intro.1 (2010 09)

intro(1) intro(1)
NAME
intro - introduction to command utilities and application programs
DESCRIPTION
This section describes commands accessible by users, as opposed to system calls in Section (2) or library
routines in Section (3), which are accessible by user programs.
Command Syntax
Unless otherwise noted, commands described in this section accept options and other arguments accord-
ing to the following syntax:
name [ option ( s )] [ cmd_arg ( s )]
where the elements are defined as follows:
name Name of an executable file.
option One or more option s can appear on a command line. Each takes one of the following
forms:
-no_arg_letter
A single letter representing an option without an argument.
-no_arg_letters
Two or more single-letter options combined into a single command-line argu-
ment.
-arg_letter<>opt_arg
A single-letter option followed by a required argument where:
arg_letter
is the single letter representing an option that requires an argu-
ment,
opt_arg
is an argument (character string) satisfying the preceding
arg_letter ,
<> represents optional white space.
cmd_arg Path name (or other command argument) not beginning with
-,or
- by itself indicating
the standard input. If two or more cmd_arg s appear, they must be separated by white
space.
Manual Entry Formats
All manual entries follow an established topic format, but not all topics are included in each entry.
NAME Gives the name(s) of the entry and briefly states its purpose.
SYNOPSIS Summarizes the use of the entry or program entity being described. A few conven-
tions are used:
Computer font strings are literals, and are to be typed exactly as they appear in
the manual (except for parameters in the SYNOPSIS section of entries in Sections 2
and 3).
Italic strings represent substitutable argument names and names of manual entries
found elsewhere in the manual.
Square brackets [] around an argument name indicate that the argument is
optional.
Ellipses (...) are used to show that the previous argument can be repeated.
A final convention is used by the commands themselves. An argument beginning
with a dash (-), a plus sign (+), or an equal sign (=) is often taken to be some sort of
option argument, even if it appears in a postion where a file name could appear.
Therefore it is unwise to have file names that begin with -, +, or =.
DESCRIPTION Discusses the function and behavior of each entry.
EXTERNAL INFLUENCES
Information under this heading pertains to programming for various spoken
languages. Typical entries indicate support for single- and/or multi-byte characters,
HP-UX 11i Version 3: September 2010 − 1 − Hewlett-Packard Company 1