Parens after commands

downinthemine · 12-09-2003, 08:08 PM

What does the number in parenthesis after a command mean, e.g. rpmbuild(8) or ls(1).

hw-tph · 12-09-2003, 08:20 PM

From the man manpage:

Code:

The table below shows the section numbers of the manual followed by the types of pages they contain.

1	Executable programs or shell commands
2	System calls (functions provided by the kernel)
3	Library calls (functions within system libraries)
4	Special files (usually found in /dev)
5	File formats and conventions eg /etc/passwd
6	Games
7	Macro packages and conventions eg man(7), groff(7).
8	System administration commands (usually only for root)
9	Kernel routines [Non standard]

Hope that helps!

Håkan

downinthemine · 12-09-2003, 08:30 PM

Thanks. It never occured to me to man man.

Charlie Spencer · 05-26-2004, 01:53 PM

I'm posting to this older question in hopes I can revive it. I don't understand the excerpt posted above by hw-tph.

I understand it to mean there is an manual somewhere with sections (chapters?) numbered as described above. Is this available as a download, or is there a way to print all man pages so they follow this section format?

The 'man' command seems to work without my specifying a section number for the command I'm researching. The few commands I've tried seem to work without specifying a section. What is the purpose of including the section number in parenthesis immediately after a command when discussing that command in written documentation?

Tinkster · 05-26-2004, 06:36 PM

If you tried a
man -k read, for instance, you'd see:

Code:

read                 (2)  - read from a file descriptor
read                 (n)  - Read from a channel
read [builtins]      (1)  - bash built-in commands, see bash(1)

If you do a man read, by default only one entry will
be displayed ... in case of read ofr example you'd miss
out on the bash-builtin ...

Try a few man -k (apropos) searches and you'll see
that there's many terms references more than once,
if you want a specific one you need to specify the
section...

e.g.

man n read

HIH!

Cheers,
Tink

Charlie Spencer · 05-27-2004, 06:57 AM

"man -k read" regurgitated a couple of hundred lines of what I assume are errors. After several seconds I fed it a CTRL-C and got back to a command prompt. "man" commands without the -k work fine. Rebooting (the last refuge of the incompetent) made no difference. I'm logged on as my user account, if that makes any difference.

I don't yet have internet access on my RH9 box so I can't cut and paste the messages. The first one began with:
BIO_append_filename

The next dozen began:
BIO_ctrl_get_read_request

Followed by three:
BIO_ctrl_get_write_guarantee

and so on.

I'm assuming "HIH" is a chat room abbreviation for something.

Charlie Spencer · 05-27-2004, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Charlie Spencer
"man" commands without the -k work fine.

No, it doesn't. "man man" works; "man 'anyothercommand' " results in "Bus error". Great, I've broken the help files.

Tinkster · 05-27-2004, 02:49 PM

I think you have a dying hard-disk, IDE cable or DMA controller ...

Cheers,
Tink

Charlie Spencer · 05-28-2004, 05:52 AM

Correct diagnosis, but about an hour late. I installed a spare 10 gig drive from my spares inventory just before I did the install. Apparently I didn't mark it as questionable when I put it into spares, and it died early yesterday afternoon.

slackist · 05-28-2004, 06:57 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Tinkster
I think you have a dying hard-disk, IDE cable or DMA controller ...

Cheers,
Tink

Quote:

Originally posted by Charlie Spencer

Correct diagnosis, but about an hour late.....

Wow, Tinkster, you guys are good