explain(1)
explain - Displays the explanation for an error message
As shipped in IRIX 6.5.5. Unchanged since IRIX 6.5.
NAME explain - Displays the explanation for an error message SYNOPSIS explain msgid IMPLEMENTATION UNICOS systems IRIX systems DESCRIPTION The explain utility retrieves and outputs a message explanation from an online explanation catalog. If the output device is a terminal, the output of explain is piped through the pager specified in the PAGER variable. If PAGER is not specified, the default pager more -s is used. If the output device is not a terminal, the output of explain is sent to the standard output device (stdout). The explain utility requires the following argument: msgid Specifies the message ID string associated with a message that appears when an error message is output. This string consists of the product group code and the message number. The product group code (group) is a string that identifies the product issuing the message. The message number (msg#) specifies which message within the product you have received. Enter the message ID as an argument to explain in the form groupmsg# or in the form group-msg#. If the group code ends in one or more digits (for example, cf90), you must use the form that includes the dash (-). Recognized Group Codes The following tables show the products and group codes that have message and explanation catalogs on UNICOS systems and on IRIX systems. The first column lists the group code (needed to look up the explanations for messages); the second column gives the complete name of the software product or products associated with the group code; the third column lists the publication number in which explanations for messages in that group code can be found. UNICOS group codes --------------------------------------------------------------- Group Code Software Product Publication --------------------------------------------------------------- apprentice MPP Apprentice tool Online only as CAL assembler SR-3108 asm Cray Assembler for MPP (CAM) Online only atchop atchop(1) performance tool Online only atexpert atexpert(1) performance tool Online only builddefs builddefs(1) command of the UNICOS Online only glossary cc Cray Standard C compiler Online only cf90 CF90 Fortran language Online only cld Loader for CRAY T3E systems Online only cmd UNICOS utilities that are compliant Online only with XPG4 dbg cdbx(1), debug(1), symdebug(3F), and Online only symdump(3F) debugging commands define define(1) command of the UNICOS Online only glossary deplib deplib(1) command Online only df df(1) utility Online only dm Data Migration Facility SG-2135 du du(1) utility Online only ex ex(1) and vi(1) utilities Online only flowv flowview(1) performance tool Online only fmp fmp(1) Fortran vectorization SR-3771 translator fpp fpp(1) Fortran vectorization analyzer SR-3771 fsquota File system quota feature Online only hpm hpm(1) performance tool Online only hpmall hpmall(8) performance tool Online only hpmflop hpmflop(8) performance tool Online only jt jt(1) performance tool Online only jumpv jumpview(1) performance tool Online only ldr segldr(1) and ld(1) loader commands SR-0066 lib Fortran and I/O libraries Online only libm Mathematical libraries SG-2138 libp Pascal library Online only lprof libprof library Online only ltrace Jumptrace library Online only mppldr Loader for CRAY T3D systems Online only mtdump mtdump(1) performance tool Online only nqs Network Queuing System Online only perf libperf library Online only perfdmp perfdmp(1) performance tool Online only perfv perfview(1) performance tool Online only proc procstat(1) performance tool Online only procv procview(1) performance tool Online only prof prof(1) performance tool Online only profv profview(1) performance tool Online only ps ps(1) utility Online only sh Standard shell Online only sys UNICOS system error list SR-2012 (syserrlist[]) syslog System message logger (newsys(8) and Online only syslogd(8)) talk talk(1B) utility Online only urm Unified Resource Manager Online only usm UNICOS Source Manager (USM) SG-2097 --------------------------------------------------------------- IRIX group codes --------------------------------------------------------------- Group Code Software Product Publication --------------------------------------------------------------- cf90 f90 version 7.2 Online only lib Fortran 90 library version 2.0, and Online only libffio msgsys explain(1) and caterr(1) utilities Online only --------------------------------------------------------------- Location of Explanation Catalogs To find the explanation for the message, explain searches the path specified in the NLSPATH environment variable for the group.exp file. The value of the NLSPATH variable depends on the LANG environment variable or the LC_MESSAGES category. If explain cannot access an existing explanation catalog, check the value of the NLSPATH environment variable and either the LANG environment variable or the LC_MESSAGES category to ensure that the path name of the catalog is in the message system search path. On UNICOS systems, you can use the whichcat(1) utility to determine which catalog is being accessed by explain. For more information, see whichcat(1). On UNICOS systems, see the catopen(3C) man page for a description of the NLSPATH, LANG, and LC_MESSAGES components. On IRIX systems, see environ(5) for a description of the NLSPATH, LANG, and LLC_MESSAGES components. Message Format Variables If msgid does not appear with the error message or if you want to change the format of the messages you receive, you can modify your MSG_FORMAT and CMDMSG_FORMAT environment variables. Both variables can be set to define the fields and the order of the fields to be included in message output. The MSG_FORMAT variable controls the format in which you receive error messages from programs that use the message formatting function catmsgfmt(3C). On UNICOS systems, these are most messages in group codes other than cmd. On IRIX systems, these are most messages in group codes other than msgsys. On UNICOS systems, the CMDMSG_FORMAT variable controls the format in which you receive error messages issued by system utilities that are included in the XPG4 standard. These are messages in the cmd group code. A separate environment variable is provided to control message output from these utilities, because it is often desirable to capture and process this output through a script or program; limiting the output to one line makes this easier. The default format (shown below) for non-utility messages outputs at least two lines. The CMDMSG_FORMAT variable exists to provide a one-line default format for utility messages. On IRIX systems, the explain and caterr utilities use either CMDMSG_FORMAT or MSG_FORMAT variables; however, CMDMSG_FORMAT is used before MSG_FORMAT. Message Format Syntax Valid fields for MSG_FORMAT and CMDMSG_FORMAT are as follows: %G Group code %N Message number %C Command name %S Severity level %P Position of the error %M Message text %D Debugging information %T Time stamp If one of the % fields is not present in the contents of MSG_FORMAT or CMDMSG_FORMAT, the corresponding message field is not printed. The default message format is produced by the following assumed MSG_FORMAT contents: %G-%N %C: %S %P\n %M\n For messages issued by UNICOS utilities, and by the IRIX utilities explain(1) and caterr(1), the default message format is produced by the following assumed CMDMSG_FORMAT contents: %G-%N: %C %M\n Messages issued from the cmd group code determine their format according to the following precedence: 1. Content of CMDMSG_FORMAT variable, if it exists 2. Content of MSG_FORMAT variable, if it exists 3. Default message format for utilities The format of the time stamp (%T) is equivalent to that produced by the cftime(3C) function and can be overridden by the CFTIME environment variable. For details about time stamp formats, see the strftime(3C) man page, which documents the cftime function. The Standard C printf escape sequences also can be embedded in the contents of MSG_FORMAT. The following table lists special characters that can be embedded. -------------------------------- Description Symbol Sequence -------------------------------- New-line NL \n character (LF) Horizontal tab HT \t Vertical tab VT \v Backspace BS \b Carriage return CR \r Form feed FF \f Audible alert BEL \a Backslash \ \\ Question mark ? \? Single ' \' quotation mark Double " \" quotation mark Octal number ooo \ooo Hexadecimal hh \xhh number -------------------------------- The escape \ooo consists of the backslash followed by 1, 2, or 3 octal digits, which are taken to specify the value of the desired character. A common example of this construction is \0, which specifies the null character. The escape \xhh consists of the backslash, followed by x, followed by hexadecimal digits, which are taken to specify the value of the desired character. There is no limit on the number of digits, but the behavior is undefined if the resulting character value exceeds that of the largest character. Any characters other than those listed in this table are passed through without the backslash, (for example, \q produces q). NOTES On UNICOS systems, if this utility is installed with a privilege assignment list (PAL), a user with one of the following active categories is allowed to perform the actions shown: Active Category Action system, secadm In a privileged administrator shell environment, allowed to write shell-redirected output to any file. sysadm Shell-redirected output is subject to security label restrictions. If the PRIV_SU configuration option is enabled, the super user can write shell-redirected output to any file. SEE ALSO UNICOS systems caterr(1), catxt(1), gencat(1), whichcat(1) catgetmsg(3C), catgets(3C), catmsgfmt(3C), catopen(3C), strftime(3C) in the UNICOS System Libraries Reference Manual, publication SR-2080 nl_types(5), msg(7D) in the UNICOS File Formats and Special Files Reference Manual, publication SR-2014 IRIX systems caterr(1), gencat(1) catgetmsg(3C), catmsgfmt(3C) msg(7D) Cray Research publications UNICOS Message System Programmer's Guide, publication SG-2121 Segment Loader (SEGLDR) and ld Reference Manual, publication SR-0066 UNICOS System Calls Reference Manual, publication SR-2012 UNICOS Source Manager (USM) User's Guide, publication SG-2097 Cray Data Migration Facility (DMF) Administrator's Guide, publication SG-2135 Intrinsic Procedures Reference Manual, publication SR-2138 Cray Assembly Language (CAL) for Cray PVP Systems Reference Manual, publication SR-3108 UNICOS User Commands Reference Manual, publication SR-2011, for the printed version of this man page.