# phpman > man > POD2USAGE(1)

[POD2USAGE(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/POD2USAGE/1/markdown)                      Perl Programmers Reference Guide                      [POD2USAGE(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/POD2USAGE/1/markdown)



## NAME
       pod2usage - print usage messages from embedded pod docs in files

## SYNOPSIS
       **pod2usage**   [**-help**] [**-man**] [**-exit** _exitval_] [**-output** _outfile_] [**-verbose** _level_] [**-pathlist**
                   _dirlist_] [**-formatter** _module_] [**-utf8**] _file_

## OPTIONS AND ARGUMENTS
### -help

### -man

### -exit
               The exit status value to return.

### -output
               The output file to print to. If the special names "-" or ">&1" or ">&STDOUT" are used
               then standard output is used. If ">&2" or ">&STDERR" is used then standard error is
               used.

### -verbose
               The desired level of verbosity to use:

                   1 : print SYNOPSIS only
                   2 : print SYNOPSIS sections and any OPTIONS/ARGUMENTS sections
                   3 : print the entire manpage (similar to running pod2text)

### -pathlist
               Specifies one or more directories to search for the input file if it was not supplied
               with an absolute path. Each directory path in the given list should be separated by a
               ':' on Unix (';' on MSWin32 and DOS).

### -formatter
               Which text formatter to use. Default is [Pod::Text](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/Pod%3A%3AText/markdown), or for very old Perl versions
               [Pod::PlainText](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/Pod%3A%3APlainText/markdown). An alternative would be e.g.  [Pod::Text::Termcap](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/Pod%3A%3AText%3A%3ATermcap/markdown).

### -utf8
               turns on generation of utf8 output.

       _file_    The pathname of a file containing pod documentation to be output in usage message
               format. If omitted, standard input is read - but the output is then formatted with
               [Pod::Text](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/Pod%3A%3AText/markdown) only - unless a specific formatter has been specified with **-formatter**.

## DESCRIPTION
       **pod2usage** will read the given input file looking for pod documentation and will print the
       corresponding usage message.  If no input file is specified then standard input is read.

       **pod2usage** invokes the **pod2usage()** function in the [**Pod::Usage**](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/Pod%3A%3AUsage/markdown) module. Please see "**pod2usage()**"
       in [Pod::Usage](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/Pod%3A%3AUsage/markdown).

## SEE ALSO
       [Pod::Usage](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/Pod%3A%3AUsage/markdown), pod2text, [Pod::Text](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/Pod%3A%3AText/markdown), [Pod::Text::Termcap](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/Pod%3A%3AText%3A%3ATermcap/markdown), perldoc

## AUTHOR
       Please report bugs using <<http://rt.cpan.org>>.

       Brad Appleton <<bradapp@enteract.com>>

       Based on code for [**pod2text(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/pod2text/1/markdown)** written by Tom Christiansen <<tchrist@mox.perl.com>>



perl v5.34.0                                 2025-07-25                                 [POD2USAGE(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/POD2USAGE/1/markdown)