


MAN(1)		    UNIX Programmer's Manual		   MAN(1)



NAME
     man - print out the manual

SYNOPSIS
     man [ - ] [ -a ] [ -M _p_a_t_h ] [ section ] title ...

DESCRIPTION
     _M_a_n is the program which provides on-line access to the UNIX
     manual.  If a _s_e_c_t_i_o_n specifier is given, _m_a_n looks in that
     section of the manual for the given _t_i_t_l_e(s).  _S_e_c_t_i_o_n is
     either an Arabic section number (``3'' for example), or one
     of the words ``local'', ``new,'' or ``old''.  (The abbrevia-
     tions ``l'', ``n'', and ``o'' are also allowed.) If _s_e_c_t_i_o_n
     is omitted, _m_a_n searches all sections of the manual, giving
     preference to commands over library subroutines, and
     displays the first manual page it finds, if any.  If the -_a
     option is supplied, _m_a_n displays all applicable manual
     pages.

     Normally _m_a_n checks in standard locations (/usr/man and
     /usr/local/man) for manual information.  This can be changed
     by supplying a search path (a la the Bourne shell) with the
     -M flag.  The search path is a colon (``:'') separated list
     of directories in which _m_a_n expects to find the standard
     manual subdirectories.  This search path can also be set
     with the environmental variable _M_A_N_P_A_T_H.

     Since some manual pages are intended for use only on certain
     machines, _m_a_n only searches those directories applicable to
     the current machine.  _M_a_n's determination of the current
     machine type can be overridden by setting the environmental
     variable _M_A_C_H_I_N_E.

     If the standard output is a teletype, and the - flag is not
     provided, _m_a_n uses _m_o_r_e(1), or the pager provided by the
     environmental variable _P_A_G_E_R, to display the manual page.

     The FORTRAN version of section 3 of the manual may be speci-
     fied by supplying _m_a_n with the _s_e_c_t_i_o_n ``3f''.  Also, a
     specific section of the local manual may be specified by
     appending a number to the _s_e_c_t_i_o_n, i.e. ``l5'' would indi-
     cate section 5 of the local manual.

FILES
     /usr/man		     standard manual area
     /usr/man/cat?/*	     directories containing standard manual pages
     /usr/local/man/cat?/*   directories containing local manual pages
     /usr/src/man	     directories containing unformatted manual pages

SEE ALSO
     apropos(1), more(1), whatis(1), whereis(1)




Printed 11/26/99	 April 19, 1988                         1






MAN(1)		    UNIX Programmer's Manual		   MAN(1)



BUGS
     The manual is supposed to be reproducible either on the pho-
     totypesetter or on a typewriter, however, on a typewriter,
     some information is necessarily lost.



















































Printed 11/26/99	 April 19, 1988                         2



