Open System Services Shell and Utilities Reference Manual (G06.29+, H06.08+, J06.03+)

About This Manual
(6) Games Not supplied by HP
(7) Special files OSS System Calls Reference Manual
(8) Administrator commands OSS Shell and Utilities Reference Manual
Synopsis Format and Conventions
The SYNOPSIS section of each reference page summarizes the ways a command is
invoked. The following list describes the conventions used in these summaries.
• Command names and all flags, required and optional, are always shown in bold type.
• Arguments, to the command itself or to its flags, are always shown in italic type.
• Optional items, including both flags and arguments, appear in brackets: for example,
[file]. Brackets are not always nested; therefore, an optional argument to an optional
flag appears in its own pair of brackets, following the flag in its pair of brackets. For
example, [-a][file] indicates an optional flag -a with its optional argument file,as
opposed to [-a file], which indicates an optional flag -a and its required argument file.
The lack of nesting for brackets might incorrectly imply that the argument could be
specified without the flag; when in doubt, consult the FLAGS section of the
reference page.
•
In general, flags that do not take arguments and are not mutually exclusive are
grouped together (in a pare of brackets if they are optional). For example:
-aj[k]v In gereral, flags that have related arguments are shown separately. For
example:
[-cCdfFnqvV][-b maxbits]
• Beyond the preceding grouping requirements, flags appear in alphabetical order (U.S.
English), with uppercase letters following lowercase letters—for example, -aAjkKv.
•
Command arguments appear in the order required by the command, if any.
Mandatory arguments appear before optional arguments unless the command
requires otherwise.
• Operands of indeterminate number are indicated by an ellipsis following the flag
name—for example, [-a file ...].
• Because some flags are separated from their operands by spaces, a diagram might be
unclear as to whether an operand is an operand to the command or to a required flag.
When in doubt, consult the FLAGS section of the reference page.
• When two or three flags or operands are mutually exclusive (that is, they cannot be
used together) they are separated by vertical bars — for example, -a | -j,or[-k file |
directory].
• When a greater number of items are mutually exclusive, or some other aspect of the
command’s use creates greater than normal complexity, more than one diagram is
provided.
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