2014-04-26 10:52:28 -04:00
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man page
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2014-04-26 11:54:15 -04:00
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n. A page from the Unix Programmer's Manual, documenting one of Unix's many
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commands, system calls, library subroutines, device driver interfaces, file
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formats, games, macro packages, or maintenance utilities. By extension, the
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term man page may be used to refer to documentation of any kind, under any
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system, though it is most likely to be confined to short on-line references.
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As mentioned in Chapter11, Other Lexicon Conventions , there is a standard
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syntax for referring to man page entries: the phrase foo(n) refers to the
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page for foo in chapter n of the manual, where chapter 1 is user commands,
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chapter 2 is system calls, etc. The man page format is beloved, or berated,
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for having the same sort of pithy utility as the rest of Unix. Man pages
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tend to be written as very compact, concise descriptions which are complete
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but not forgiving of the lazy or careless reader. Their stylized format does
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a good job of summarizing the essentials: invocation syntax, options, basic
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functionality. While such a concise reference is perfect for the
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do-one-thing-and-do-it-well tools which are favored by the Unix philosophy,
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it admittedly breaks down when applied to a command which is itself a major
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subsystem.
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