MAN

Command

MAN -- Display Online Sysop's Manual pages.

Synopsis

MAN [command | topic]

Description

The MAN command is used to access the online sysop's manual, which is a collection of pages, each covering a different command or topic.

The MAN pages are designed for sysop use, and usually give more detail than the corresponding HELP pages.

Entering MAN alone displays a list of available pages.

To read a specific page enter MAN followed by the command or topic for which you require help.

The manual is divided into several sections as follows:

           Section   Contents
           ------------------------------------------
              1      User Commands.
              2	     System Maintenance Commands.
              3      PZTDOS Commands.
              7      Configuration directives
              8      Configuration Files.
              9      Miscellaneous Topics

For sections other than 1 and 8, the section is indicated by a number appended to the topic name, e.g. MHEARD.9

Examples

MAN ARP      Display section 1 page for ARP command.
MAN MAXTT.7  Display section 7 page for MAXTT directive

Conventions

The following conventions are used in MAN pages:

< > Command argument - These braces and the text enclosed within them represent any piece of text typed after the command. The <> do not form part of the argument.

[ ] Optional argument - These braces enclose anything which is not always present. If used within a command name (e.g. N[ODES]), this indicates that the command may be abbreviated to a minimum form while remaining unique.

Availability

Although this command is currently available to all users, it is not shown in the list of normal commands because it generates a lot of output, some of which is not relevant to non-sysops. Its use by non-sysops may be withdrawn at a later date if it proves to be a problem.

Limitations

Although most commands may be abbreviated, it is not currently possible for the MAN command to correctly identify the required page from an abbreviated argument. Thus "MAN NODES" is acceptable, whereas "MAN NO" is not. This problem will be addressed in a later version, but a temporary work-around might be to make several copies of each MAN file for all permutations of the command. Beware though, this may make the list very confusing!

Note

Due to its size it is difficult to ensure that everyone has a completely up to date sysop document, but the MAN pages will always contain the latest information. They will be kept updated by distributing new pages as required.

See also

HELP(1) -- General help system.