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Re: documenting Unix command lines; more than one line
Subject:Re: documenting Unix command lines; more than one line From:Kathleen Kearney Moore <kkm -at- MSI -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 9 Sep 1997 11:50:24 -0700
Harrison--
This is what I have done in the past with overflowing UNIX command lines: mark
the "end" of the first chunk with a backslash character (\) and continue with
the rest of the command on the second line. In the Typographic Conventions
section of each book's preface, explain this practice so the reader knows there
is no need to type that character when using the actual command.
The bonus is that the backslash actually does allow UNIX commands to continue
past a linefeed ("line continuation"), so even if users include "\" in a
command, UNIX correctly interprets the backslash-and-linebreak as continuing
the command from one line to the next.
> Date: Mon, 8 Sep 1997 15:19:06 -0700
> From: Harrison Brace <hbrace -at- AIMQUEST -dot- COM>
> Subject: documenting Unix command lines; more than one line
>
> Have any of you found a solution for this problem? You are listing literal
> entries for the command-line in Unix, and your margins do not accommodate
> the full length of the line. How do you indicate that the two lines in your
> document do not represent two separate Unix command lines (rather than by
> changing margins, fonts, etc.)
>
> Thanks,
>
> Harrison
--
Kathy Kearney Moore (kkm -at- msi -dot- com)
Technical Writer, Molecular Simulations, San Diego California
Phone 619-458-9990; Fax 619-458-0136; http://www.msi.com
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