3. Conventions Used in this Book

3. Conventions Used in this Book
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3.1. Typing Conventions

Formatted Example	Meaning
inode	Used to emphasize a technical term.
ls -lta	Used for commands and their arguments. (see Section 3.2.1, “Commands Synopsis”).
`a_file`	Used for file names. It may also be used for RPM package names.
ls(1)	Reference to a man page. To read the page, simply type man 1 ls, in a command line.
$ ls *.pid	Formatting used for text snapshots of what you may see on your screen including computer interactions, program listings, etc.
`localhost`	Literal data which does not generally fit in any of the previously defined categories. For example, a key word taken from a configuration file.
OpenOffice.org	Defines application names. Depending on context, the application and command name may be the same but formatted differently. For example, most commands are written in lowercase, while applications names usually begin with an uppercase character.
Files	Indicates menu entries or graphical interface labels. The underlined letter, if present, informs you of a keyboard shortcut, accessible by pressing the Alt key plus the letter in question.
Le petit chaperon rouge	Identifies foreign language words.
Warning!	Reserved for special warnings in order to emphasize the importance of words. Read out loud.

	Note
	Highlights a note. Generally, it gives additional information about a specific area.

	Tip
	Represents a tip. It could be general advice on how to perform a particular action, or hints about nice features, such as shortcuts, which could make your life easier.

	Warning
	Be very careful when you see this icon. It always means that very important information about a specific subject will be dealt with.

3.2. General Conventions

3.2.1. Commands Synopsis

The example below shows the symbols you will see when the writer describes the arguments of a command:

command <non literal argument> [--option={arg1,arg2,arg3}] [optional arg ...]

These conventions are standard and you will find them elsewhere such as in the man pages.

The “<” (lesser than) and “>” (greater than) symbols denote a mandatory argument not to be copied as is, which should be replaced according to your needs. For example, <filename> refers to the actual name of a file. If this name is foo.txt you should type foo.txt, not <foo.txt> or <filename>.

The square brackets (“[ ]”) denote optional arguments, which you may or may not include in the command.

The ellipsis (“...”) means an arbitrary number of arguments may be included.

The curly brackets (“{ }”) contain the arguments authorized at this specific place. One of them is to be placed here.

3.2.2. Special Notations

From time to time, you will be asked to press, for example, the keys Ctrl-R, which means you need to press and hold the Ctrl key and tap the R character right after as well. The same applies for the Alt and Shift keys.

	Note
	We use capital letters to represent the letter keys; this doesn't mean that you have to type them capitalized. However, there might be programs where typing R is not the same than typing r. You will be informed when dealing with such programs.

Regarding menus, going to menu item File → Reload user config (Ctrl-R) means: click on the File text displayed on the menu (generally located in the upper-left of the window). Then in the pull-down menu, click on the Reload user config item. Furthermore you are informed that you can use the Ctrl-R key combination (as described above) to get the same result.

3.2.3. System-Generic Users

Whenever possible, we use two generic users in our examples:

Queen Pingusa	queen	This is our default user, used through most examples in this book.
Peter Pingus	peter	This user can be created afterward by the system administrator and is sometimes used to vary the text.

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