// Patrick Louis

How to write a simple Manpage

Jun 15, 2014

Hello nixers, In this thread you’ll learn how to write a very simple man page for your programs.

Disclaimer

I won’t go into the details of what and where are Manpages. If you want more information refer to the followings:

  • man man
  • man 7 mdoc
  • man 7 man-pages
  • man 1 manpath

Sections of a manpage

A manpage normally contains those sections (taken from the man 7 mdoc)

  • NAME
    Name section, should include the ‘.Nm’ or ‘.Fn’ and the ‘.Nd’ macros.
  • SYNOPSIS
    Usage.
  • DESCRIPTION
    General description, should include options and parameters.
  • RETURN VALUE
    Sections two and three function calls.
  • ENVIRONMENT
    Describe environment variables.
  • FILES
    Files associated with the subject.
  • EXAMPLES
    Examples and suggestions.
  • DIAGNOSTICS
    Normally used for section four device interface diagnostics.
  • ERRORS
    Sections two and three error and signal handling.
  • SEE ALSO
    Cross references and citations.
  • CONFORMING TO Conformance to standards if applicable.
  • HISTORY
    If a standard is not applicable, the history of the subject should be given.
  • BUGS
    Gotchas and caveats.

However, you can ommit or add any sections depending on the program usage. For example, you might want to ommit the RETURN VALUE but add a COMMANDS section if the program has a shell interface that accepts a set of commands.

Groff

Manpages follow a format code called Groff (or Troff). As with any markup you’ll use some code to change the appearance of the text. The main format macros well use are the followings:

.SH            
Section Header
.B             
Bold text
\fBtext\fR     
Make only "text" bold
.I             
Italic
\fItext\fR     
Make only "text" italic
.Sp            
Start a new paragraph
.TP            
Use to align text
.IP            
Use to indent text
.RS text .RE   
"text" will be in it's own block
\(bu 2         
It's the code for a bullet number 2

Writing the manpage

The empty Manpage should look similar to this:

.TH name_of_program 1 "Jun 15, 2014" "" "NIXERS COMMUNITY"

.SH NAME

.SH SYNOPSIS

.SH DESCRIPTION

.SH OPTIONS

.SH RETURN VALUE

.SH ENVIRONMENT

.SH ERRORS

.SH SEE ALSO

.SH AUTHOR

Let’s fill it up section by section but first let’s explain the first line.

.TH name_of_program 1 "Jun 15, 2014" "" "NIXERS COMMUNITY"

This line describes the manpage, it’s the decoration at the top and bottom of the page. Replace name_of_program with the name of the program. Replace 1 by the section the program belongs to. (1 Executable programs or shell commands) Replace “Jun 15, 2014” by the current date. The last 2 strings are other decorations.

The NAME section: This section contains a one-liner with the name of the program and the simplest description. Example:

nixers - One line description of the nixers program

The SYNOPSIS section: This section contains (for CLI) all the short-hand arguments regrouped together without any explanation. Example:

\fBnixers\fR [\fB-hv\fR]  [\fB-r\fR \fIrice-max-mode\fR]

Here we’ve made, for easier reading, the “nixers” bold, the “-hv” bold and the “rice-max-mode” italic.

The DESCRIPTION section: This section contains a big description of what the program purpose is.

.B nixers\fR is just a sample manpage.
.PP
Here's another paragraph in the description.

We’ve made the “nixers” word bold and separated the first paragraph from the other (.PP).

The OPTIONS section: In this section every command line arguments are explained.

.TP
.B \-h
prints a help message.
.TP
.B \-v
prints version.
.TP
.B \-r \fIrice-max-mode\fR
Turn the program into ricing [1],beaning [2], or milking[3].
.PP
Note: about options. 

Never use like that on Windows:
.sp
.IP
nixers -r 3 ;

The .TP let’s you align everything after the shorthand option. We’ve made the shorthands bold using “.B” and the arguments of shorthand italic “\fI \fR” You don’t usually have to escape “-“ but it’s sometimes better to do so.

The RETURN VALUE section: Here’s the part where you explain what the program will return in multiple cases. (echo $?)

Here are the possible return values for nixers:
.RS
.IP \(bu 2
.B 0 \fR Everything went fine.
.IP \(bu 2
.B -1 \fR An error occured.
.IP \(bu 2
.B 1337 \fR A skid is using this program.
.RE

Everything that is inside “.RS” “.RE” will be considered as it’s own block following the format that was used just before “.RS”. “.IP” is used to indent the bullet “(bu 2” and “.B” with “.\fR” to format the return value to bold.

The ENVIRONMENT section: In this section you mention what environment variable the program follows.

nixers doesn't follow any environment variables.

It’s an example of a section that could’ve been ommited.

The ERRORS section: It regroups well known errors that might happen while using the program.

You might get some errors if you run this program along \fBGNOME(1)\fR, \fBKDE(1)\fR, or \fBCINAMON(1)\fR.

When refering to an external command or manpage you need to put inside parenthesis to which section it belongs. It’s also a good idea to format them to bold.

The SEE ALSO section: This section regroups all the manpages that are related or mentioned in the manpage.

.B rice(1)
.B bean(1)
.B milk(1)

The AUTHOR section: It is an example of a custom section.

nixers community  (http://nixers.net)

Whole Sample

.TH nixers 1 "Jun 15, 2014" "" "NIXERS COMMUNITY"
.SH NAME
nixers - One line description of the nixers program
.SH SYNOPSIS
\fBnixers\fR [\fB-hv\fR]  [\fB-r\fR \fIrice-max-mode\fR]

.SH DESCRIPTION
.B nixers\fR is just a sample manpage.
.PP
Here's another paragraph in the description.

.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.B \-h
prints a help message.
.TP
.B \-v
prints version.
.TP
.B \-r \fIrice-max-mode\fR
Turn the program into ricing [1],beaning [2], or milking[3].
.PP
Note: about options. 

Never use like that on Windows:
.sp
.IP
nixers -r 3 ;

.SH RETURN VALUE

Here are the possible return values for nixers:

.RS
.IP \(bu 2
.B 0 \fR Everything went fine.
.IP \(bu 2
.B -1 \fR An error occured.
.IP \(bu 2
.B 1337 \fR A skid is using this program.
.RE

.SH ENVIRONMENT

nixers doesn't follow any environment variables.

.SH ERRORS
You might get some errors if you run this program along \fBGNOME(1)\fR, \fBKDE(1)\fR, or \fBCINAMON(1)\fR.

.SH SEE ALSO
.B rice(1)
.B bean(1)
.B milk(1)

.SH AUTHOR
nixers community  (http://nixers.net)

Testing the Manpage

To see what the Manpage will look like execute:

man ./nixers.1

Note: If a manpage belongs to the section 1 (Executable programs or shell commands) it should have the extension “.1”. I won’t go into the details of putting the manpage in the manpath.

Conclusion

This is how a simple Manpage is written. Once you get the idea it’s really easy. I haven’t walked through all the format macros but those are the simpliest ones.

More to read from one of our fellow users: here



If you want to have a more in depth discussion I'm always available by email or irc. We can discuss and argue about what you like and dislike, about new ideas to consider, opinions, etc..
If you don't feel like "having a discussion" or are intimidated by emails then you can simply say something small in the comment sections below and/or share it with your friends.