HELP2MAN(1) User Commands HELP2MAN(1)

# [NAME](#NAME)

help2man - generate a simple manual page

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

**help2man** \[*OPTION*]... *EXECUTABLE*

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

\`help2man' generates a man page out of \`--help' and \`--version' output.

[**-n**, **--name**=*STRING*](#n)

description for the NAME paragraph

[**-s**, **--section**=*SECTION*](#s)

section number for manual page (1, 6, 8)

[**-m**, **--manual**=*TEXT*](#m)

name of manual (User Commands, ...)

[**-S**, **--source**=*TEXT*](#S)

source of program (FSF, Debian, ...)

[**-L**, **--locale**=*STRING*](#L)

select locale (default "C")

[**-i**, **--include**=*FILE*](#i)

include material from \`FILE'

[**-I**, **--opt-include**=*FILE*](#I)

include material from \`FILE' if it exists

[**-o**, **--output**=*FILE*](#o)

send output to \`FILE'

[**-p**, **--info-page**=*TEXT*](#p)

name of Texinfo manual

[**-N**, **--no-info**](#N)

suppress pointer to Texinfo manual

[**-l**, **--libtool**](#l)

exclude the \`lt-' from the program name

[**--help**](#help)

print this help, then exit

[**--version**](#version)

print version number, then exit

EXECUTABLE should accept \`--help' and \`--version' options and produce output on stdout although alternatives may be specified using:

[**-h**, **--help-option**=*STRING*](#h)

help option string

[**-v**, **--version-option**=*STRING*](#v)

version option string

[**--version-string**=*STRING*](#version~2)

version string

[**--no-discard-stderr**](#no)

include stderr when parsing option output

# [INCLUDE FILES](#INCLUDE_FILES)

Additional material may be included in the generated output with the **--include** and **--opt-include** options. The format is simple:

\[section]  
text

/pattern/  
text

Blocks of verbatim \*roff text are inserted into the output either at the start of the given **\[section]** (case insensitive), or after a paragraph matching **/pattern/.**

Patterns use the Perl regular expression syntax and may be followed by the *i*, *s* or *m* modifiers (see [**perlre**(1)](/man/os/help2man/perlre.1)).

Lines before the first section or pattern which begin with \`-' are processed as options. Anything else is silently ignored and may be used for comments, RCS keywords and the like.

The section output order (for those included) is:

NAME  
SYNOPSIS  
DESCRIPTION  
OPTIONS  
*other*  
ENVIRONMENT  
FILES  
EXAMPLES  
AUTHOR  
REPORTING BUGS  
COPYRIGHT  
SEE ALSO

Any **\[NAME]** or **\[SYNOPSIS]** sections appearing in the include file will replace what would have automatically been produced (although you can still override the former with **--name** if required).

Other sections are prepended to the automatically produced output for the standard sections given above, or included at *other* (above) in the order they were encountered in the include file.

Placement of the text within the section may be explicitly requested by using the syntax \[<*section*], \[=*section*] or \[>*section*] to place the additional text before, in place of, or after the default output respectively.

# [AVAILABILITY](#AVAILABILITY)

The latest version of this distribution is available on-line from:

ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/help2man/

# [AUTHOR](#AUTHOR)

Written by Brendan O'Dea <bod@debian.org>

# [REPORTING BUGS](#REPORTING_BUGS)

Report bugs to <bug-help2man@gnu.org>.

# [COPYRIGHT](#COPYRIGHT)

Copyright © 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020, 2021, 2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc.  
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

The full documentation for **help2man** is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the **info** and **help2man** programs are properly installed at your site, the command

**info help2man**

should give you access to the complete manual.

August 2026 GNU help2man 1.49.3

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Document: help2man(1) from help2man 1.49.3-r8 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://salsa.debian.org/bod/help2man