in reply to Better perldoc on Windows

Let me copy&paste some text from my homenode here:

If you're using Windows and find the default perldoc display suboptimal you may try this doskey macro 

pdoc=perldoc -o html -T -w index $* > %TEMP%\perldoc_temp.html && star
+t %TEMP%\perldoc_temp.html

[download]
If you then use pdoc Module::Name instead of perldoc Module::Name you get the docs formatted as HTML in a browser window. It's best to store the macro(s) in a file and start the Command Prompt via a shortcut like this: %windir%\System32\cmd.exe /F:ON /k doskey /macrofile="%USERPROFILE%\doskey.mac"

Jenda
Enoch was right!
Enjoy the last years of Rome.

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Re^2: Better perldoc on Windows
by LanX (Saint) on Jun 06, 2010 at 20:15 UTC
    To my surprise, I'm learning from this discussion that win consoles can't display the formats necessary for manpages (bold, italics ,...), but this workaround of opening a browser-window doesn't seem to be much within CLI philosophy nor fast...

    So what about installing lynx or w3m on windows to display html?

    Cheers Rolf

    PS: Sorry for my Win-ignorance, but I have to admit I'm never running into these kinds of problems .... one of the benefits of using emacs on each OS-plattform...

[reply]

      I'd much rather wait the halfsecond necessary to open the additional browser window that block my console and have to put up with the restrictive more or less or whatever pager you decide to use. I tend to display the manpages of a few modules at a time and switch between them at will.

      Jenda
      Enoch was right!
      Enjoy the last years of Rome.

[reply]

      I found this quote from a "how to write man pages" course instructive:

      If Unix was being invented now, man pages would probably be written using HTML, the Hypertext Mark-up Language for World Wide Web pages ...
      Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.
      "Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".
      In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.
[reply]
        agreed, thats why I think that text browsers are a good compromise.

        DESCRIPTION
       w3m  is  a  World  Wide Web (WWW) text based client. It has English and
       Japanese help files and an option menu and can  be  configured  to  use
       either language. It will display hypertext markup language (HTML) docu‐
       ments containing links to files residing on the local system,  as  well
       as  files  residing  on  remote systems. It can display HTML tables and
       frames.  In addition, it can be used as a "pager" in much the same man‐
       ner as "more" or "less".  Current versions of w3m run on Unix (Solaris,
       SunOS, HP-UX, Linux, FreeBSD, and EWS4800)  and  on  Microsoft  Windows
       9x/NT.

        And a "real" browser could be optionally used.

        Cheers Rolf

[reply]

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