NAME

lists the exact name of the command(s) covered by this manual page and gives a short description of what the command does.

SYNOPSIS

gives a summary of command usage and enables you to see how options can be given to the command. For example:

cp [-iprR] directory1 directory2

The first word or consecutive characters are the name of the command.

The characters enclosed in [square brackets] are optional. A '-' (hyphen) preceding a character indicates that this is an option that can be applied to the command.

Options grouped together after a single hyphen, like this, [-abcD] can be used in this format. If they are given separately, like this, [-n] [-r] [-Z] then they must be used in this format.

Arguments are represented by a name such as file, filename or directory.

DESCRIPTION

gives a detailed description of how the command works.

OPTIONS

explains the action that each option has when used with the command.

ENVIRONMENT

gives the names of any environment variables used by the command and the value(s) that they can be set to.

EXAMPLES

provides examples of how the command can be used. It is often omitted.

FILES

gives details of the files used by the command.

SEE ALSO

refers to manual pages for commands that contain related information. Follow these references to learn which commands are associated with each other.

WARNINGS

warns against using the command in a way that might cause problems.

DIAGNOSTICS

explains the meaning of the various diagnostic messages that the command may present you with. Messages that are considered self explanatory are not included.

BUGS

advises about known 'bugs' or shortcomings with the command.