quoted character. This guideline applies also to character constants used in\ncode examples.\n\nWhere a proper caret (^) that renders well in both a terminal and PDF is required, use\n\"\\[ha]\". This is especially necessary in code samples, to get a nicely rendered caret when\nrendering to PDF.\n\nUsing a naked \"~\" character results in a poor rendering in PDF. Instead use \"\\[ti]\". This\nis especially necessary in code samples, to get a nicely rendered tilde when rendering to\nPDF.\n" }, { "name": "Example programs and shell sessions", "content": "Manual pages may include example programs demonstrating how to use a system call or library\nfunction. However, note the following:\n\n• Example programs should be written in C.\n\n• An example program is necessary and useful only if it demonstrates something beyond what\ncan easily be provided in a textual description of the interface. An example program that\ndoes nothing other than call an interface usually serves little purpose.\n\n• Example programs should ideally be short (e.g., a good example can often be provided in\nless than 100 lines of code), though in some cases longer programs may be necessary to\nproperly illustrate the use of an API.\n\n• Expressive code is appreciated.\n\n• Comments should included where helpful. Complete sentences in free-standing comments\nshould be terminated by a period. Periods should generally be omitted in \"tag\" comments\n(i.e., comments that are placed on the same line of code); such comments are in any case\ntypically brief phrases rather than complete sentences.\n\n• Example programs should do error checking after system calls and library function calls.\n\n• Example programs should be complete, and compile without warnings when compiled with\ncc -Wall.\n\n• Where possible and appropriate, example programs should allow experimentation, by varying\ntheir behavior based on inputs (ideally from command-line arguments, or alternatively, via\ninput read by the program).\n\n• Example programs should be laid out according to Kernighan and Ritchie style, with 4-space\nindents. (Avoid the use of TAB characters in source code!) The following command can be\nused to format your source code to something close to the preferred style:\n\nindent -npro -kr -i4 -ts4 -sob -l72 -ss -nut -psl prog.c\n\n• For consistency, all example programs should terminate using either of:\n\nexit(EXITSUCCESS);\nexit(EXITFAILURE);\n\nAvoid using the following forms to terminate a program:\n\nexit(0);\nexit(1);\nreturn n;\n\n• If there is extensive explanatory text before the program source code, mark off the source\ncode with a subsection heading Program source, as in:\n\n.SS Program source\n\nAlways do this if the explanatory text includes a shell session log.\n\nIf you include a shell session log demonstrating the use of a program or other system fea‐\nture:\n\n• Place the session log above the source code listing.\n\n• Indent the session log by four spaces.\n\n• Boldface the user input text, to distinguish it from output produced by the system.\n\nFor some examples of what example programs should look like, see wait(2) and pipe(2).\n" } ] }, "EXAMPLES": { "content": "For canonical examples of how man pages in the man-pages package should look, see pipe(2) and\nfcntl(2).\n", "subsections": [] }, "SEE ALSO": { "content": "man(1), man2html(1), attributes(7), groff(7), groffman(7), man(7), mdoc(7)\n\nLinux man-pages 6.7 2023-10-31 man-pages(7)", "subsections": [] } }, "summary": "man-pages - conventions for writing Linux man pages", "flags": [], "examples": [ "For canonical examples of how man pages in the man-pages package should look, see pipe(2) and", "fcntl(2)." ], "see_also": [ { "name": "man", "section": "1", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/man/1/json" }, { "name": "man2html", "section": "1", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/man2html/1/json" }, { "name": "attributes", "section": "7", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/attributes/7/json" }, { "name": "groff", "section": "7", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/groff/7/json" }, { "name": "groffman", "section": "7", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/groffman/7/json" }, { "name": "man", "section": "7", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/man/7/json" }, { "name": "mdoc", "section": "7", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mdoc/7/json" }, { "name": "man-pages", "section": "7", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/man-pages/7/json" } ] }