DOKK / manpages / debian 12 / stx2any / extract_usage_from_stx.1.en
extract_usage_from_stx() extract_usage_from_stx()

extract_usage_from_stx - extract “Usage:” messages from manpages written in Stx

extract_usage_from_stx [ file file ... ]

Process the given files, which should be manpages written in Stx, stripping away everything that is typically not included in a “Usage:” message. If no files are given, read standard input instead.

A “Usage:” message is a message typically printed when a program is called with incorrect arguments or when help is specifically requested, for example with a --help command line option. A “Usage:” message is typically a subset of the information provided on a command's manual page.

The information left in the “Usage:” message by extract_usage_from_stx includes:

  • the command synopsis, as given in the “SYNOPSIS” section
  • the command line options, as given in the “OPTIONS” section, together with the first sentence of their description. A sentence is taken to end at a period (.).

The output of extract_usage_from_stx is still in Stx format, which you might want to further process to produce the actual “Usage:” message.

--version, -V
Just show version information and exit.
--help, -?
Just show a short help message and exit.

stx2any (1).

The end-condition of a sentence is too strong.

This manual page was written by Panu A. Kalliokoski.

Panu A. Kalliokoski