Unix/Linux `man` Pages

man (short for "manual") pages are the Unix/Linux way of documenting things.

This is a mirror of the ones that apply to file formats.

Section	Description
1	User commands that may be started by everyone.
2	System calls, that is, functions provided by the kernel.
3	Subroutines, that is, library functions.
4	Devices, that is, special files in the /dev directory.
5	File format descriptions, e.g. /etc/passwd.
6	Games, self-explanatory.
7	Miscellaneous, e.g. macro packages, conventions.
8	System administration tools that only root can execute.
9	Another (Linux specific) place for kernel routine documentation.
n	(Deprecated) New documentation, that may be moved to a more appropriate section.
o	(Deprecated) Old documentation, that may be kept for a grace period.
l	(Deprecated) Local documentation referring to this particular system.

Section

Description

User commands that may be started by everyone.

System calls, that is, functions provided by the kernel.

Subroutines, that is, library functions.

Devices, that is, special files in the /dev directory.

File format descriptions, e.g. /etc/passwd.

Games, self-explanatory.

Miscellaneous, e.g. macro packages, conventions.

System administration tools that only root can execute.

Another (Linux specific) place for kernel routine documentation.

(Deprecated) New documentation, that may be moved to a more appropriate section.

(Deprecated) Old documentation, that may be kept for a grace period.

(Deprecated) Local documentation referring to this particular system.

Resources

A template for writing new man pages, from Harvey Mudd College.
man page how-to from Jens Schweikhardt
PolyglotMan - for converting man to html and others (previously known as RosettaMan)
help2man - for making a man page from --help and --version output
MultiValent - a viewer for man pages (among other things) by Tom Phelps