1POD2MAN(1) Perl Programmers Reference Guide POD2MAN(1)
2
6 pod2man - Convert POD data to formatted *roff input
7
9 pod2man [--section=manext] [--release=version] [--center=string]
10 [--date=string] [--fixed=font] [--fixedbold=font] [--fixeditalic=font]
11 [--fixedbolditalic=font] [--name=name] [--official] [--lax]
12 [--quotes=quotes] [--verbose] [input [output] ...]
13 pod2man --help
15
17 pod2man is a front-end for Pod::Man, using it to generate *roff input
18 from POD source. The resulting *roff code is suitable for display on a
19 terminal using nroff(1), normally via man(1), or printing using
20 troff(1).
21 input is the file to read for POD source (the POD can be embedded in
23 code). If input isn't given, it defaults to STDIN. output, if given,
24 is the file to which to write the formatted output. If output isn't
25 given, the formatted output is written to STDOUT. Several POD files
26 can be processed in the same pod2man invocation (saving module load and
27 compile times) by providing multiple pairs of input and output files on
28 the command line.
29 --section, --release, --center, --date, and --official can be used to
31 set the headers and footers to use; if not given, Pod::Man will assume
32 various defaults. See below or Pod::Man for details.
33 pod2man assumes that your *roff formatters have a fixed-width font
35 named CW. If yours is called something else (like CR), use --fixed to
36 specify it. This generally only matters for troff output for printing.
37 Similarly, you can set the fonts used for bold, italic, and bold italic
38 fixed-width output.
39 Besides the obvious pod conversions, Pod::Man, and therefore pod2man
41 also takes care of formatting func(), func(n), and simple variable ref‐
42 erences like $foo or @bar so you don't have to use code escapes for
43 them; complex expressions like $fred{'stuff'} will still need to be
44 escaped, though. It also translates dashes that aren't used as hyphens
45 into en dashes, makes long dashes--like this--into proper em dashes,
46 fixes "paired quotes," and takes care of several other troff-specific
47 tweaks. See Pod::Man for complete information.
48
50 -c string, --center=string
51 Sets the centered page header to string. The default is "User Con‐
52 tributed Perl Documentation", but also see --official below.
53 -d string, --date=string
55 Set the left-hand footer string to this value. By default, the
56 modification date of the input file will be used, or the current
57 date if input comes from STDIN.
58 --fixed=font
60 The fixed-width font to use for vertabim text and code. Defaults
61 to CW. Some systems may want CR instead. Only matters for
62 troff(1) output.
63 --fixedbold=font
65 Bold version of the fixed-width font. Defaults to CB. Only mat‐
66 ters for troff(1) output.
67 --fixeditalic=font
69 Italic version of the fixed-width font (actually, something of a
70 misnomer, since most fixed-width fonts only have an oblique ver‐
71 sion, not an italic version). Defaults to CI. Only matters for
72 troff(1) output.
73 --fixedbolditalic=font
75 Bold italic (probably actually oblique) version of the fixed-width
76 font. Pod::Man doesn't assume you have this, and defaults to CB.
77 Some systems (such as Solaris) have this font available as CX.
78 Only matters for troff(1) output.
79 -h, --help
81 Print out usage information.
82 -l, --lax
84 No longer used. pod2man used to check its input for validity as a
85 manual page, but this should now be done by podchecker(1) instead.
86 Accepted for backwards compatibility; this option no longer does
87 anything.
88 -n name, --name=name
90 Set the name of the manual page to name. Without this option, the
91 manual name is set to the uppercased base name of the file being
92 converted unless the manual section is 3, in which case the path is
93 parsed to see if it is a Perl module path. If it is, a path like
94 ".../lib/Pod/Man.pm" is converted into a name like "Pod::Man".
95 This option, if given, overrides any automatic determination of the
96 name.
97 Note that this option is probably not useful when converting multi‐
99 ple POD files at once. The convention for Unix man pages for com‐
100 mands is for the man page title to be in all-uppercase even if the
101 command isn't.
102 -o, --official
104 Set the default header to indicate that this page is part of the
105 standard Perl release, if --center is not also given.
106 -q quotes, --quotes=quotes
108 Sets the quote marks used to surround C<> text to quotes. If
109 quotes is a single character, it is used as both the left and right
110 quote; if quotes is two characters, the first character is used as
111 the left quote and the second as the right quoted; and if quotes is
112 four characters, the first two are used as the left quote and the
113 second two as the right quote.
114 quotes may also be set to the special value "none", in which case
116 no quote marks are added around C<> text (but the font is still
117 changed for troff output).
118 -r, --release
120 Set the centered footer. By default, this is the version of Perl
121 you run pod2man under. Note that some system an macro sets assume
122 that the centered footer will be a modification date and will
123 prepend something like "Last modified: "; if this is the case, you
124 may want to set --release to the last modified date and --date to
125 the version number.
126 -s, --section
128 Set the section for the ".TH" macro. The standard section number‐
129 ing convention is to use 1 for user commands, 2 for system calls, 3
130 for functions, 4 for devices, 5 for file formats, 6 for games, 7
131 for miscellaneous information, and 8 for administrator commands.
132 There is a lot of variation here, however; some systems (like
133 Solaris) use 4 for file formats, 5 for miscellaneous information,
134 and 7 for devices. Still others use 1m instead of 8, or some mix
135 of both. About the only section numbers that are reliably consis‐
136 tent are 1, 2, and 3.
137 By default, section 1 will be used unless the file ends in .pm in
139 which case section 3 will be selected.
140 -v, --verbose
142 Print out the name of each output file as it is being generated.
143
145 If pod2man fails with errors, see Pod::Man and Pod::Parser for informa‐
146 tion about what those errors might mean.
147
149 pod2man program > program.1
150 pod2man SomeModule.pm /usr/perl/man/man3/SomeModule.3
151 pod2man --section=7 note.pod > note.7
152 If you would like to print out a lot of man page continuously, you
154 probably want to set the C and D registers to set contiguous page num‐
155 bering and even/odd paging, at least on some versions of man(7).
156 troff -man -rC1 -rD1 perl.1 perldata.1 perlsyn.1 ...
158 To get index entries on stderr, turn on the F register, as in:
160 troff -man -rF1 perl.1
162 The indexing merely outputs messages via ".tm" for each major page,
164 section, subsection, item, and any "X<>" directives. See Pod::Man for
165 more details.
166
168 Lots of this documentation is duplicated from Pod::Man.
169
171 For those not sure of the proper layout of a man page, here are some
172 notes on writing a proper man page.
173 The name of the program being documented is conventionally written in
175 bold (using B<>) wherever it occurs, as are all program options. Argu‐
176 ments should be written in italics (I<>). Functions are traditionally
177 written in italics; if you write a function as function(), Pod::Man
178 will take care of this for you. Literal code or commands should be in
179 C<>. References to other man pages should be in the form "manpage(sec‐
180 tion)", and Pod::Man will automatically format those appropriately. As
181 an exception, it's traditional not to use this form when referring to
182 module documentation; use "L<Module::Name>" instead.
183 References to other programs or functions are normally in the form of
185 man page references so that cross-referencing tools can provide the
186 user with links and the like. It's possible to overdo this, though, so
187 be careful not to clutter your documentation with too much markup.
188 The major headers should be set out using a "=head1" directive, and are
190 historically written in the rather startling ALL UPPER CASE format,
191 although this is not mandatory. Minor headers may be included using
192 "=head2", and are typically in mixed case.
193 The standard sections of a manual page are:
195 NAME
197 Mandatory section; should be a comma-separated list of programs or
198 functions documented by this podpage, such as:
199 foo, bar - programs to do something
201 Manual page indexers are often extremely picky about the format of
203 this section, so don't put anything in it except this line. A sin‐
204 gle dash, and only a single dash, should separate the list of pro‐
205 grams or functions from the description. Functions should not be
206 qualified with "()" or the like. The description should ideally
207 fit on a single line, even if a man program replaces the dash with
208 a few tabs.
209 SYNOPSIS
211 A short usage summary for programs and functions. This section is
212 mandatory for section 3 pages.
213 DESCRIPTION
215 Extended description and discussion of the program or functions, or
216 the body of the documentation for man pages that document something
217 else. If particularly long, it's a good idea to break this up into
218 subsections "=head2" directives like:
219 =head2 Normal Usage
221 =head2 Advanced Features
223 =head2 Writing Configuration Files
225 or whatever is appropriate for your documentation.
227 OPTIONS
229 Detailed description of each of the command-line options taken by
230 the program. This should be separate from the description for the
231 use of things like Pod::Usage. This is normally presented as a
232 list, with each option as a separate "=item". The specific option
233 string should be enclosed in B<>. Any values that the option takes
234 should be enclosed in I<>. For example, the section for the option
235 --section=manext would be introduced with:
236 =item B<--section>=I<manext>
238 Synonymous options (like both the short and long forms) are sepa‐
240 rated by a comma and a space on the same "=item" line, or option‐
241 ally listed as their own item with a reference to the canonical
242 name. For example, since --section can also be written as -s, the
243 above would be:
244 =item B<-s> I<manext>, B<--section>=I<manext>
246 (Writing the short option first is arguably easier to read, since
248 the long option is long enough to draw the eye to it anyway and the
249 short option can otherwise get lost in visual noise.)
250 RETURN VALUE
252 What the program or function returns, if successful. This section
253 can be omitted for programs whose precise exit codes aren't impor‐
254 tant, provided they return 0 on success as is standard. It should
255 always be present for functions.
256 ERRORS
258 Exceptions, error return codes, exit statuses, and errno settings.
259 Typically used for function documentation; program documentation
260 uses DIAGNOSTICS instead. The general rule of thumb is that errors
261 printed to STDOUT or STDERR and intended for the end user are docu‐
262 mented in DIAGNOSTICS while errors passed internal to the calling
263 program and intended for other programmers are documented in
264 ERRORS. When documenting a function that sets errno, a full list
265 of the possible errno values should be given here.
266 DIAGNOSTICS
268 All possible messages the program can print out--and what they
269 mean. You may wish to follow the same documentation style as the
270 Perl documentation; see perldiag(1) for more details (and look at
271 the POD source as well).
272 If applicable, please include details on what the user should do to
274 correct the error; documenting an error as indicating "the input
275 buffer is too small" without telling the user how to increase the
276 size of the input buffer (or at least telling them that it isn't
277 possible) aren't very useful.
278 EXAMPLES
280 Give some example uses of the program or function. Don't skimp;
281 users often find this the most useful part of the documentation.
282 The examples are generally given as verbatim paragraphs.
283 Don't just present an example without explaining what it does.
285 Adding a short paragraph saying what the example will do can
286 increase the value of the example immensely.
287 ENVIRONMENT
289 Environment variables that the program cares about, normally pre‐
290 sented as a list using "=over", "=item", and "=back". For example:
291 =over 6
293 =item HOME
295 Used to determine the user's home directory. F<.foorc> in this
297 directory is read for configuration details, if it exists.
298 =back
300 Since environment variables are normally in all uppercase, no addi‐
302 tional special formatting is generally needed; they're glaring
303 enough as it is.
304 FILES
306 All files used by the program or function, normally presented as a
307 list, and what it uses them for. File names should be enclosed in
308 F<>. It's particularly important to document files that will be
309 potentially modified.
310 CAVEATS
312 Things to take special care with, sometimes called WARNINGS.
313 BUGS
315 Things that are broken or just don't work quite right.
316 RESTRICTIONS
318 Bugs you don't plan to fix. :-)
319 NOTES
321 Miscellaneous commentary.
322 SEE ALSO
324 Other man pages to check out, like man(1), man(7), makewhatis(8),
325 or catman(8). Normally a simple list of man pages separated by
326 commas, or a paragraph giving the name of a reference work. Man
327 page references, if they use the standard "name(section)" form,
328 don't have to be enclosed in L<> (although it's recommended), but
329 other things in this section probably should be when appropriate.
330 If the package has a mailing list, include a URL or subscription
332 instructions here.
333 If the package has a web site, include a URL here.
335 AUTHOR
337 Who wrote it (use AUTHORS for multiple people). Including your
338 current e-mail address (or some e-mail address to which bug reports
339 should be sent) so that users have a way of contacting you is a
340 good idea. Remember that program documentation tends to roam the
341 wild for far longer than you expect and pick an e-mail address
342 that's likely to last if possible.
343 COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
345 For copyright
346 Copyright YEAR(s) by YOUR NAME(s)
348 (No, (C) is not needed. No, "all rights reserved" is not needed.)
350 For licensing the easiest way is to use the same licensing as Perl
352 itself:
353 This library is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify
355 it under the same terms as Perl itself.
356 This makes it easy for people to use your module with Perl. Note
358 that this licensing is neither an endorsement or a requirement, you
359 are of course free to choose any licensing.
360 HISTORY
362 Programs derived from other sources sometimes have this, or you
363 might keep a modification log here. If the log gets overly long or
364 detailed, consider maintaining it in a separate file, though.
365 In addition, some systems use CONFORMING TO to note conformance to rel‐
367 evant standards and MT-LEVEL to note safeness for use in threaded pro‐
368 grams or signal handlers. These headings are primarily useful when
369 documenting parts of a C library. Documentation of object-oriented
370 libraries or modules may use CONSTRUCTORS and METHODS sections for
371 detailed documentation of the parts of the library and save the
372 DESCRIPTION section for an overview; other large modules may use FUNC‐
373 TIONS for similar reasons. Some people use OVERVIEW to summarize the
374 description if it's quite long.
375 Section ordering varies, although NAME should always be the first sec‐
377 tion (you'll break some man page systems otherwise), and NAME, SYNOP‐
378 SIS, DESCRIPTION, and OPTIONS generally always occur first and in that
379 order if present. In general, SEE ALSO, AUTHOR, and similar material
380 should be left for last. Some systems also move WARNINGS and NOTES to
381 last. The order given above should be reasonable for most purposes.
382 Finally, as a general note, try not to use an excessive amount of
384 markup. As documented here and in Pod::Man, you can safely leave Perl
385 variables, function names, man page references, and the like unadorned
386 by markup and the POD translators will figure it out for you. This
387 makes it much easier to later edit the documentation. Note that many
388 existing translators (including this one currently) will do the wrong
389 thing with e-mail addresses or URLs when wrapped in L<>, so don't do
390 that.
391 For additional information that may be more accurate for your specific
393 system, see either man(5) or man(7) depending on your system manual
394 section numbering conventions.
395
397 Pod::Man, Pod::Parser, man(1), nroff(1), podchecker(1), troff(1),
398 man(7)
399 The man page documenting the an macro set may be man(5) instead of
401 man(7) on your system.
402 The current version of this script is always available from its web
404 site at <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/software/podlators/>. It is also
405 part of the Perl core distribution as of 5.6.0.
406
408 Russ Allbery <rra@stanford.edu>, based very heavily on the original
409 pod2man by Larry Wall and Tom Christiansen. Large portions of this
410 documentation, particularly the sections on the anatomy of a proper man
411 page, are taken from the pod2man documentation by Tom.
412
414 Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001 by Russ Allbery <rra@stanford.edu>.
415 This program is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify it
417 under the same terms as Perl itself.
418perl v5.8.8 2008-05-05 POD2MAN(1)