MAKEWHATIS(1)                UNIX Reference Manual               MAKEWHATIS(1)

NAME
     makewhatis - create whatis database

SYNOPSIS
     makewhatis [-a | -append] [-h | -help] [-i | -indent column] [-n | -name
     name] [-o | -outfile file] [-v | -verbose] [directories ...]

DESCRIPTION
     makewhatis extracts the name and a short description from unformatted
     manpages and creates the whatis(1) database.  makewhatis can read gzip'ed
     manpages.  Directory names a directory containing manpage subdirectories
     (named man.+). Colons are treated as spaces, hence makewhatis $MANPATH or
     makewhatis `manpath` are allowed.

OPTIONS
     -a, -append
             Append mode. Don't delete old entries in whatis database. Note:
             the new database will be sorted without repeated lines and make-
             whatis does not check if old entries are valid.

     -h, -help
             Print options and exit.

     -i, -indent column
             Justify description strings to column (default 24).

     -n, -name name
             Use name instead of whatis.

     -o, -outfile file
             Write all output to file instead of dirname/whatis.

     -v, -verbose
             Issue more warnings (to stderr). For every parsed man page write
             a single char: `.' for an uncompressed page, `*' for a compressed
             page, and `+' for a link.

EXAMPLES
     makewhatis $MANPATH

     Create whatis database for all directories in your $MANPATH.

     makewhatis -outfile /tmp/mywhatis /usr/local/man $HOME/man

     Create whatis database /tmp/mywhatis. Traverse directories /usr/local/man
     and $HOME/man. Don't create /usr/local/man/whatis or $HOME/man/whatis.

     makewhatis -name windex $HOME/man

     Create whatis database windex instead of whatis. May be useful for So-
     laris.

FILES
     */man/whatis          whatis database
     /etc/weekly           run makewhatis.local every week

SEE ALSO
     apropos(1),  catman(1),  getNAME(1),  man(1),  manpath(1),  sort(1),
     uniq(1),  whatis(1),  makewhatis.local(8)

HISTORY
     This makewhatis command appeared in

AUTHORS
     Wolfram Schneider, Berlin.

 FreeBSD                       January 12, 1995                              1