diff --git a/watch.1 b/watch.1 index e4900315..f6b3913a 100644 --- a/watch.1 +++ b/watch.1 @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@ -.TH WATCH "1" "June 2011" "procps-ng" "User Commands" +.TH WATCH 1 "2016-06-03" "procps-ng" "User Commands" .SH NAME watch \- execute a program periodically, showing output fullscreen .SH SYNOPSIS @@ -9,11 +9,8 @@ watch \- execute a program periodically, showing output fullscreen runs .I command repeatedly, displaying its output and errors (the first screenfull). This -allows you to watch the program output change over time. By default, the -program is run every 2 seconds. -By default, -.B watch -will run until interrupted. +allows you to watch the program output change over time. By default, +\fIcommand\fR is run every 2 seconds and \fBwatch\fR will run until interrupted. .SH OPTIONS .TP \fB\-d\fR, \fB\-\-differences\fR [\fIpermanent\fR] @@ -23,7 +20,8 @@ has changed at least once since first iteration. .TP \fB\-n\fR, \fB\-\-interval\fR \fIseconds\fR Specify update interval. The command will not allow quicker than 0.1 second -interval, in which the smaller values are converted. +interval, in which the smaller values are converted. Both '.' and ',' work +for any locales. .TP \fB\-p\fR, \fB\-\-precise\fR Make @@ -69,13 +67,81 @@ Display help text and exit. .TP \fB\-v\fR, \fB\-\-version\fR Display version information and exit. -.SH NOTE -Note that POSIX option processing is used (i.e., option processing stops at +.SH "EXIT STATUS" +.PP +.RS +.PD 0 +.TP +.B 0 +Success. +.TP +.B 1 +Various failures. +.TP +.B 2 +Forking the process to watch failed. +.TP +.B 3 +Replacing child process stdout with write side pipe failed. +.TP +.B 4 +Command execution failed. +.TP +.B 5 +Closing child process write pipe failed. +.TP +.B 7 +IPC pipe creation failed. +.TP +.B 8 +Getting child process return value with +.BR waitpid (2) +failed, or command exited up on error. +.TP +.B other +The watch will propagate command exit status as child exit status. +.SH NOTES +POSIX option processing is used (i.e., option processing stops at the first non\-option argument). This means that flags after .I command don't get interpreted by .BR watch itself. +.SH BUGS +Upon terminal resize, the screen will not be correctly repainted until the +next scheduled update. All +.B \-\-differences +highlighting is lost on that update as well. + +Non-printing characters are stripped from program output. Use "cat -v" as +part of the command pipeline if you want to see them. + +Combining Characters that are supposed to display on the character at the +last column on the screen may display one column early, or they may not +display at all. + +Combining Characters never count as different in +.I \-\-differences +mode. Only the base character counts. + +Blank lines directly after a line which ends in the last column do not +display. + +.I \-\-precise +mode doesn't yet have advanced temporal distortion technology to compensate +for a +.I command +that takes more than +.I interval +seconds to execute. +.B watch +also can get into a state where it rapid-fires as many executions of +.I command +as it can to catch up from a previous executions running longer than +.I interval +(for example, +.B netstat +taking ages on a DNS lookup). .SH EXAMPLES .PP To watch for mail, you might do @@ -113,97 +179,3 @@ watch uname \-r isn't guaranteed to work across reboots, especially in the face of .B ntpdate or other bootup time-changing mechanisms) -.SH BUGS -Upon terminal resize, the screen will not be correctly repainted until the -next scheduled update. All -.B \-\-differences -highlighting is lost on that update as well. -.PP -Non-printing characters are stripped from program output. Use "cat -v" as -part of the command pipeline if you want to see them. -.PP -Combining Characters that are supposed to display on the character at the -last column on the screen may display one column early, or they may not -display at all. -.PP -Combining Characters never count as different in -.I \-\-differences -mode. Only the base character counts. -.PP -Blank lines directly after a line which ends in the last column do not -display. -.PP -.I \-\-precise -mode doesn't yet have advanced temporal distortion technology to compensate -for a -.I command -that takes more than -.I interval -seconds to execute. -.B watch -also can get into a state where it rapid-fires as many executions of -.I command -as it can to catch up from a previous executions running longer than -.I interval -(for example, -.B netstat -taking ages on a DNS lookup). -.SH "EXIT STATUS" -.PP -.RS -.PD 0 -.TP -.B 0 -Success. -.TP -.B 1 -Various failures. -.TP -.B 2 -Forking the process to watch failed. -.TP -.B 3 -Replacing child process stdout with write side pipe failed. -.TP -.B 4 -Command execution failed. -.TP -.B 5 -Closing child process write pipe failed. -.TP -.B 7 -IPC pipe creation failed. -.TP -.B 8 -Getting child process return value with -.BR waitpid (2) -failed, or command exited up on error. -.TP -.B other -The watch will propagate command exit status as child exit status. -.SH AUTHORS -The original -.B watch -was written by -.UR rembo@\:unisoft.\:com -Tony Rems -.UE -in 1991, with mods and -corrections by Francois Pinard. It was reworked and new features added by -.UR mkc@\:acm.\:org -Mike Coleman -.UE -in 1999. The beep, exec, and error handling features were added by -.UR morty@\:frakir.\:org -Morty Abzug -.UE -in 2008. On a not so dark and stormy morning in March of 2003, -.UR asd@\:suespammers.\:org -Anthony DeRobertis -.UE -got sick of his watches that should update every minute eventually updating -many seconds after the minute started, and added microsecond precision. -Unicode support was added in 2009 by -.UR procps@\:rrod.\:net -Jarrod Lowe -.UE