man does not work (too many arguments)












18















I get this an error when trying to run man on a Linux system:



$ LC_ALL=C man man

man: Too many arguments
Try 'man --help' or 'man --usage' for more information.


My man command doesn't seem to be an alias:



command -v man: /usr/bin/man 


What's going on?










share|improve this question









New contributor




NeedHelp is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.





















  • What is the output of "alias man" or simply "alias"?

    – rbrtflr
    22 hours ago






  • 1





    Is your man an alias? Check with type man or command -v man.

    – Kusalananda
    22 hours ago






  • 1





    @jayooin It's setting the default locale to the standard C locale. There is nothing strange about that bit.

    – Kusalananda
    22 hours ago






  • 7





    I'm pretty sure this only made it to Hot Network Questions because the title is hilarious

    – jalalipop
    11 hours ago






  • 3





    Yes, let's sow confusion in interpersonal.SE :)

    – rackandboneman
    11 hours ago
















18















I get this an error when trying to run man on a Linux system:



$ LC_ALL=C man man

man: Too many arguments
Try 'man --help' or 'man --usage' for more information.


My man command doesn't seem to be an alias:



command -v man: /usr/bin/man 


What's going on?










share|improve this question









New contributor




NeedHelp is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.





















  • What is the output of "alias man" or simply "alias"?

    – rbrtflr
    22 hours ago






  • 1





    Is your man an alias? Check with type man or command -v man.

    – Kusalananda
    22 hours ago






  • 1





    @jayooin It's setting the default locale to the standard C locale. There is nothing strange about that bit.

    – Kusalananda
    22 hours ago






  • 7





    I'm pretty sure this only made it to Hot Network Questions because the title is hilarious

    – jalalipop
    11 hours ago






  • 3





    Yes, let's sow confusion in interpersonal.SE :)

    – rackandboneman
    11 hours ago














18












18








18








I get this an error when trying to run man on a Linux system:



$ LC_ALL=C man man

man: Too many arguments
Try 'man --help' or 'man --usage' for more information.


My man command doesn't seem to be an alias:



command -v man: /usr/bin/man 


What's going on?










share|improve this question









New contributor




NeedHelp is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.












I get this an error when trying to run man on a Linux system:



$ LC_ALL=C man man

man: Too many arguments
Try 'man --help' or 'man --usage' for more information.


My man command doesn't seem to be an alias:



command -v man: /usr/bin/man 


What's going on?







man






share|improve this question









New contributor




NeedHelp is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.











share|improve this question









New contributor




NeedHelp is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.









share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited 22 hours ago









terdon

129k32253428




129k32253428






New contributor




NeedHelp is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.









asked 22 hours ago









NeedHelpNeedHelp

985




985




New contributor




NeedHelp is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.





New contributor





NeedHelp is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.






NeedHelp is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.













  • What is the output of "alias man" or simply "alias"?

    – rbrtflr
    22 hours ago






  • 1





    Is your man an alias? Check with type man or command -v man.

    – Kusalananda
    22 hours ago






  • 1





    @jayooin It's setting the default locale to the standard C locale. There is nothing strange about that bit.

    – Kusalananda
    22 hours ago






  • 7





    I'm pretty sure this only made it to Hot Network Questions because the title is hilarious

    – jalalipop
    11 hours ago






  • 3





    Yes, let's sow confusion in interpersonal.SE :)

    – rackandboneman
    11 hours ago



















  • What is the output of "alias man" or simply "alias"?

    – rbrtflr
    22 hours ago






  • 1





    Is your man an alias? Check with type man or command -v man.

    – Kusalananda
    22 hours ago






  • 1





    @jayooin It's setting the default locale to the standard C locale. There is nothing strange about that bit.

    – Kusalananda
    22 hours ago






  • 7





    I'm pretty sure this only made it to Hot Network Questions because the title is hilarious

    – jalalipop
    11 hours ago






  • 3





    Yes, let's sow confusion in interpersonal.SE :)

    – rackandboneman
    11 hours ago

















What is the output of "alias man" or simply "alias"?

– rbrtflr
22 hours ago





What is the output of "alias man" or simply "alias"?

– rbrtflr
22 hours ago




1




1





Is your man an alias? Check with type man or command -v man.

– Kusalananda
22 hours ago





Is your man an alias? Check with type man or command -v man.

– Kusalananda
22 hours ago




1




1





@jayooin It's setting the default locale to the standard C locale. There is nothing strange about that bit.

– Kusalananda
22 hours ago





@jayooin It's setting the default locale to the standard C locale. There is nothing strange about that bit.

– Kusalananda
22 hours ago




7




7





I'm pretty sure this only made it to Hot Network Questions because the title is hilarious

– jalalipop
11 hours ago





I'm pretty sure this only made it to Hot Network Questions because the title is hilarious

– jalalipop
11 hours ago




3




3





Yes, let's sow confusion in interpersonal.SE :)

– rackandboneman
11 hours ago





Yes, let's sow confusion in interpersonal.SE :)

– rackandboneman
11 hours ago










1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes


















34














Check the existence of MANOPT variable.




MANOPT

If $MANOPT is set, it will be parsed prior to man's command line and is expected to be in a similar format.




source



Example:



$ MANOPT='foo bar'
$ export MANOPT
$ man man
man: Too many arguments
Try 'man --help' or 'man --usage' for more information.
$


An obvious ad-hoc fix is to unset MANOPT. Then you should investigate where the variable came from.






share|improve this answer
























  • So why is the error Too many arguments? Like if I export MANOPT=foo, why doesn't it say No manual entry for foo?

    – wjandrea
    6 hours ago











  • @wjandrea man is probably splitting MANOPT on spaces and then running the resulting array through getopt(3), and complain if any non-option arguments (ie arguments not starting with a dash) are left. They could've used a better error message. Anyways, even a single argument is too much for it: try MANOPT=man man man.

    – mosvy
    2 hours ago











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1 Answer
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1 Answer
1






active

oldest

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active

oldest

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active

oldest

votes









34














Check the existence of MANOPT variable.




MANOPT

If $MANOPT is set, it will be parsed prior to man's command line and is expected to be in a similar format.




source



Example:



$ MANOPT='foo bar'
$ export MANOPT
$ man man
man: Too many arguments
Try 'man --help' or 'man --usage' for more information.
$


An obvious ad-hoc fix is to unset MANOPT. Then you should investigate where the variable came from.






share|improve this answer
























  • So why is the error Too many arguments? Like if I export MANOPT=foo, why doesn't it say No manual entry for foo?

    – wjandrea
    6 hours ago











  • @wjandrea man is probably splitting MANOPT on spaces and then running the resulting array through getopt(3), and complain if any non-option arguments (ie arguments not starting with a dash) are left. They could've used a better error message. Anyways, even a single argument is too much for it: try MANOPT=man man man.

    – mosvy
    2 hours ago
















34














Check the existence of MANOPT variable.




MANOPT

If $MANOPT is set, it will be parsed prior to man's command line and is expected to be in a similar format.




source



Example:



$ MANOPT='foo bar'
$ export MANOPT
$ man man
man: Too many arguments
Try 'man --help' or 'man --usage' for more information.
$


An obvious ad-hoc fix is to unset MANOPT. Then you should investigate where the variable came from.






share|improve this answer
























  • So why is the error Too many arguments? Like if I export MANOPT=foo, why doesn't it say No manual entry for foo?

    – wjandrea
    6 hours ago











  • @wjandrea man is probably splitting MANOPT on spaces and then running the resulting array through getopt(3), and complain if any non-option arguments (ie arguments not starting with a dash) are left. They could've used a better error message. Anyways, even a single argument is too much for it: try MANOPT=man man man.

    – mosvy
    2 hours ago














34












34








34







Check the existence of MANOPT variable.




MANOPT

If $MANOPT is set, it will be parsed prior to man's command line and is expected to be in a similar format.




source



Example:



$ MANOPT='foo bar'
$ export MANOPT
$ man man
man: Too many arguments
Try 'man --help' or 'man --usage' for more information.
$


An obvious ad-hoc fix is to unset MANOPT. Then you should investigate where the variable came from.






share|improve this answer













Check the existence of MANOPT variable.




MANOPT

If $MANOPT is set, it will be parsed prior to man's command line and is expected to be in a similar format.




source



Example:



$ MANOPT='foo bar'
$ export MANOPT
$ man man
man: Too many arguments
Try 'man --help' or 'man --usage' for more information.
$


An obvious ad-hoc fix is to unset MANOPT. Then you should investigate where the variable came from.







share|improve this answer












share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer










answered 22 hours ago









Kamil MaciorowskiKamil Maciorowski

1,5191827




1,5191827













  • So why is the error Too many arguments? Like if I export MANOPT=foo, why doesn't it say No manual entry for foo?

    – wjandrea
    6 hours ago











  • @wjandrea man is probably splitting MANOPT on spaces and then running the resulting array through getopt(3), and complain if any non-option arguments (ie arguments not starting with a dash) are left. They could've used a better error message. Anyways, even a single argument is too much for it: try MANOPT=man man man.

    – mosvy
    2 hours ago



















  • So why is the error Too many arguments? Like if I export MANOPT=foo, why doesn't it say No manual entry for foo?

    – wjandrea
    6 hours ago











  • @wjandrea man is probably splitting MANOPT on spaces and then running the resulting array through getopt(3), and complain if any non-option arguments (ie arguments not starting with a dash) are left. They could've used a better error message. Anyways, even a single argument is too much for it: try MANOPT=man man man.

    – mosvy
    2 hours ago

















So why is the error Too many arguments? Like if I export MANOPT=foo, why doesn't it say No manual entry for foo?

– wjandrea
6 hours ago





So why is the error Too many arguments? Like if I export MANOPT=foo, why doesn't it say No manual entry for foo?

– wjandrea
6 hours ago













@wjandrea man is probably splitting MANOPT on spaces and then running the resulting array through getopt(3), and complain if any non-option arguments (ie arguments not starting with a dash) are left. They could've used a better error message. Anyways, even a single argument is too much for it: try MANOPT=man man man.

– mosvy
2 hours ago





@wjandrea man is probably splitting MANOPT on spaces and then running the resulting array through getopt(3), and complain if any non-option arguments (ie arguments not starting with a dash) are left. They could've used a better error message. Anyways, even a single argument is too much for it: try MANOPT=man man man.

– mosvy
2 hours ago










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