# pod2usage - perldoc - phpman

## 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   Print a brief help message and exit.

    -man    Print this command's manual page and exit.

    -exit *exitval*
            The exit status value to return.

    -output *outfile*
            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 *level*
            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 *dirlist*
            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 *module*
            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   This option assumes that the formatter (see above) understands the option "utf8". It
            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>>