latex2man - Man Page

The latex2man package accepts the following options:

fancy

use the LaTeX package fancyheadings.

fancyhdr

use the LaTeX package fancyhdr.

nofancy

neither the LaTeX package fancyheadings nor  fancyhdr are used.

The default option may be specified in the file latex2man.cfg.

The following environments are provided by the package:

\begin{Name}{chapter}{name}{author}{info}{title}  

The  Name environment takes five arguments: 1.  the Man-page chapter,  2.  the name of the Man-page, 3.  the author, 4.  some short information  about the tool printed in the footline of the Man-page, and 5.  a text  which is used as title, for HTML and LaTeX (it's ignored for output of  the Man-page or TeXinfo. The Name environment must be the first  environment in the document. Processing starts with this environment. Any  text before this is ignored (exception: the setVersion and  setDate commands). (Note: all arguments of \begin{Name} must  be written on one line).

\begin{Table}[width]{columns}

The Table environment takes two arguments: the first optional one specifies  a width of the last column, the second one gives the number of columns.  For example:

\begin{Table}[2cm]{3}
Here & am & I \\\hline
A 1 & A 2 & A 3 1 2 3 4 5 A 3 1 2 3 4 5 \\
B 1 & B 2 & B 3 \\
\end{Table}

will be typeset as:

If no optional width argument is given, all entries are  typeset left justified.  The width is a length measured absolutly in cm. Processing with LaTeX a p{width} column is typeset  as last column. The translation to troff(1) commands  results in a lw(width) column specification. Translating  to HTML and TexInfo ignores the width parameter.

\hline may be used.

If the Man-page is formatted with troff(1) and tables are used, the  tbl(1) preprocessor should be called, usually by giving  a -t to the call of troff(1). When viewing the generated  manula page using man(1), tbl(1) is called automatically.

\begin{Description}

is the same as \begin{description}

\begin{Description}[label]

is similar to  \begin{description}, but the item labels have at minimum the size  of the (optional) word label. The difference is visible only  in the DVI and PDF-output, not in the troff, TexInfo or HTML output.

a

|a \begin{description}

ab

|ab

abc

|abc

a

|a \begin{Description}

ab

|ab

abc

|abc

a

|a \begin{Description}[aa]

ab

|ab

abc

|abc

The following environments are accepted:

• description
• enumerate
• itemize
• verbatim
• center

They may be nested:

• Itemize and nested center:

  A centered line.

  Another centered line.

• Another item an nested enumerate

  1. a
  2. b

The following commands are provided:

\Opt{option}

Option: \Opt{-o} will be typeset as -o.

\Arg{argument}

Argument: \Arg{filename} will be typeset as  filename.

\OptArg{option}{argument}

Option with Argument:
\OptArg{-o}{filename} will be typeset as -ofilename.

\OptoArg{option}{argument}

Option with optional Argument:
\OptoArg{-o}{filename} will be  typeset as -o[filename].

\oOpt{option}

Optional option, e.g.  \oOpt{-o} will be  typeset as [-o].

\oArg{argument}

Optional argument, e.g.  \oArg{filename}  will be typeset as [filename].

\oOptArg{option}{argument}

Optional option with argument, e.g.
\oOptArg{-o}{filename} will be typeset as [-ofilename].

\oOptoArg{option}{argument}

Optional option with optional  argument, e.g.
\oOptoArg{-o}{filename} will be typeset as [-o[filename]].

\File{filename}

used to typeset filenames, e.g.   \File{filename} will be typeset as filename.

\Prog{prog}

used to typeset program names, e.g.   \Prog{latex2man} will be typeset as latex2man.

\Cmd{command}{chapter}

used to typeset references to other  commands, e.g.
\Cmd{latex2man}{1} will be typeset as latex2man(1).

\Bar

is typeset as |.

\Bs

(BackSlash) is typeset as \.

\Tilde

is typeset as a ~.

\Dots

is typeset as ...

\Bullet

us typeset as *.

\setVersion{..}

set .. as version information.

\setVersionWord{..}

set .. for the word Version: in  the footline.
The default is \setVersionWord{Version:}.

\Version

returns the version information.

\setDate{..}

sets .. as date information.

\Date

returns the date information.

\Email{..}

use to mark an Email address:
\Email{Juergen.Vollmer@informatik-vollmer.de} is typeset as:
Juergen.Vollmer@informatik-vollmer.de.

\URL{..}

use to mark an URL:  \URL{http://www.foo.de/\Tilde vollmer} is typeset as
http://www.foo.de/~vollmer.

\LatexManEnd

the input file is read and processed until reading  end-of-file or
\LatexManEnd (at the beginning of a line).  LaTeXignores this command.

\Lbr, \Rbr

is typeset as [ and ] (these variants are  needed only somtimes like in
\item[FooBar\LBr xx \Lbr]. Usually [ ] will work.

\LBr, \RBr

is typeset as { and } (these variants are  needed when using { or } as arguments to macros.

\Circum

is typeset as ^.

\Percent

is typeset as %.

\TEXbr

If processed with LaTeX causes a linebreak (i.e.  is  equivalent to \\).In the output of latex2man this macro is  ignored.

\TEXIbr

If TexInfo output is generated, causes a linebreak (i.e.  is  equivalent to \\),otherwise ignored.

\MANbr

If Man-Page output is generated, causes a linebreak (i.e.  is  equivalent to \\),otherwise ignored.

\HTMLbr

If HTML output is generated, causes a linebreak (i.e.  is  equivalent to \\),otherwise ignored.

\medskip

An empty line.

\SP

Produces some extra space, works also at the beginning of lines.  The code of the second line looks like:  \SP abc \SP\SP xx\\:
abc xx
abc xx
abc xx

Note: Due to some “problems” with TexInfo, the lines starting with  \SP have a leading . (dot) in the TexInfo output,  see -achar.

\rcsInfo $Id ...$

if the LaTeX package rcsinfo is used,  this command is used to extract the date of the Man-page.

\rcsInfoLongDate

if the LaTeX package rcsinfo is used, this  command is used to typeset the date coded in the $Id ..$ string.

The following standard LaTeX commands are accepted:

\section{..}

The section macro takes one argument: the  name of the Man-page section. Each Man-page consists of several sections.  Usually there are the following sections in a Man-page: Name (special handling as environment, c.f.  above), Synopsis, Description, Options, Files, See Also, Diagnostics, Return Values, Bugs, Author, version, etc.

Synopsis must be the first section after the Name environment.

Note: Do not use LaTeX-macrosin section names.

\subsection{..}

works as well as

\subsubsection{..}

those.

\emph{..}

\emph{example} is typeset as example.

\textbf{..}

\textbf{example} is typeset as example.

\texttt{..}

\texttt{example} is typeset as example.

\underline{..}

\underline{example} is typeset as example of underline .

\date{..}

uses .. as date.

\verb+..+

but only + is allowed as delimiter.

$<$ is typeset as <.

$>$ is typeset as >.

$<=$ is typeset as <=.

$>=$ is typeset as >=.

$=$ is typeset as =.

$<>$ is typeset as <>.

$\ge$

is typeset as $>=$.

$\le$

is typeset as $<=$.

$\leftarrow$

is typeset as $<--$.

$\Leftarrow$

is typeset as $<==$.

$\rightarrow$

is typeset as $-->$.

$\Rightarrow$

is typeset as $==>$.

\{ is typeset as {.

\} is typeset as }.

\$ is typeset as $.

\$ is typeset as $,should be used inside macro

arguments.

\_ is typeset as _.

\& is typeset as &.

\# is typeset as #.

\% is typeset as %.

\,

is typeset as smaller blank - - (between the two -)

\-

is used to mark hyphenation in a word.

\\ is typeset as a linebreak or marks the end of a column in the

Table environment.

\ (a \ followed by a blank) is typeset as a blank,

although it cannot be used at the beginning of a line to make indentation  (see the \SP command).

~ is typeset as a blank.

\copyright

is typeset as (C).

\noindent

\hline

inside a Table environment.

\item

inside a itemize, enumerate, or  description environment.

\today

25 November 2018(see also the rcsinfo LaTeXpackage).

\ss,\"a, ...

\ss = ß, \"a= ä, \"o= ö, \"u= ü,  macros in { and } in all places, even inside other macros, e.g.

     \textbf{\"a\"o\"u\"A\"O\"U\ss}
     \textbf{\"a}{\"o}{\"u}{\"A}{\"O}{\"U}{\ss}}
     \textbf{äöüÄÖÜß}

äöüÄÖÜß äöüÄÖÜß äöüÄÖÜß

If these letters are used in their LATIN-1 8-bit coding, they are  translated into the equivalent letter of the desired output format.  E.g. Ä becomes &Auml; in HTML and @"A in texinfo.

\input{..}

Read and process the given filename.

Please note: the name of the LaTeX-macrosand its arguments must be contained in one line.

latex2man preprocesses the LaTeX input to allow text to be used  conditionally. A special sort of LaTeX comment is used for that purpose.

• %@% IF condition %@%
• %@% ELSE %@%
• %@% END-IF %@%

A line must contain only such a comment and nothing else. condition is  a boolean expression containing “names” and operators. The names given with  the -Cname option have the value “true”, while all other names  occuring in the expression are assumed to be “false”. If the evaluation of  the boolean expression results in the value “true”, the text in the  “then”-part is used and the text in the optional “else”-part is skipped  (and vice versa). The IF/ELSE/END-IF may be nested. As boolean  operators the following are allowed:

( and ) for grouping are allowed.

For example:
%@% IF abc %@%
abc set
%@%  IF xyz %@%
xyz set
%@%  ELSE %@%
xyz NOT set
%@%  END-IF %@%
%@% ELSE %@%
abc NOT set
%@%  IF xyz || !XYZ %@%
xyz OR !XYZ set
%@%  ELSE %@%
xyz OR !XYZ NOT set
%@%  END-IF %@%
%@% END-IF %@%

Run this manual page through latex2man with e.g.   -C'abc XYZ' and have a look to the generated output.  (If simply running the LaTeX-document through LaTeX,all lines are shown in the  .dvi file).
abc NOT set
xyz OR !XYZ set

To check the conditional text feature, when latex2man is called with

-CHTML

the lines 1a, 2b, 3b, and 4b;

-CTEXI

the lines 1b, 2a, 3b, and 4b;

-CMAN

the lines 1b, 2b, 3a, and 4b;

-CLATEX

the lines 1b, 2b, 3b, and 4a;

calling LaTeX without preprocessing

all lines

should be shown:

1b. The HTML conditional was not set.

2b. The TEXI conditional was not set.

3a. This text occurs only when viewing the MAN output

4b. The LATEX conditional was not set.

The user macro translation file (given by the [-ttransfile]) contains  Perl commands specifying the translation of LaTeX macros defined by  the user. These macros may have none, one or two arguments. The following code  is expected:

• Comments start with a # up to the end of the line.

• For a macro \foo with no arguments, the following code must be  specified:

  Translation to Man-Pages

  $manMacro{'foo'} = '...';

  Translation to HTML

  $htmlMacro{'foo'} = '...';

  Translation to TexInfo

  $texiMacro{'foo'} = '...';

  where ... is the translation.

• For a macro \foo{..} with one argument, the following code must be  specified:

  Translation to Man-Pages

  $manMacro1a{'foo'} = '...';
  $manMacro1b{'foo'} = '...';

  Translation to HTML

  $htmlMacro1a{'foo'} = '...';
  $htmlMacro1b{'foo'} = '...';

  Translation to TexInfo

  $texiMacro1a{'foo'} = '...';
  $texiMacro1b{'foo'} = '...';

  where ... is the translation. The 1a code is used before the  argument, while 1b is typeset after the argument is set.

• For a macro \foo{..}{..} with two arguments, the following code  must be specified:

  Translation to Man-Pages

  $manMacro2a{'foo'} = '...';
  $manMacro2b{'foo'} = '...';
  $manMacro2c{'foo'} = '...';

  Translation to HTML

  $htmlMacro2a{'foo'} = '...';
  $htmlMacro2b{'foo'} = '...';
  $htmlMacro2c{'foo'} = '...';

  Translation to TexInfo

  $texiMacro2a{'foo'} = '...';
  $texiMacro2b{'foo'} = '...';
  $texiMacro2c{'foo'} = '...';

  where ... is the translation. The 2a code is used before the  first argument, 2b between the two arguments and 2c is  typeset after the second argument is set.

• The file latex2man.trans contains some example code.

This
    {is}
        \texttt{a}
                  $test$
                         _of_
verbatim
<this is no HTML tag> and no @* TexInfo command

This is a \subsection.

This is a \subsubsection.

This is another \subsubsection.

1. Empty lines are typeset as paragraph separators.
2. The arguments of the LaTeX commands must not be split over several  lines.
3. Do not nest calls to macros.
4. Except the mentioned environment and macros, the usage of other LaTeX   environments or macros are not translated. Their usage will cause garbage  in the output.
5. latex2man requires Perl version >= 5.0004_03.
6. If you want to install the system with the distributed Makefile, you need GNU-make. If you don't have it, you should execute the  steps shown in the Makefile manually.