Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2003 10:28:30 -0800 From: Johnson David <DavidJohnson@Siemens.com> To: davidc@huyett.com, FreeBSD List <freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.org> Subject: Re: Handbook ? Message-ID: <200303111028.30678.DavidJohnson@Siemens.com> In-Reply-To: <KAEAKMACDAGFNDDHIBJIOEEGCAAA.davidc@huyett.com> References: <KAEAKMACDAGFNDDHIBJIOEEGCAAA.davidc@huyett.com>
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On Tuesday 11 March 2003 09:29 am, David Chavarria wrote: > On page 101 for example, it shows the directory and description. In > the descriptions there are numbers enclosed in parentheses. > What do these mean? I can't find an explanation anywhere... The numbers after a command (or sometimes filename or concept) refer to man pages. The online "manual" is divided into sections according to the category of the command. Use the "man" command to access them. "xman" is an alternative for the X Window System that allows you some limited browse capabilities. Man pages are not written in a tutorial or "newbie" fashion, but make excellent references. The man sections are: (1) User commands (2) System calls (3) Subroutines (4) Devices (5) File formats (6) Games (7) Miscellaneous (8) System administration (9) Kernel interfaces (n) New Most commands are listed in only one section. But some are in multiple sections. If a command is in multiple sections, only the first section's entry is shown by default. If you want to access an entry in another section, you can specify the section. For example: man man Will bring up the man page for "man" in section one. By the way, "man man" is a great place to get started. man 1 man Will bring up the very same man page. man 7 man Will bring up the man page for man in section 7. In this case, it deals with man related macros used for the groff formatter. Unless you're writing man pages, it won't be of much use to you. Final word: The man pages for FreeBSD are remarkably complete. They are your friend. Use them. Use "xman" to browse around the man pages. You never know what you might discover. Check out tuning(7) for an example. David Johnson To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message
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