1.\" Copyright (c) 1985, 1991, 1993
2.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
3.\"
4.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
5.\" Ken Arnold.
6.\"
7.\" %sccs.include.redist.man%
8.\"
9.\"	@(#)fortune.6	8.3 (Berkeley) 04/19/94
10.\"
11.Dd
12.Dt FORTUNE 6
13.Os BSD 4
14.Sh NAME
15.Nm fortune
16.Nd "print a random, hopefully interesting, adage"
17.Sh SYNOPSIS
18.Nm fortune
19.Op Fl aefilosw
20.Op Fl m Ar pattern
21.Oo
22.Op Ar \&N%
23.Ar file/dir/all
24.Oc
25.Sh DESCRIPTION
26When
27.Nm fortune
28is run with no arguments it prints out a random epigram.
29Epigrams are divided into several categories, where each category
30is subdivided into those which are potentially offensive and those
31which are not.
32The options are as follows:
33.Bl -tag -width flag
34.It Fl a
35Choose from all lists of maxims, both offensive and not.
36(See the
37.Fl o
38option for more information on offensive fortunes.)
39.It Fl e
40Consider all fortune files to be of equal size (see discussion below
41on multiple files).
42.It Fl f
43Print out the list of files which would be searched, but don't
44print a fortune.
45.It Fl l
46Long dictums only.
47.It Fl m
48Print out all fortunes which match the regular expression
49.Ar pattern .
50See
51.Xr regex 3
52for a description of patterns.
53.It Fl o
54Choose only from potentially offensive aphorisms.
55.Bf -symbolic
56Please, please, please request a potentially offensive fortune if and
57only if you believe, deep down in your heart, that you are willing
58to be offended.
59(And that if you are, you'll just quit using
60.Fl o
61rather than give us
62grief about it, okay?)
63.Ef
64.Bd -filled -offset indent
65\&... let us keep in mind the basic governing philosophy
66of The Brotherhood, as handsomely summarized in these words:
67we believe in healthy, hearty laughter -- at the expense of
68the whole human race, if needs be.
69Needs be.
70.Bd -filled -offset indent-two -compact
71--H. Allen Smith, "Rude Jokes"
72.Ed
73.Ed
74.It Fl s
75Short apothegms only.
76.It Fl i
77Ignore case for
78.Fl m
79patterns.
80.It Fl w
81Wait before termination for an amount of time calculated from the
82number of characters in the message.
83This is useful if it is executed as part of the logout procedure
84to guarantee that the message can be read before the screen is cleared.
85.El
86.Pp
87The user may specify alternate sayings.
88You can specify a specific file, a directory which contains one or
89more files, or the special word
90.Em all
91which says to use all the standard databases.
92Any of these may be preceded by a percentage, which is a number
93.Ar N
94between 0 and 100 inclusive, followed by a
95.Ar % .
96If it is, there will be a
97.Ar N
98percent probability that an adage will be picked from that file
99or directory.
100If the percentages do not sum to 100, and there are specifications
101without percentages, the remaining percent will apply to those files
102and/or directories, in which case the probability of selecting from
103one of them will be based on their relative sizes.
104.Pp
105As an example, given two databases
106.Em funny
107and
108.Em not-funny ,
109with
110.Em funny
111twice as big, saying
112.Bd -literal -offset indent
113fortune funny not-funny
114.Ed
115.Pp
116will get you fortunes out of
117.Em funny
118two-thirds of the time.
119The command
120.Bd -literal -offset indent
121fortune 90% funny 10% not-funny
122.Ed
123.Pp
124will pick out 90% of its fortunes from
125.Em funny
126(the ``10% not-funny'' is unnecessary, since 10% is all that's left).
127The
128.Fl e
129option says to consider all files equal;
130thus
131.Bd -literal -offset indent
132fortune -e
133.Ed
134.Pp
135is equivalent to
136.Bd -literal -offset indent
137fortune 50% funny 50% not
138.Em -funny
139.Ed
140.Sh FILES
141.Bl -tag -width Pa -compact
142.It Pa /usr/share/games/fortune
143.El
144.Sh SEE ALSO
145.Xr regex 3 ,
146.Xr regcmp 3 ,
147