NAME

helpm2pod - convert a specially formatted help text to POD

SYNOPSIS

helpm2pod -h

helpm2pod [options] [--] [file]

DESCRIPTION

helpm2pod converts a specially but simply formatted text to POD. The text is read from file or from standard input if file is a dash (-) or is not given. It can also further process the POD document with pod2man(1) to obtain a man(7) document.

helpm2pod allows one to write scripts with an embedded help message similar in structure to a manpage, but simpler and more compact than a POD manpage. The program can then output this message when a certain option is given, by modifying it dynamically, and the result is readable as is; doing the same in POD would either result in a less readable message or would require that pod2man or pod2text is installed.

See helpmessage(5) for a description of the format.

The programs helpm4sh(1) and gitparseopt2helpm(1) can be used to obtain a HelpMessage.

OPTIONS

--help

Print a help message and exit.

--pod, --man

Format to which to convert the HelpMessage. POD is the default. For man if stdout is a tty, view the manual in a pager.

EXIT STATUS

If invalid lines are detected, 1 is returned. If there are no errors, 0 is returned.

EXAMPLES

To convert the help output of this program to a manual page:

  $ helpm2pod -h |helpm2pod |pod2man -n HELPM2POD >helpm2pod.1

AUTHOR

helpm2pod was written by G.raud Meyer.

SEE ALSO

helpmessage(5), perlpod(1), pod2man(1), man(7), helpm2text(1)