| bold monospace | In command examples, bold monospace
identifies input that must be typed exactly as shown. |
| monospace | In paragraph text, monospace
identifies command names, system calls, and data structures and
types. In command examples, monospace
identifies command output, including error messages. |
| italic | In paragraph text, italic
identifies titles of documents and provides emphasis on key words. In
command syntax diagrams, italic identifies
variables that you must provide. The following command
example uses brackets to indicate that the variable output_file
is optional: command
input_file [output_file] |
| Brackets ( [ ] ) | In command examples, square brackets
designate optional entries. |
Curly brackets ({}),
Pipe
(|) | In command syntax diagrams, text surrounded
by curly brackets indicates a choice. The choices available are
shown inside the curly brackets and separated by the pipe sign (|). The
following command example indicates that you can enter either a
or b: command {a | b} |
| Horizontal ellipses (...) | In command examples, horizontal ellipses
show repetition of the preceding items. |
| Vertical ellipses | Vertical ellipses show that lines of
code have been left out of an example. |
| Keycap | Keycap indicates the
keyboard keys you must press to execute the command example. |
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