


POD2MAN(1)       Perl Programmers Reference Guide      POD2MAN(1)


NAME
       pod2man - Convert POD data to formatted *roff input

SYNOPSIS
       pod2man [--center=string] [--date=string]
           [--fixed=font] [--fixedbold=font] [--fixeditalic=font]
           [--fixedbolditalic=font] [--name=name] [--official]
           [--quotes=quotes] [--release[=version]]
           [--section=manext] [--stderr] [--utf8] [--verbose]
           [input [output] ...]

       pod2man --help

DESCRIPTION
       pod2man is a front-end for Pod::Man, using it to generate
       *roff input from POD source.  The resulting *roff code is
       suitable for display on a terminal using nroff(1),
       normally via man(1), or printing using troff(1).

       input is the file to read for POD source (the POD can be
       embedded in code).  If input isn't given, it defaults to
       "STDIN".  output, if given, is the file to which to write
       the formatted output.  If output isn't given, the
       formatted output is written to "STDOUT".  Several POD
       files can be processed in the same pod2man invocation
       (saving module load and compile times) by providing
       multiple pairs of input and output files on the command
       line.

       --section, --release, --center, --date, and --official can
       be used to set the headers and footers to use; if not
       given, Pod::Man will assume various defaults.  See below
       or Pod::Man for details.

       pod2man assumes that your *roff formatters have a fixed-
       width font named "CW".  If yours is called something else
       (like "CR"), use --fixed to specify it.  This generally
       only matters for troff output for printing.  Similarly,
       you can set the fonts used for bold, italic, and bold
       italic fixed-width output.

       Besides the obvious pod conversions, Pod::Man, and
       therefore pod2man also takes care of formatting func(),
       func(n), and simple variable references like $foo or @bar
       so you don't have to use code escapes for them; complex
       expressions like $fred{'stuff'} will still need to be
       escaped, though.  It also translates dashes that aren't
       used as hyphens into en dashes, makes long dashes--like
       this--into proper em dashes, fixes "paired quotes," and
       takes care of several other troff-specific tweaks.  See
       Pod::Man for complete information.

OPTIONS




perl v5.10.1                2010-03-17                          1





POD2MAN(1)       Perl Programmers Reference Guide      POD2MAN(1)


       -c string, --center=string
           Sets the centered page header to string.  The default
           is "User Contributed Perl Documentation", but also see
           --official below.

       -d string, --date=string
           Set the left-hand footer string to this value.  By
           default, the modification date of the input file will
           be used, or the current date if input comes from
           "STDIN".

       --fixed=font
           The fixed-width font to use for verbatim text and
           code.  Defaults to "CW".  Some systems may want "CR"
           instead.  Only matters for troff(1) output.

       --fixedbold=font
           Bold version of the fixed-width font.  Defaults to
           "CB".  Only matters for troff(1) output.

       --fixeditalic=font
           Italic version of the fixed-width font (actually,
           something of a misnomer, since most fixed-width fonts
           only have an oblique version, not an italic version).
           Defaults to "CI".  Only matters for troff(1) output.

       --fixedbolditalic=font
           Bold italic (probably actually oblique) version of the
           fixed-width font.  Pod::Man doesn't assume you have
           this, and defaults to "CB".  Some systems (such as
           Solaris) have this font available as "CX".  Only
           matters for troff(1) output.

       -h, --help
           Print out usage information.

       -l, --lax
           No longer used.  pod2man used to check its input for
           validity as a manual page, but this should now be done
           by podchecker(1) instead.  Accepted for backward
           compatibility; this option no longer does anything.

       -n name, --name=name
           Set the name of the manual page to name.  Without this
           option, the manual name is set to the uppercased base
           name of the file being converted unless the manual
           section is 3, in which case the path is parsed to see
           if it is a Perl module path.  If it is, a path like
           ".../lib/Pod/Man.pm" is converted into a name like
           "Pod::Man".  This option, if given, overrides any
           automatic determination of the name.

           Note that this option is probably not useful when
           converting multiple POD files at once.  The convention



perl v5.10.1                2010-03-17                          2





POD2MAN(1)       Perl Programmers Reference Guide      POD2MAN(1)


           for Unix man pages for commands is for the man page
           title to be in all-uppercase even if the command
           isn't.

       -o, --official
           Set the default header to indicate that this page is
           part of the standard Perl release, if --center is not
           also given.

       -q quotes, --quotes=quotes
           Sets the quote marks used to surround C<> text to
           quotes.  If quotes is a single character, it is used
           as both the left and right quote; if quotes is two
           characters, the first character is used as the left
           quote and the second as the right quoted; and if
           quotes is four characters, the first two are used as
           the left quote and the second two as the right quote.

           quotes may also be set to the special value "none", in
           which case no quote marks are added around C<> text
           (but the font is still changed for troff output).

       -r, --release
           Set the centered footer.  By default, this is the
           version of Perl you run pod2man under.  Note that some
           system an macro sets assume that the centered footer
           will be a modification date and will prepend something
           like "Last modified: "; if this is the case, you may
           want to set --release to the last modified date and
           --date to the version number.

       -s, --section
           Set the section for the ".TH" macro.  The standard
           section numbering convention is to use 1 for user
           commands, 2 for system calls, 3 for functions, 4 for
           devices, 5 for file formats, 6 for games, 7 for
           miscellaneous information, and 8 for administrator
           commands.  There is a lot of variation here, however;
           some systems (like Solaris) use 4 for file formats, 5
           for miscellaneous information, and 7 for devices.
           Still others use 1m instead of 8, or some mix of both.
           About the only section numbers that are reliably
           consistent are 1, 2, and 3.

           By default, section 1 will be used unless the file
           ends in ".pm", in which case section 3 will be
           selected.

       --stderr
           By default, pod2man puts any errors detected in the
           POD input in a POD ERRORS section in the output manual
           page.  If --stderr is given, errors are sent to
           standard error instead and the POD ERRORS section is
           suppressed.



perl v5.10.1                2010-03-17                          3





POD2MAN(1)       Perl Programmers Reference Guide      POD2MAN(1)


       -u, --utf8
           By default, pod2man produces the most conservative
           possible *roff output to try to ensure that it will
           work with as many different *roff implementations as
           possible.  Many *roff implementations cannot handle
           non-ASCII characters, so this means all non-ASCII
           characters are converted either to a *roff escape
           sequence that tries to create a properly accented
           character (at least for troff output) or to "X".

           This option says to instead output literal UTF-8
           characters.  If your *roff implementation can handle
           it, this is the best output format to use and avoids
           corruption of documents containing non-ASCII
           characters.  However, be warned that *roff source with
           literal UTF-8 characters is not supported by many
           implementations and may even result in segfaults and
           other bad behavior.

           Be aware that, when using this option, the input
           encoding of your POD source must be properly declared
           unless it is US-ASCII or Latin-1.  POD input without
           an "=encoding" command will be assumed to be in
           Latin-1, and if it's actually in UTF-8, the output
           will be double-encoded.  See perlpod(1) for more
           information on the "=encoding" command.

       -v, --verbose
           Print out the name of each output file as it is being
           generated.

DIAGNOSTICS
       If pod2man fails with errors, see Pod::Man and Pod::Simple
       for information about what those errors might mean.

EXAMPLES
           pod2man program > program.1
           pod2man SomeModule.pm /usr/perl/man/man3/SomeModule.3
           pod2man --section=7 note.pod > note.7

       If you would like to print out a lot of man page
       continuously, you probably want to set the C and D
       registers to set contiguous page numbering and even/odd
       paging, at least on some versions of man(7).

           troff -man -rC1 -rD1 perl.1 perldata.1 perlsyn.1 ...

       To get index entries on "STDERR", turn on the F register,
       as in:

           troff -man -rF1 perl.1

       The indexing merely outputs messages via ".tm" for each
       major page, section, subsection, item, and any "X<>"



perl v5.10.1                2010-03-17                          4





POD2MAN(1)       Perl Programmers Reference Guide      POD2MAN(1)


       directives.  See Pod::Man for more details.

BUGS
       Lots of this documentation is duplicated from Pod::Man.

NOTES
       For those not sure of the proper layout of a man page,
       here are some notes on writing a proper man page.

       The name of the program being documented is conventionally
       written in bold (using B<>) wherever it occurs, as are all
       program options.  Arguments should be written in italics
       (I<>).  Functions are traditionally written in italics; if
       you write a function as function(), Pod::Man will take
       care of this for you.  Literal code or commands should be
       in C<>.  References to other man pages should be in the
       form "manpage(section)", and Pod::Man will automatically
       format those appropriately.  As an exception, it's
       traditional not to use this form when referring to module
       documentation; use "L<Module::Name>" instead.

       References to other programs or functions are normally in
       the form of man page references so that cross-referencing
       tools can provide the user with links and the like.  It's
       possible to overdo this, though, so be careful not to
       clutter your documentation with too much markup.

       The major headers should be set out using a "=head1"
       directive, and are historically written in the rather
       startling ALL UPPER CASE format, although this is not
       mandatory.  Minor headers may be included using "=head2",
       and are typically in mixed case.

       The standard sections of a manual page are:

       NAME
           Mandatory section; should be a comma-separated list of
           programs or functions documented by this POD page,
           such as:

               foo, bar - programs to do something

           Manual page indexers are often extremely picky about
           the format of this section, so don't put anything in
           it except this line.  A single dash, and only a single
           dash, should separate the list of programs or
           functions from the description.  Functions should not
           be qualified with "()" or the like.  The description
           should ideally fit on a single line, even if a man
           program replaces the dash with a few tabs.

       SYNOPSIS
           A short usage summary for programs and functions.
           This section is mandatory for section 3 pages.



perl v5.10.1                2010-03-17                          5





POD2MAN(1)       Perl Programmers Reference Guide      POD2MAN(1)


       DESCRIPTION
           Extended description and discussion of the program or
           functions, or the body of the documentation for man
           pages that document something else.  If particularly
           long, it's a good idea to break this up into
           subsections "=head2" directives like:

               =head2 Normal Usage

               =head2 Advanced Features

               =head2 Writing Configuration Files

           or whatever is appropriate for your documentation.

       OPTIONS
           Detailed description of each of the command-line
           options taken by the program.  This should be separate
           from the description for the use of things like
           Pod::Usage.  This is normally presented as a list,
           with each option as a separate "=item".  The specific
           option string should be enclosed in B<>.  Any values
           that the option takes should be enclosed in I<>.  For
           example, the section for the option --section=manext
           would be introduced with:

               =item B<--section>=I<manext>

           Synonymous options (like both the short and long
           forms) are separated by a comma and a space on the
           same "=item" line, or optionally listed as their own
           item with a reference to the canonical name.  For
           example, since --section can also be written as -s,
           the above would be:

               =item B<-s> I<manext>, B<--section>=I<manext>

           (Writing the short option first is arguably easier to
           read, since the long option is long enough to draw the
           eye to it anyway and the short option can otherwise
           get lost in visual noise.)

       RETURN VALUE
           What the program or function returns, if successful.
           This section can be omitted for programs whose precise
           exit codes aren't important, provided they return 0 on
           success as is standard.  It should always be present
           for functions.

       ERRORS
           Exceptions, error return codes, exit statuses, and
           errno settings.  Typically used for function
           documentation; program documentation uses DIAGNOSTICS
           instead.  The general rule of thumb is that errors



perl v5.10.1                2010-03-17                          6





POD2MAN(1)       Perl Programmers Reference Guide      POD2MAN(1)


           printed to "STDOUT" or "STDERR" and intended for the
           end user are documented in DIAGNOSTICS while errors
           passed internal to the calling program and intended
           for other programmers are documented in ERRORS.  When
           documenting a function that sets errno, a full list of
           the possible errno values should be given here.

       DIAGNOSTICS
           All possible messages the program can print out--and
           what they mean.  You may wish to follow the same
           documentation style as the Perl documentation; see
           perldiag(1) for more details (and look at the POD
           source as well).

           If applicable, please include details on what the user
           should do to correct the error; documenting an error
           as indicating "the input buffer is too small" without
           telling the user how to increase the size of the input
           buffer (or at least telling them that it isn't
           possible) aren't very useful.

       EXAMPLES
           Give some example uses of the program or function.
           Don't skimp; users often find this the most useful
           part of the documentation.  The examples are generally
           given as verbatim paragraphs.

           Don't just present an example without explaining what
           it does.  Adding a short paragraph saying what the
           example will do can increase the value of the example
           immensely.

       ENVIRONMENT
           Environment variables that the program cares about,
           normally presented as a list using "=over", "=item",
           and "=back".  For example:

               =over 6

               =item HOME

               Used to determine the user's home directory.  F<.foorc> in this
               directory is read for configuration details, if it exists.

               =back

           Since environment variables are normally in all
           uppercase, no additional special formatting is
           generally needed; they're glaring enough as it is.

       FILES
           All files used by the program or function, normally
           presented as a list, and what it uses them for.  File
           names should be enclosed in F<>.  It's particularly



perl v5.10.1                2010-03-17                          7





POD2MAN(1)       Perl Programmers Reference Guide      POD2MAN(1)


           important to document files that will be potentially
           modified.

       CAVEATS
           Things to take special care with, sometimes called
           WARNINGS.

       BUGS
           Things that are broken or just don't work quite right.

       RESTRICTIONS
           Bugs you don't plan to fix.  :-)

       NOTES
           Miscellaneous commentary.

       AUTHOR
           Who wrote it (use AUTHORS for multiple people).
           Including your current e-mail address (or some e-mail
           address to which bug reports should be sent) so that
           users have a way of contacting you is a good idea.
           Remember that program documentation tends to roam the
           wild for far longer than you expect and pick an e-mail
           address that's likely to last if possible.

       HISTORY
           Programs derived from other sources sometimes have
           this, or you might keep a modification log here.  If
           the log gets overly long or detailed, consider
           maintaining it in a separate file, though.

       COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
           For copyright

               Copyright YEAR(s) by YOUR NAME(s)

           (No, (C) is not needed.  No, "all rights reserved" is
           not needed.)

           For licensing the easiest way is to use the same
           licensing as Perl itself:

               This library is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify
               it under the same terms as Perl itself.

           This makes it easy for people to use your module with
           Perl.  Note that this licensing is neither an
           endorsement or a requirement, you are of course free
           to choose any licensing.

       SEE ALSO
           Other man pages to check out, like man(1), man(7),
           makewhatis(8), or catman(8).  Normally a simple list
           of man pages separated by commas, or a paragraph



perl v5.10.1                2010-03-17                          8





POD2MAN(1)       Perl Programmers Reference Guide      POD2MAN(1)


           giving the name of a reference work.  Man page
           references, if they use the standard "name(section)"
           form, don't have to be enclosed in L<> (although it's
           recommended), but other things in this section
           probably should be when appropriate.

           If the package has a mailing list, include a URL or
           subscription instructions here.

           If the package has a web site, include a URL here.

       In addition, some systems use CONFORMING TO to note
       conformance to relevant standards and MT-LEVEL to note
       safeness for use in threaded programs or signal handlers.
       These headings are primarily useful when documenting parts
       of a C library.  Documentation of object-oriented
       libraries or modules may use CONSTRUCTORS and METHODS
       sections for detailed documentation of the parts of the
       library and save the DESCRIPTION section for an overview;
       other large modules may use FUNCTIONS for similar reasons.
       Some people use OVERVIEW to summarize the description if
       it's quite long.

       Section ordering varies, although NAME should always be
       the first section (you'll break some man page systems
       otherwise), and NAME, SYNOPSIS, DESCRIPTION, and OPTIONS
       generally always occur first and in that order if present.
       In general, SEE ALSO, AUTHOR, and similar material should
       be left for last.  Some systems also move WARNINGS and
       NOTES to last.  The order given above should be reasonable
       for most purposes.

       Finally, as a general note, try not to use an excessive
       amount of markup.  As documented here and in Pod::Man, you
       can safely leave Perl variables, function names, man page
       references, and the like unadorned by markup and the POD
       translators will figure it out for you.  This makes it
       much easier to later edit the documentation.  Note that
       many existing translators (including this one currently)
       will do the wrong thing with e-mail addresses when wrapped
       in L<>, so don't do that.

       For additional information that may be more accurate for
       your specific system, see either man(5) or man(7)
       depending on your system manual section numbering
       conventions.

SEE ALSO
       Pod::Man, Pod::Simple, man(1), nroff(1), perlpod(1),
       podchecker(1), troff(1), man(7)

       The man page documenting the an macro set may be man(5)
       instead of man(7) on your system.




perl v5.10.1                2010-03-17                          9





POD2MAN(1)       Perl Programmers Reference Guide      POD2MAN(1)


       The current version of this script is always available
       from its web site at
       <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/software/podlators/>.  It is
       also part of the Perl core distribution as of 5.6.0.

AUTHOR
       Russ Allbery <rra@stanford.edu>, based very heavily on the
       original pod2man by Larry Wall and Tom Christiansen.
       Large portions of this documentation, particularly the
       sections on the anatomy of a proper man page, are taken
       from the pod2man documentation by Tom.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
       Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2008 Russ Allbery
       <rra@stanford.edu>.

       This program is free software; you may redistribute it
       and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.







































perl v5.10.1                2010-03-17                         10


