xref: /netbsd/games/fortune/fortune/fortune.6 (revision bf9ec67e)
1.\"	$NetBSD: fortune.6,v 1.8 2001/04/02 22:47:30 wiz Exp $
2.\"
3.\" Copyright (c) 1985, 1991, 1993
4.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
5.\"
6.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
7.\" Ken Arnold.
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17.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
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19.\"	This product includes software developed by the University of
20.\"	California, Berkeley and its contributors.
21.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
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37.\"	@(#)fortune.6	8.3 (Berkeley) 4/19/94
38.\"
39.Dd April 19, 1994
40.Dt FORTUNE 6
41.Os
42.Sh NAME
43.Nm fortune
44.Nd print a random, hopefully interesting, adage
45.Sh SYNOPSIS
46.Nm
47.Op Fl aefilosw
48.Op Fl m Ar pattern
49.Oo
50.Op Ar N%
51.Ar file/dir/all
52.Oc
53.Sh DESCRIPTION
54When
55.Nm
56is run with no arguments it prints out a random epigram.
57Epigrams are divided into several categories, where each category
58is subdivided into those which are potentially offensive and those
59which are not.
60The options are as follows:
61.Bl -tag -width flag
62.It Fl a
63Choose from all lists of maxims, both offensive and not.
64(See the
65.Fl o
66option for more information on offensive fortunes.)
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, you'll just quit using
88.Fl o
89rather than give us
90grief about it, okay?)
91.Ef
92.Bd -filled -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 -filled -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 alternative 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 ``10% not-funny'' is unnecessary, since 10% is all that's left).
155The
156.Fl e
157option says to consider all files equal;
158thus
159.Bd -literal -offset indent
160fortune -e
161.Ed
162.Pp
163is equivalent to
164.Bd -literal -offset indent
165fortune 50% funny 50% not
166.Em -funny
167.Ed
168.Sh FILES
169.Bl -tag -width Pa -compact
170.It Pa /usr/share/games/fortune
171.El
172.Sh SEE ALSO
173.Xr regex 3
174