xref: /dragonfly/games/fortune/fortune/fortune.6 (revision 89a89091)
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4.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
5.\" Ken Arnold.
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31.\"	@(#)fortune.6	8.3 (Berkeley) 4/19/94
32.\" $FreeBSD: src/games/fortune/fortune/fortune.6,v 1.9.2.6 2001/12/14 14:26:32 ru Exp $
33.\" $DragonFly: src/games/fortune/fortune/fortune.6,v 1.2 2003/06/17 04:25:24 dillon Exp $
34.\"
35.Dd April 19, 1994
36.Dt FORTUNE 6
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm fortune
40.Nd "print a random, hopefully interesting, adage"
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.Nm
43.Op Fl aDefilosw
44.Op Fl m Ar pattern
45.Oo
46.Op Ar \&N%
47.Ar file/dir/all
48.Oc
49.Sh DESCRIPTION
50When
51.Nm
52is run with no arguments it prints out a random epigram.
53Epigrams are divided into several categories, where each category
54is subdivided into those which are potentially offensive and those
55which are not.
56The options are as follows:
57.Bl -tag -width flag
58.It Fl a
59Choose from all lists of maxims, both offensive and not.
60(See the
61.Fl o
62option for more information on offensive fortunes.)
63.It Fl D
64Enable additional debugging output.
65Specify this option multiple times for more verbose output.
66Only available if compiled with -DDEBUG.
67.It Fl e
68Consider all fortune files to be of equal size (see discussion below
69on multiple files).
70.It Fl f
71Print out the list of files which would be searched, but don't
72print a fortune.
73.It Fl l
74Long dictums only.
75.It Fl m
76Print out all fortunes which match the regular expression
77.Ar pattern .
78See
79.Xr regex 3
80for a description of patterns.
81.It Fl o
82Choose only from potentially offensive aphorisms.
83.Bf -symbolic
84Please, please, please request a potentially offensive fortune if and
85only if you believe, deep down in your heart, that you are willing
86to be offended.
87(And that if you are not willing, you'll just quit using
88.Fl o
89rather than give us
90grief about it, okay?)
91.Ef
92.Bd -ragged -offset indent
93\&... let us keep in mind the basic governing philosophy
94of The Brotherhood, as handsomely summarized in these words:
95we believe in healthy, hearty laughter -- at the expense of
96the whole human race, if needs be.
97Needs be.
98.Bd -ragged -offset indent-two -compact
99--H. Allen Smith, "Rude Jokes"
100.Ed
101.Ed
102.It Fl s
103Short apothegms only.
104.It Fl i
105Ignore case for
106.Fl m
107patterns.
108.It Fl w
109Wait before termination for an amount of time calculated from the
110number of characters in the message.
111This is useful if it is executed as part of the logout procedure
112to guarantee that the message can be read before the screen is cleared.
113.El
114.Pp
115The user may specify alternate sayings.
116You can specify a specific file, a directory which contains one or
117more files, or the special word
118.Em all
119which says to use all the standard databases.
120Any of these may be preceded by a percentage, which is a number
121.Ar N
122between 0 and 100 inclusive, followed by a
123.Ar % .
124If it is, there will be a
125.Ar N
126percent probability that an adage will be picked from that file
127or directory.
128If the percentages do not sum to 100, and there are specifications
129without percentages, the remaining percent will apply to those files
130and/or directories, in which case the probability of selecting from
131one of them will be based on their relative sizes.
132.Pp
133As an example, given two databases
134.Em funny
135and
136.Em not-funny ,
137with
138.Em funny
139twice as big, saying
140.Bd -literal -offset indent
141fortune funny not-funny
142.Ed
143.Pp
144will get you fortunes out of
145.Em funny
146two-thirds of the time.
147The command
148.Bd -literal -offset indent
149fortune 90% funny 10% not-funny
150.Ed
151.Pp
152will pick out 90% of its fortunes from
153.Em funny
154(the
155.Dq 10% not-funny
156is unnecessary, since 10% is all that's left).
157The
158.Fl e
159option says to consider all files equal;
160thus
161.Bd -literal -offset indent
162fortune -e funny not-funny
163.Ed
164.Pp
165is equivalent to
166.Bd -literal -offset indent
167fortune 50% funny 50% not-funny
168.Ed
169.Sh FILES
170.Bl -tag -width Pa -compact
171.It Pa /usr/games/fortune
172.Pp
173.It Pa /usr/share/games/fortune/*
174the fortunes databases (those files ending
175.Dq -o
176contain the
177.Bf -symbolic
178offensive
179.Ef
180fortunes)
181.El
182.Sh SEE ALSO
183.Xr regcomp 3 ,
184.Xr regex 3 ,
185.Xr strfile 8
186