MAN2HTML(1) Version 2.02 MAN2HTML(1)
23 June 1998
NAME
man2html - convert a UNIX manual page file from nroff/troff -man
format to HTML
SYNOPSIS
man2html [ -check-html ] [ -grammar-level grammar ]
[ -outdirectory directoryname ] [ -prettyprint ]
[ -split-limit filesize-in-bytes ]
input-manpage-file(s)
DESCRIPTION
man2html converts UNIX manual page files named on the command line,
from nroff(1)/troff(1) -man format to strictly-grammar-conforming
HTML.
The output files have the same base name (or the base name with a
numeric suffix, if output HTML file splitting is requested), but
extension .html.
Although some vendors, such as Sun Microsystems, provide clear
documentation of how manual pages should be written, many manual page
authors ignore those recommendations, and use arbitrary [nt]roff
markup to achieve the traditional appearance of UNIX manual pages,
without actually using the standard -man format commands.
man2html works quite well on Sun manual pages, but may be less
successful on manual pages from other sources. In such a case, an
alternative may be to use T. A. Phelp's RosettaMan(1), commonly
installed as rman(1). That program works on the output of nroff(1),
and attempts to guess manual page structure from the horizontal and
vertical spacing in order to add HTML markup. When vendor-provided
manual pages are available only in preformatted form, as on IBM AIX
and SGI IRIX systems, rman(1) may be your only choice. However, when
man2html can be used successfully, it can often do a better job than
rman(1), because it has a better understanding of the document
structure implied by [nt]roff manual-page markup.
OPTIONS
Command-line options may be abbreviated to any unique prefix, and
letter case is significant. Options and files are processed in the
order found; thus, options affect only files that follow them on the
command line.
-check-html Check the output HTML for validity with a rigorous SGML
parser, such as html-check(1) or html-ncheck(1).
-grammar-level grammar
Specify a grammar level to select a suitable
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "...">
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declaration. Acceptable values are: 0, 1, 2, 2-strict,
3, 3-strict, 3.2, 4, 4-loose, Cougar, Mosaic, and
Netscape [default: 2].
-outdirectory directoryname
Provide an alternate directory into which output HTML
files are placed. The default is the current
directory.
-prettyprint Prettyprint each output file with html-pretty(1).
Prettyprinting is done before any syntax check
requested by the -check-html option.
-split-limit filesize-in-bytes
Split the translated HTML from input files that are
larger than the specified size into multiple output
HTML files: a root file, and section files named
basename-nn.html, where basename is the manual page
file name with directory path and extension removed,
and nn is a section number 01, 02, ... [default: no
output splitting].
The root file will contain a table of contents that
directs the reader to the section files, and each of
those begins and ends with a navigation command area
that allows moving one to three sections in either
direction, as well as back up to the root file.
This option permits large manual page files to be split
into smaller parts that load faster over the World-Wide
Web, although with the possibly significant
disadvantage that the reader can no longer search the
entire document with a single command.
HTML GRAMMAR LEVELS
The level 3 grammar has expired; some of its features, particularly
the support for markup of mathematics, will appear in a future HTML
grammar level.
The version 3.2 grammar is a stopgap, which, despite its higher
number, lies approximately between 2 and 3 in features. It was
released on November 5, 1996, at http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/ in order
to provide a stable grammar toward which WWW browser developers could
work.
The next version of HTML, code-named Cougar, is under development, and
will become version 4.0 when it is finally released. The first draft
public release was on 8 July 1997, and that was followed by a proposed
recommended version on 7 November 1997.
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There are only four potential differences in the output of man2html
for these grammar levels:
+ The output <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "..."> declaration depends
on the grammar level.
+ At version 3 and above, the SGML entity can be used
for non-breakable space instead of the less obvious numeric
entity   which is required by the level 2 grammar.
+ At versions 3 and 3.2, the SGML entity ", representing a
quotation mark, must be replaced by a numeric entity, ",
because of an unfortunate error of omission in the grammars.
+ At version 3.2 and higher, the output HTML will use <CENTER>
... </CENTER> directives to support centered text. At
earlier grammar levels, centering requests are ignored, but
the request is preserved in a comment, and lines are still
broken as they would be when centered.
Centering is exceedingly rare in manual page files (it is
completely absent from all of Sun's standard manual pages),
so the default level 2 grammar should almost always be
sufficient.
SEE ALSO
amaya(1), arena(1), chimera(1), grail(1), hotjava(1), html-check(1),
html-ncheck(1), html-norm(1), html-pretty(1), html-spam(1),
html2latex(1), htmlchek(1), jde(1), latex2html(1), lynx(1),
netscape(1), nsgmls(1), panorama(1), rman(1), RosettaMan(1),
rtf2html(1), sgmlnorm(1), sgmls(1), spam(1), spent(1), texi2html(1),
xmosaic(1).
AUTHOR
Nelson H. F. Beebe, Ph.D.
Center for Scientific Computing
University of Utah
Department of Mathematics, 322 INSCC
155 S 1400 E RM 233
Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0090
USA
Tel: +1 801 581 5254
FAX: +1 801 585 1640, +1 801 581 4148
Email: beebe@math.utah.edu, beebe@acm.org, beebe@ieee.org (Internet)
WWW URL: http://www.math.utah.edu/~beebe
AVAILABILITY
man2html is freely available; its master distribution can be found at
ftp://ftp.math.utah.edu/pub/sgml/
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in the file man2html-x.yy.tar.gz where x.yy is the current version.
Other distribution formats are usually available in the same location.
Several other SGML and HTML tools are available in that same
directory.
That site is mirrored to several other Internet archives, so you may
also be able to find it elsewhere on the Internet; try searching for
the string man2html at one or more of the popular Web search sites,
such as
http://altavista.digital.com/
http://www.hotbot.com/
http://www.stpt.com/
http://www.yahoo.com/
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