Revisiting man files to text editor: info pages
There was a thread a while ago about reformatting man pages for pretty viewing and printing. I wonder if there are any similar tricks or ideas for the info pages. I didn't want to awake that sleeping thread, so I started this with a similar name. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Revisiting man files to text editor: info pages
On Sun, Jan 04, 2004 at 02:05:26AM -0500, Antonio Rodriguez wrote: There was a thread a while ago about reformatting man pages for pretty viewing and printing. I wonder if there are any similar tricks or ideas for the info pages. I didn't want to awake that sleeping thread, so I started this with a similar name. All info documentation is written in Texinfo format and then converted to info, using a program called makeinfo. If you get your hands on the Texinfo source you can run it through TeX and get dvi or PostScript output or run it through makeinfo and get info or html. The FSF sells printed copies of their manuals and they also have them online in various formats (html, dvi, ps, pdf, etc). If you don't feel like either getting the Texinfo sources, or downloading the documentation in a different format, you could always use the info2man package to convert the info documentation to a manpage and then print that. But I believe that you would get much better results from the Texinfo sources. Bijan -- Bijan Soleymani [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.crasseux.com signature.asc Description: Digital signature
Re: Revisiting man files to text editor: info pages
On Sun, Jan 04, 2004 at 02:40:49AM -0500, Bijan Soleymani wrote: On Sun, Jan 04, 2004 at 02:05:26AM -0500, Antonio Rodriguez wrote: There was a thread a while ago about reformatting man pages for pretty viewing and printing. I wonder if there are any similar tricks or ideas for the info pages. I didn't want to awake that sleeping thread, so I started this with a similar name. All info documentation is written in Texinfo format and then converted to info, using a program called makeinfo. If you get your hands on the Texinfo source you can run it through TeX and get dvi or PostScript output or run it through makeinfo and get info or html. The FSF sells printed copies of their manuals and they also have them online in various formats (html, dvi, ps, pdf, etc). If you don't feel like either getting the Texinfo sources, or downloading the documentation in a different format, you could always use the info2man package to convert the info documentation to a manpage and then print that. But I believe that you would get much better results from the Texinfo sources. Well, the reason for this post is that I had tried info2man with coreutils, and here is what I got info2man /usr/share/info/coreutils.info.gz info2pod: can't open /usr/share/info/coreutils.info: No such file or directory etc, however, the file exists. (bug in info2man, in coreutils, or my misunderstanding?) I am running sid, with coreutils 5.0.91, which is much nicer documented (personal taste) than 4.5.4 (it is the version whose documentation can be downloaded from www.gnu.org) Any ideas? -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Revisiting man files to text editor: info pages
Antonio Rodriguez([EMAIL PROTECTED]) is reported to have said: On Sun, Jan 04, 2004 at 02:40:49AM -0500, Bijan Soleymani wrote: On Sun, Jan 04, 2004 at 02:05:26AM -0500, Antonio Rodriguez wrote: There was a thread a while ago about reformatting man pages for pretty viewing and printing. I wonder if there are any similar tricks or ideas for the info pages. I didn't want to awake that sleeping thread, so I started this with a similar name. All info documentation is written in Texinfo format and then converted to info, using a program called makeinfo. If you get your hands on the Texinfo source you can run it through TeX and get dvi or PostScript output or run it through makeinfo and get info or html. The FSF sells printed copies of their manuals and they also have them online in various formats (html, dvi, ps, pdf, etc). If you don't feel like either getting the Texinfo sources, or downloading the documentation in a different format, you could always use the info2man package to convert the info documentation to a manpage and then print that. But I believe that you would get much better results from the Texinfo sources. Well, the reason for this post is that I had tried info2man with coreutils, and here is what I got info2man /usr/share/info/coreutils.info.gz info2pod: can't open /usr/share/info/coreutils.info: No such file or directory etc, however, the file exists. (bug in info2man, in coreutils, or my misunderstanding?) I am running sid, with coreutils 5.0.91, which is much nicer documented (personal taste) than 4.5.4 (it is the version whose documentation can be downloaded from www.gnu.org) Any ideas? Yep, gunzip /usr/share/info/coreutils.info.gz -- Any program that runs right is obsolete. ___ -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Revisiting man files to text editor: info pages
On Sun, Jan 04, 2004 at 03:02:04AM -0500, Antonio Rodriguez wrote: On Sun, Jan 04, 2004 at 02:40:49AM -0500, Bijan Soleymani wrote: On Sun, Jan 04, 2004 at 02:05:26AM -0500, Antonio Rodriguez wrote: There was a thread a while ago about reformatting man pages for pretty viewing and printing. I wonder if there are any similar tricks or ideas for the info pages. I didn't want to awake that sleeping thread, so I started this with a similar name. All info documentation is written in Texinfo format and then converted to info, using a program called makeinfo. If you get your hands on the Texinfo source you can run it through TeX and get dvi or PostScript output or run it through makeinfo and get info or html. The FSF sells printed copies of their manuals and they also have them online in various formats (html, dvi, ps, pdf, etc). If you don't feel like either getting the Texinfo sources, or downloading the documentation in a different format, you could always use the info2man package to convert the info documentation to a manpage and then print that. But I believe that you would get much better results from the Texinfo sources. Well, the reason for this post is that I had tried info2man with coreutils, and here is what I got info2man /usr/share/info/coreutils.info.gz info2pod: can't open /usr/share/info/coreutils.info: No such file or directory etc, however, the file exists. (bug in info2man, in coreutils, or my misunderstanding?) I am running sid, with coreutils 5.0.91, which is much nicer documented (personal taste) than 4.5.4 (it is the version whose documentation can be downloaded from www.gnu.org) Any ideas? After trying different options, the nicest looking version is obtained by processing the source texinfo file: 1. get the source from http://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/coreutils/ 2. unpack it, dive into doc directory 3. texi2dvi coreutils.texi Thanks to all for the advices given. The variety is always enlightening. AR -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Revisiting man files to text editor: info pages
On Sun, Jan 04, 2004 at 01:01:10PM -0500, Antonio Rodriguez wrote: After trying different options, the nicest looking version is obtained by processing the source texinfo file: 1. get the source from http://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/coreutils/ 2. unpack it, dive into doc directory 3. texi2dvi coreutils.texi Cool. But I just realized that you can also get the texinfo sources from the GNU website: http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/texi/coreutils.texi.tar.gz It's a 190k download instead of a 3 meg one. (Of course I have a high speed connection, but still...) Bijan -- Bijan Soleymani [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.crasseux.com signature.asc Description: Digital signature
Re: Revisiting man files to text editor: info pages
On Sun, Jan 04, 2004 at 02:51:34PM -0500, Bijan Soleymani wrote: On Sun, Jan 04, 2004 at 01:01:10PM -0500, Antonio Rodriguez wrote: After trying different options, the nicest looking version is obtained by processing the source texinfo file: 1. get the source from http://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/coreutils/ 2. unpack it, dive into doc directory 3. texi2dvi coreutils.texi Cool. But I just realized that you can also get the texinfo sources from the GNU website: http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/texi/coreutils.texi.tar.gz It's a 190k download instead of a 3 meg one. (Of course I have a high speed connection, but still...) Bijan Me too (rr at cfl). The problem is that the one indicated by you for download is about 1 year older. This was the major reason that prompted me to ask. Thanks. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: man files to text editor
On Thu, Dec 18, 2003 at 02:14:48AM +0100, Jan Minar wrote: On Thu, Dec 18, 2003 at 12:50:54AM +, Colin Watson wrote: On Thu, Dec 18, 2003 at 12:41:41AM +, Colin Watson wrote: The '--pager cat' continues to be unnecessary here; $COLUMNS is still honoured. I prefer using the special-purpose $MANWIDTH for this, though. Narrowing the page does work even if man's output is a terminal. Looking at the code, a clarification: narrowing the page works if you use $MANWIDTH to do it, but not if you use $COLUMNS. It might be Neither works; man-db 2.3.20-18.woody.4. Make sure you have no saved cat pages and try again? (A different line length *should* bypass cat pages, but ...) -- Colin Watson [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: man files to text editor
On Thu, Dec 18, 2003 at 02:09:27AM +0100, Jan Minar wrote: On Thu, Dec 18, 2003 at 12:41:41AM +, Colin Watson wrote: On Wed, Dec 17, 2003 at 10:14:54PM +0100, Jan Minar wrote: This actually should not work, you have to tell man(1) it should send the formatted manpage to stdout, instead of messing with the pager. This is incorrect; it is intended to work as Lou described, and it does work. man(1) checks whether its standard output is a terminal before Shame on me... I *did* try it, but, by mistake, not on the quick machine, but on the slow one--so after I waited for too long, I decided it doesn't work (still I think it didn't work this way always). Actually I think I made a late-night error, sorry: it appears to be the pager that does the terminal check, not man, so it will depend somewhat on your pager. It does work at least back to potato, though. (And it's definitely intended to work this way, so I think I'll change man to make absolutely sure by doing the check itself as well.) Narrowing the page does work even if man's output is a terminal. You're talking unstable, ain't you ;-) At least in man-db 2.3.20-18.woody.4, it doesn't. I'm not talking unstable, no; it works on my stable box. As I say I think you must have saved cat pages. man-db 2.4.1 looked at the width and tried to decide if it was close enough to just use a saved cat page, where close enough meant between 66 and 80. I decided this check was bogus and removed it in man-db 2.4.1. This doesn't mean that $MANWIDTH was completely non-functional in stable, though. Cheers, -- Colin Watson [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: man files to text editor
On Thu, Dec 18, 2003 at 12:47:35PM +, Colin Watson wrote: On Thu, Dec 18, 2003 at 02:14:48AM +0100, Jan Minar wrote: On Thu, Dec 18, 2003 at 12:50:54AM +, Colin Watson wrote: On Thu, Dec 18, 2003 at 12:41:41AM +, Colin Watson wrote: The '--pager cat' continues to be unnecessary here; $COLUMNS is still honoured. I prefer using the special-purpose $MANWIDTH for this, though. Narrowing the page does work even if man's output is a terminal. Looking at the code, a clarification: narrowing the page works if you use $MANWIDTH to do it, but not if you use $COLUMNS. It might be Neither works; man-db 2.3.20-18.woody.4. Make sure you have no saved cat pages and try again? (A different line length *should* bypass cat pages, but ...) | $ ls /var/cache/man/cat1/ | pon.1.gz | vlock.1.gz | zsh.1.gz | $ COLUMNS=30 man man | [Standard-width appears] | $ COLUMNS=30 man man | less | [Yes, now it's 30-column wide] pgp0.pgp Description: PGP signature
Re: man files to text editor
On Thu, Dec 18, 2003 at 03:30:04PM +0100, Jan Minar wrote: On Thu, Dec 18, 2003 at 12:47:35PM +, Colin Watson wrote: Make sure you have no saved cat pages and try again? (A different line length *should* bypass cat pages, but ...) | $ ls /var/cache/man/cat1/ | pon.1.gz | vlock.1.gz | zsh.1.gz | $ COLUMNS=30 man man | [Standard-width appears] | $ COLUMNS=30 man man | less | [Yes, now it's 30-column wide] I'd like to see 'COLUMNS=30 man -d man' then, please. (Private mail's probably best.) -- Colin Watson [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
man files to text editor
Is there a way I can open man files in a text editor. I like to print one but have not configured my printer jet. So I will email it to my other pc. -- Gruessle -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: man files to text editor
* Gruessle [EMAIL PROTECTED] [2003-12-17 12:21]: Is there a way I can open man files in a text editor. I like to print one but have not configured my printer jet. So I will email it to my other pc. Try man xxx | col -b text-filename it will give you a text version of the man page. Lou -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: man files to text editor
Gruessle [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Is there a way I can open man files in a text editor. Emacs has a major mode for editing 'roff files, like man pages, if that's what you're looking for. I like to print one but have not configured my printer jet. 'man -t' will produce postscript from a man page; see man(1). This might be easier to move around or manipulate or print on other machines than the raw 'roff file. -- David Maze [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://people.debian.org/~dmaze/ Theoretical politics is interesting. Politicking should be illegal. -- Abra Mitchell -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: man files to text editor
On Wed, 2003-12-17 at 18:22, Gruessle wrote: Is there a way I can open man files in a text editor. I like to print one but have not configured my printer jet. So I will email it to my other pc. # man -T ps command will produce the manual page for command in postcript format. Maybe you prefer a plain text file (use 'latin1' or 'utf8' in place of 'ps') or the tex device independent format (use 'dvi'). See man(1) and groff(1) for more information (look for -T in both manual pages). -alf -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: man files to text editor
On Wed, Dec 17, 2003 at 01:07:35PM -0500, Lou Losee wrote: * Gruessle [EMAIL PROTECTED] [2003-12-17 12:21]: Is there a way I can open man files in a text editor. I like to print one but have not configured my printer jet. So I will email it to my other pc. Try man xxx | col -b text-filename This actually should not work, you have to tell man(1) it should send the formatted manpage to stdout, instead of messing with the pager. Replace `foo' with the desired program name. $ man --pager cat foo | col -b text-filename Getting rid of the Latin-1 characters comes handy when mailing the output, too. $ man --pager cat --ascii foo | col -b text-filename Now we want the lines narrower than the default 80 characters (I guess this won't work if man(1) is connected to the terminal, so the pipe is vital here (that's why we use cat(1) as a pager--to force piping). $ env COLUMNS=70 man --pager cat --ascii foo | col -b text-filename Finally, if you really want to mail it, without any further alterations, try this (I just love to make shell one-liners ;-)): $ env COLUMNS=70 man --pager cat --ascii foo | col -b | mail -s Subject of your choice [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cheers, Jan. pgp0.pgp Description: PGP signature
Re: man files to text editor
* Jan Minar [EMAIL PROTECTED] [2003-12-17 16:23]: On Wed, Dec 17, 2003 at 01:07:35PM -0500, Lou Losee wrote: * Gruessle [EMAIL PROTECTED] [2003-12-17 12:21]: Is there a way I can open man files in a text editor. I like to print one but have not configured my printer jet. So I will email it to my other pc. Try man xxx | col -b text-filename This actually should not work, you have to tell man(1) it should send the formatted manpage to stdout, instead of messing with the pager. Replace `foo' with the desired program name. $ man --pager cat foo | col -b text-filename Well perhaps it should not work, but it does. I have used the construct for years now. In chasing down the man pager, it appears to default to 'less'. Try it you may like it - simple and quick. Lou -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: man files to text editor
On Wed, Dec 17, 2003 at 04:55:29PM -0500, Lou Losee wrote: Try man xxx | col -b text-filename This actually should not work, you have to tell man(1) it should send the formatted manpage to stdout, instead of messing with the pager. Replace `foo' with the desired program name. $ man --pager cat foo | col -b text-filename Well perhaps it should not work, but it does. I have used the construct for years now. In chasing down the man pager, it appears to default to 'less'. Actually, it depends on certain environment variables, few configfiles, etc. In the default Debian setup, it won't work. Try it you may like it - simple and quick. I meant ``it shouldn't work for you''--of course I tried it first ;-) pgp0.pgp Description: PGP signature
Re: man files to text editor
Lou Losee wrote: * Gruessle [EMAIL PROTECTED] [2003-12-17 12:21]: Is there a way I can open man files in a text editor. I like to print one but have not configured my printer jet. So I will email it to my other pc. Try man xxx | col -b text-filename it will give you a text version of the man page. Lou T'is fantastic: works like a charm: never knew that! Hugo. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: man files to text editor
[This message has also been posted to linux.debian.user.] In article [EMAIL PROTECTED], Lou Losee wrote: * Gruessle [EMAIL PROTECTED] [2003-12-17 12:21]: Is there a way I can open man files in a text editor. I like to print one but have not configured my printer jet. So I will email it to my other pc. Try man xxx | col -b text-filename it will give you a text version of the man page. That will work for small manpages. But you will not like what it does for big ones. Here is a better way. 1. Find the manpage source. $ whereis bash bash: /bin/bash /etc/bash.bashrc /usr/share/man/man1/bash.1.gz 2. Typeset it in Postscript. # apt-get install groff gs gv $ zcat /usr/share/man/man1/bash.1.gz | groff -Tps -mandoc - bash.1.ps 3. Preview the Postscript. Nice, eh? $ gv bash.1.ps 4. Make a PDF so you can print on MS-Windows, or just send it to the printer. (I have a Laserjet 4. Maybe gs has a driver for your printer. Try echo devicenames == | gs) $ gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -sOutputFile=bash-1.pdf bash.1.ps $ gs -sDEVICE=ljet4 -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -sOutputFile=/dev/lp0 bash.1.ps $ rm bash.1.ps Notice the MS-DOS friendly PDF file name. Cameron -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: man files to text editor
On Wed, Dec 17, 2003 at 11:26:27PM +0100, Jan Minar wrote: On Wed, Dec 17, 2003 at 04:55:29PM -0500, Lou Losee wrote: Try man xxx | col -b text-filename This actually should not work, you have to tell man(1) it should send the formatted manpage to stdout, instead of messing with the pager. Replace `foo' with the desired program name. $ man --pager cat foo | col -b text-filename Well perhaps it should not work, but it does. I have used the construct for years now. In chasing down the man pager, it appears to default to 'less'. Actually, it depends on certain environment variables, few configfiles, etc. In the default Debian setup, it won't work. I think less is smart enough to know that it's being piped and so runs as a filter, but it's probably not the default pager (since it's not installed by default on a base install). Ken Try it you may like it - simple and quick. I meant ``it shouldn't work for you''--of course I tried it first ;-) -- Ken Irving, Research Analyst, [EMAIL PROTECTED], 907-474-6152 Water and Environmental Research Center Institute of Northern Engineering University of Alaska, Fairbanks -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: man files to text editor
On Wed, Dec 17, 2003 at 10:14:54PM +0100, Jan Minar wrote: On Wed, Dec 17, 2003 at 01:07:35PM -0500, Lou Losee wrote: * Gruessle [EMAIL PROTECTED] [2003-12-17 12:21]: Is there a way I can open man files in a text editor. I like to print one but have not configured my printer jet. So I will email it to my other pc. Try man xxx | col -b text-filename This actually should not work, you have to tell man(1) it should send the formatted manpage to stdout, instead of messing with the pager. This is incorrect; it is intended to work as Lou described, and it does work. man(1) checks whether its standard output is a terminal before starting a pager. If it isn't, which is the case when you do 'man ... | ...', it simply sends the formatted output to stdout. Getting rid of the Latin-1 characters comes handy when mailing the output, too. $ man --pager cat --ascii foo | col -b text-filename --ascii is kind of a hack, and I'd like to get rid of it eventually or implement it in terms of other things. I tend to say 'LANG=C man -Tascii' for this. Now we want the lines narrower than the default 80 characters (I guess this won't work if man(1) is connected to the terminal, so the pipe is vital here (that's why we use cat(1) as a pager--to force piping). $ env COLUMNS=70 man --pager cat --ascii foo | col -b text-filename The '--pager cat' continues to be unnecessary here; $COLUMNS is still honoured. I prefer using the special-purpose $MANWIDTH for this, though. Narrowing the page does work even if man's output is a terminal. Cheers, -- Colin Watson (man-db maintainer) [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: man files to text editor
On Wed, Dec 17, 2003 at 11:14:09AM -0800, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: That will work for small manpages. But you will not like what it does for big ones. Here is a better way. 1. Find the manpage source. $ whereis bash bash: /bin/bash /etc/bash.bashrc /usr/share/man/man1/bash.1.gz 2. Typeset it in Postscript. # apt-get install groff gs gv $ zcat /usr/share/man/man1/bash.1.gz | groff -Tps -mandoc - bash.1.ps FWIW, in testing and unstable you shouldn't need the groff package for this (just groff-base). It was kind of a mistake that the PostScript device ended up in the non-base package, but I didn't manage to get the fix into woody. Cheers, -- Colin Watson [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: man files to text editor
On Thu, Dec 18, 2003 at 12:41:41AM +, Colin Watson wrote: On Wed, Dec 17, 2003 at 10:14:54PM +0100, Jan Minar wrote: Now we want the lines narrower than the default 80 characters (I guess this won't work if man(1) is connected to the terminal, so the pipe is vital here (that's why we use cat(1) as a pager--to force piping). $ env COLUMNS=70 man --pager cat --ascii foo | col -b text-filename The '--pager cat' continues to be unnecessary here; $COLUMNS is still honoured. I prefer using the special-purpose $MANWIDTH for this, though. Narrowing the page does work even if man's output is a terminal. Looking at the code, a clarification: narrowing the page works if you use $MANWIDTH to do it, but not if you use $COLUMNS. It might be possible to argue that this is a bug, although I'm not sure; I borrowed that particular section of code from the implementation of man(1) in Red Hat. -- Colin Watson [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: man files to text editor
On Thu, Dec 18, 2003 at 12:41:41AM +, Colin Watson wrote: On Wed, Dec 17, 2003 at 10:14:54PM +0100, Jan Minar wrote: Try man xxx | col -b text-filename This actually should not work, you have to tell man(1) it should send the formatted manpage to stdout, instead of messing with the pager. This is incorrect; it is intended to work as Lou described, and it does work. man(1) checks whether its standard output is a terminal before Shame on me... I *did* try it, but, by mistake, not on the quick machine, but on the slow one--so after I waited for too long, I decided it doesn't work (still I think it didn't work this way always). Narrowing the page does work even if man's output is a terminal. You're talking unstable, ain't you ;-) At least in man-db 2.3.20-18.woody.4, it doesn't. Thank you for your insightfulness. pgp0.pgp Description: PGP signature
Re: man files to text editor
On Thu, Dec 18, 2003 at 12:50:54AM +, Colin Watson wrote: On Thu, Dec 18, 2003 at 12:41:41AM +, Colin Watson wrote: On Wed, Dec 17, 2003 at 10:14:54PM +0100, Jan Minar wrote: Now we want the lines narrower than the default 80 characters (I guess this won't work if man(1) is connected to the terminal, so the pipe is vital here (that's why we use cat(1) as a pager--to force piping). $ env COLUMNS=70 man --pager cat --ascii foo | col -b text-filename The '--pager cat' continues to be unnecessary here; $COLUMNS is still honoured. I prefer using the special-purpose $MANWIDTH for this, though. Narrowing the page does work even if man's output is a terminal. Looking at the code, a clarification: narrowing the page works if you use $MANWIDTH to do it, but not if you use $COLUMNS. It might be Neither works; man-db 2.3.20-18.woody.4. pgp0.pgp Description: PGP signature
Re: man files to text editor
On Wed, Dec 17, 2003 at 10:14:54PM +0100, Jan Minar wrote: On Wed, Dec 17, 2003 at 01:07:35PM -0500, Lou Losee wrote: * Gruessle [EMAIL PROTECTED] [2003-12-17 12:21]: Is there a way I can open man files in a text editor. I like to print one but have not configured my printer jet. So I will email it to my other pc. Try man xxx | col -b text-filename This actually should not work, you have to tell man(1) it should send the formatted manpage to stdout, instead of messing with the pager. Replace `foo' with the desired program name. $ man --pager cat foo | col -b text-filename Getting rid of the Latin-1 characters comes handy when mailing the output, too. $ man --pager cat --ascii foo | col -b text-filename Now we want the lines narrower than the default 80 characters (I guess this won't work if man(1) is connected to the terminal, so the pipe is vital here (that's why we use cat(1) as a pager--to force piping). $ env COLUMNS=70 man --pager cat --ascii foo | col -b text-filename Finally, if you really want to mail it, without any further alterations, try this (I just love to make shell one-liners ;-)): $ env COLUMNS=70 man --pager cat --ascii foo | col -b | mail -s Subject of your choice [EMAIL PROTECTED] None of them comes out as nice as my way :-) $ man -Tps man |ps2pdf - - man.pdf Move it to samba share and access it from the windows. Use acrobat reader and print it with faster windows printer driver. Nicer fonts too. Osamu -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
