commit a2221e45c763113339bc73abf53f0c5dbddba609
parent 2fac5adf65322b43d4ebba9766a2e0a3412df3c9
Author: Sebastiano Tronto <sebastiano@tronto.net>
Date: Mon, 5 Sep 2022 21:41:01 +0200
Added blog post
Diffstat:
4 files changed, 97 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
diff --git a/src/blog/2022-05-29-man/man.md b/src/blog/2022-05-29-man/man.md
@@ -246,3 +246,18 @@ here, such as `less(1)`, or dive into more exciting stuff with something
like `sh(1)`.
Stay tuned!
+
+## Update 2022-09-05
+
+In [a more recent blog post](../2022-09-05-man-col) I comment on a part
+of the manual that I skipped, although it is actually useful for writing
+these blog entries:
+
+```
+When using -c, most terminal devices are unable to show the
+markup. To print the output of man to the terminal with markup
+but without using a pager, pipe it to ul(1). To remove the
+markup, pipe the output to col(1) -b instead.
+```
+
+If you are curious, check the [new post](../2022-09-05-man-col)!
diff --git a/src/blog/2022-09-05-man-col/man-col.md b/src/blog/2022-09-05-man-col/man-col.md
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+# Pipe man into col -b to get rid of ^H
+
+The man page reading club is returning soon. In the meantime,
+here is a short post on a trick related to `man` itself that I skipped in the
+[first post of the series](../2022-05-29-man).
+
+## Vi rocks
+
+A cool feature of vi-like editors is that you can insert the
+output a command in the file you are editing, without doing any awkard
+copy-pasting. You can do this with the `r` ex command:
+
+```
+:r !date
+```
+
+Inserts the output of the `date` command on a new line. You can also
+use the `!` (bang) command, combined with a motion, to feed the
+text between the cursor and the target of the motion to a command and
+replace it with the output of the command itself. For example
+I often use `!}fmt` to format the next paragraph when I am writing
+an email.
+
+## Man pages and ANSI escape codes
+
+Unfortunately, if you try to use this feature to include parts of a man page,
+you might not like the result. Typing `:r !man man | head` gives
+
+```
+MAN(1) General Commands Manual MAN(1)
+
+N^HNA^HAM^HME^HE
+ m^Hma^Han^Hn - display manual pages
+
+S^HSY^HYN^HNO^HOP^HPS^HSI^HIS^HS
+ m^Hma^Han^Hn [-^H-a^Hac^Hcf^Hfh^Hhk^Hkl^Hlw^Hw] [-^H-C^HC _^Hf_^Hi_^Hl_^He] [-^H-M^HM _^Hp_^Ha_^Ht_^Hh] [-^H-m^Hm _^Hp_^Ha_^Ht_^Hh] [-^H-S^HS _^Hs_^Hu_^Hb_^Hs_^He_^Hc_^Ht_^Hi_^Ho_^Hn]
+ [[-^H-s^Hs] _^Hs_^He_^Hc_^Ht_^Hi_^Ho_^Hn] _^Hn_^Ha_^Hm_^He _^H._^H._^H.
+
+D^HDE^HES^HSC^HCR^HRI^HIP^HPT^HTI^HIO^HON^HN
+```
+
+Not cool! This happens because manual pages are not made of plain text. They
+contain *ANSI escape codes* to provide some basic formatting, like
+bold text and whatnot (you might or might not see them, depending on the
+capabilities of your terminal emulator). This is a complex topic and I don't
+know much about it. Check out the excellent post
+[Anatomy of a Terminal Emulator](https://poor.dev/terminal-anatomy)
+by [poor.dev](https://poor.dev) if you want to learn more.
+
+Long story short, the workaround is included in the man page itself:
+
+```
+When using -c, most terminal devices are unable to show the
+markup. To print the output of man to the terminal with markup
+but without using a pager, pipe it to ul(1). To remove the
+markup, pipe the output to col(1) -b instead.
+```
+
+Indeed, using `:r !man man | col -b | head` gives:
+
+```
+MAN(1) General Commands Manual MAN(1)
+
+NAME
+ man - display manual pages
+
+SYNOPSIS
+ man [-acfhklw] [-C file] [-M path] [-m path] [-S subsection]
+ [[-s] section] name ...
+
+DESCRIPTION
+```
+
+Hooray!
diff --git a/src/blog/blog.md b/src/blog/blog.md
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
[RSS Feed](feed.xml)
+* 2022-09-05 [Pipe man into col -b to get rid of ^H](2022-09-05-man-col)
* 2022-08-14 [How I update my website](2022-08-14-website)
* 2022-07-07 [The man page reading club: shutdown(8)](2022-07-07-shutdown)
* 2022-06-12 [The UNIX shell as an IDE: look stuff up with sed](2022-06-12-shell-ide-sed)
diff --git a/src/blog/feed.xml b/src/blog/feed.xml
@@ -9,6 +9,13 @@ Thoughts about software, computers and whatever I feel like sharing
</description>
<item>
+<title>Pipe man into col -b to get rid of ^H</title>
+<link>https://sebastiano.tronto.net/blog/2022-09-05-man-col</link>
+<description>Pipe man into col -b to get rid of ^H</description>
+<pubDate>2022-09-05</pubDate>
+</item>
+
+<item>
<title>How I update my website</title>
<link>https://sebastiano.tronto.net/blog/2022-08-14-website</link>
<description>How I update my website</description>
