diff --git a/watch.1 b/watch.1 index aecbfebc..ac81f467 100644 --- a/watch.1 +++ b/watch.1 @@ -1,42 +1,29 @@ -.TH WATCH 1 "2010 Mar 01" " " "Linux User's Manual" +.TH WATCH "1" "June 2011" "procps-ng" "User Commands" .SH NAME watch \- execute a program periodically, showing output fullscreen .SH SYNOPSIS -.na .B watch -.RB [ \-bdehpvtx ] -.RB [ \-n -.IR seconds ] -.RB [ \-\-beep ] -.RB [ \-\-color ] -.RB [ \-\-differences[=\fIcumulative\fP]] -.RB [ \-\-errexit ] -.RB [ \-\-exec ] -.RB [ \-\-help ] -.RB [ \-\-interval=\fIseconds\fP] -.RB [ \-\-no\-title ] -.RB [ \-\-precise ] -.RB [ \-\-version ] -.I command +[\fIoptions\fR] \fIcommand\fR .SH DESCRIPTION .B watch 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; use -.B \-n -or -.B \-\-interval -to specify a different interval. Normally, this interval is interpreted -as the amout of time between the completion of one run of -.I command -and the beginning of the next run. However, with the -.I \-p -or -.I \-\-precise -option, you can make +allows you to watch the program output change over time. By default, the +program is run every 2 seconds. +.B watch +will run until interrupted. +.SH OPTIONS +.TP +\fB\-f\fR, \fB\-\-differences\fR +Highlight the differences between successive updates. +.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. +.TP +\fB\-p\fR, \fB\-\-precise\fR +Make .BR watch attempt to run .I command @@ -44,54 +31,37 @@ every .I interval seconds. Try it with .B ntptime -and notice how the fractional seconds stays -(nearly) the same, as opposed to normal mode where they continuously -increase. -.PP -The -.B \-d -or -.B \-\-differences -flag will highlight the differences between successive updates. Using -.B \-\-differences=\fIcumulative\fP -makes highlighting "sticky", presenting a running display of all -positions that have ever changed. The -.B \-t -or -.B \-\-no\-title -option turns off the header showing the interval, command, and current -time at the top of the display, as well as the following blank line. The -.I \-b -or -.I \-\-beep -option causes the command to beep if it has a non-zero exit. -.PP -.B watch -will normally run until interrupted. If you want -.B watch -to exit on an error from the program running use the -.I \-e -or -.I \-\-errexit -options, which will cause -.B watch -to exit if the return value from the program is non-zero. -.PP -By default \fBwatch\fR will normally not pass escape characters, however -if you use the \fI\-\-c\fR or \fI\-\-color\fR option, then -\fBwatch\fR will interpret ANSI color sequences for the foreground. - -.SH NOTE -Note that +and notice how the fractional seconds stays (nearly) the same, as opposed to +normal mode where they continuously increase. +.TP +\fB\-t\fR, \fB\-\-no\-title\fR +Turn off the header showing the interval, command, and current time at the +top of the display, as well as the following blank line. +.TP +\fB\-b\fR, \fB\-\-beep\fR +Beep if command has a non-zero exit. +.TP +\fB\-e\fR, \fB\-\-errexit\fR +Exit on a command error. +.TP +\fB\-c\fR, \fB\-\-color\fR +Interpret ANSI color sequences. +.TP +\fB\-x\fR, \fB\-\-exec\fR .I command -is given to "sh \-c" +is given to +.B sh \-c which means that you may need to use extra quoting to get the desired effect. -You can disable this with the -.I -x -or -.I --exec -option, which passes the command to exec(2) instead. -.PP +This with the \-\-exec option, which passes the command to +.BR exec (2) +instead. +.TP +\fB\-h\fR, \fB\-\-help\fR +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 the first non\-option argument). This means that flags after .I command @@ -108,7 +78,7 @@ To watch the contents of a directory change, you could use .IP watch \-d ls \-l .PP -If you're only interested in files owned by user joe, you might use +If you're only interested in files owned by user joe, you might use .IP watch \-d 'ls \-l | fgrep joe' .PP @@ -150,14 +120,14 @@ display at all. .PP Combining Characters never count as different in .I \-\-differences -mode. Only the base character counts. +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 +mode doesn't yet have advanced temporal distortion technology to compensate +for a .I command that takes more than .I interval @@ -173,12 +143,26 @@ taking ages on a DNS lookup). .SH AUTHORS The original .B watch -was written by Tony Rems in 1991, with mods and +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 -Mike Coleman in 1999. The beep, exec, and error handling -features were added by Morty Abzug in 2008. -On a not so dark and stormy morning -in March of 2003, Anthony DeRobertis 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 Jarrod Lowe . +.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