Editing Man page (section)

== Formatting ==
[[File:FreeBSD typeset man page.png|thumb|Part of the [[FreeBSD]] {{tt|man(1)}} manual page, typeset into [[portable document format|PDF]] format]]
The default format of man pages is [[troff]], with either the [[troff macros|macro package]] man (appearance oriented) or mdoc (semantic oriented). This makes it possible to typeset a man page into [[PostScript]], [[portable document format|PDF]], and various other formats for viewing or printing.

Some [[Unix]] systems have a package for the {{tt|man2html}} command, which enables users to browse their man pages using an HTML browser. Systems with groff and man-db should use the higher-quality native HTML output ({{tt|man --html}}) instead.
The [[GNU Emacs]] program ''WoMan'' (from "WithOut man") allows to browse man pages from the editor.<ref name="WoMan">{{cite web |last1=Wright |first1=Francis J. |title=WoMan: Browse Unix Manual Pages "W.O. (without) Man" |url=https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_mono/woman.html |publisher=GNU |access-date=3 August 2020 |archive-date=11 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111204938/https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_mono/woman.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2010, [[OpenBSD]] deprecated [[troff]] for formatting man pages in favour of [[mandoc]], a specialised compiler/formatter for man pages with native support for output in [[PostScript]], [[HTML]], [[XHTML]], and the terminal. It is meant to only support a subset of troff used in manual pages, specifically those using mdoc macros.

=== Online services ===
Quite a few websites offer online access to manual pages from various Unix-like systems.

In February 2013, the [[BSD]] community saw a new open source [http://mdoc.su/ mdoc.su] service launched, which unified and shortened access to the man.cgi scripts of the major modern BSD projects through a unique [[nginx]]-based deterministic [[URL shortening]] service for the *BSD man pages.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.freebsd.org/news/status/report-2013-01-2013-03.html#mdoc.su-%E2%80%94-Short-Manual-Page-URLs |title=FreeBSD Quarterly Status Report, January-March 2013 |publisher=[[FreeBSD]] |editor-first=Gabor |editor-last=Pali |date=12 May 2013 |access-date=25 December 2014 |archive-date=22 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141222022258/http://www.freebsd.org/news/status/report-2013-01-2013-03.html#mdoc.su-%E2%80%94-Short-Manual-Page-URLs |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite mailing list |date=19 February 2013 |url=http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-doc/2013-February/021465.html |mailing-list=freebsd-doc@freebsd.org |title=announcing mdoc.su, short manual page URLs |first=Constantine A. |last=Murenin |access-date=25 December 2014 |archive-date=7 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140807051219/http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-doc/2013-February/021465.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://mdoc.su/ |title=mdoc.su — Short manual page URLs for FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD and DragonFly BSD |first=Constantine A. |last=Murenin |date=23 February 2013 |access-date=25 December 2014 |archive-date=17 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141217170726/http://mdoc.su/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

For Linux, a man7.org service has been set up to serve manuals specific to the system.<ref>{{cite web |title=Linux man pages online |url=http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/index.html |website=man7.org |access-date=2020-05-05 |archive-date=2020-05-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200507122101/http://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> A ManKier service provides a wider selection, and integrates the TLDR pages too.<ref>{{cite web |title=About |url=https://www.mankier.com/about |website=ManKier |access-date=2020-05-05 |archive-date=2020-04-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200425112006/https://www.mankier.com/about |url-status=live }}</ref>