Typeface |
Meaning |
Examples |
---|---|---|
AaBbCc123 |
The names of commands, files, and directories; on-screen computer output |
Edit your .login file. Use ls -a to list all files. % You have mail. |
AaBbCc123 |
What you type, when contrasted with on-screen computer output |
% su Password: |
AaBbCc123 |
Book titles, new words or terms, words to be emphasized |
Read Chapter 6 in the User’s Guide. These are called class options. You must be superuser to do this. |
AaBbCc123 |
Command-line placeholder text; replace with a real name or value |
To delete a file, type rm filename. |
The symbol ∇ stands for a blank space where a blank is significant:
∇∇36.001 |
The FORTRAN 77 standard used an older convention, spelling the name “FORTRAN” capitalized. The current convention is to use lower case: “Fortran 95”
References to online man pages appear with the topic name and section number. For example, a reference to the library routine GETENV will appear as getenv(3F), implying that the man command to access this man page would be: man -s 3F getenv
Code Symbol |
Meaning |
Notation |
Code Example |
---|---|---|---|
[ ] |
Brackets contain arguments that are optional. |
O[n] |
-O4, -O |
{ } |
Braces contain a set of choices for a required option. |
d{y|n} |
-dy |
| |
The “pipe” or “bar” symbol separates arguments, only one of which may be chosen. |
B{dynamic|static} |
-Bstatic |
: |
The colon, like the comma, is sometimes used to separate arguments. |
Rdir[:dir] |
-R/local/libs:/U/a |
… |
The ellipsis indicates omission in a series. |
-xinline=f1[,…fn] |
-xinline=alpha,dos |