NYSYNOPT(1)

📦 version 2025.09.18.4, in nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable

💅 NYSYNOPT(1) — the nysynopt page, General Commands Manual edition

okay so bestie, you know how there's a whole little ✨suite✨ of Nypatchy tools? This is the manual page for one of them: nysynopt. It lives in the General Commands Manual section of your man pages, and it's genuinely iconic for peeking inside PAM files. Let's get into it 🫶

🌸 NAME 🌸

nysynopt — the tool that lists the contents of specialized-format patches. That's the whole vibe. 💖

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

nysynopt pam options cradle [ print ] [ .go ]

that's the shape of it. pam, then options, then cradle, and optionally print and .go. The brackets are literally doing the "optional" thing, iykyk 🎀

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So nysynopt is a tool in the Nypatchy suite of programs — the whole point of which is working with Patchy Master Files (PAM files). Want the receipts? See nypatchy(1). 📚

Like nylist, it can print a listing of the contents of these files, including line numbers. Slay. But here's where it eats: it also lets you fine-tune the output through a cradle file, whose syntax is a subset of the nypatchy instruction set. And it expands sequences inline. no cap, that's the main character energy right there 👑

🧚 USAGE 🧚

okay let's break down the pieces, one by one:

  • pam — the name of the PAM file. A default extension of .car is assumed, so you don't gotta type it (but you can).
  • print — the output file to write to. If you omit it, the default is standard output. 💫
  • options — a sequence of single-character flags. Keep them together!
  • cradle — the set of instructions for nysynopt. If cradle is not given, or is replaced with -, then standard input is assumed. This argument may also be replaced by the three characters EOF to indicate that there is no cradle at all. 🙈
One thing, bestie — the command should be ended with .go unless you actually want to enter the Nypatchy interactive shell. So like… don't forget it, unless that's the vibe you're going for. 💀

💅 OPTIONS 💅

First up, the rules of the game, and they matter:

options should be given as a single string of characters with no space separation and no use of the - character — except that - can be used in place of the options field if no options are desired. Alphabetic options are not case-sensitive.

Got it? Good. Now the actual flags, bestie:

  • E — page ejects forced in the PAM file with +SEQ,QEJECT are honored. ⚠️ Only if the S option is also given, so don't be out here running E solo and expecting magic.
  • H — print help information only. That's it, that's the whole thing. 🫶
  • I — line numbers for individual PAM files should each start at zero. Fresh start energy. ✨
  • M — missing sequences should be signalled. 📣
  • S — start each new deck on a new page. Clean page, clean mind. 🎀
  • X — do not signal actions. 🤫
  • Y — do not expand sequences called by +CDE.
  • Z — do not expand sequences called by +SEQ.
  • n — where n is a number from 0 to 4 inclusive, assume 58, 62, 74, 84, or 98 lines per page in the output. (The default is 110 lines per page.) And for n a number greater than or equal to 20, use that specific number of lines per page. So 20+ means "I said what I said, use exactly this many." 🔥
  • + — inhibit the initial page-eject. 🚫📄

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

the whole friend group, fr fr:

fcasplit(1), nycheck(1), nydiff(1), nyindex(1), nylist(1), nymerge(1), nypatchy(1), nyshell(1), nytidy(1), yexpand(1)

Also — the reference manual for the Nypatchy suite of programs is available in compressed PostScript format at this URL:

http://wwwasdoc.web.cern.ch/wwwasdoc/psdir/p5refman.ps.gz

And oh! Running the command nysynopt help .no also gives some brief help on usage. cute little shortcut, iykyk 💜

🍓 AUTHOR 🍓

This manual page was written by Kevin McCarty <kmccarty@debian.org> for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by others). It is licensed under the GNU General Public License, version 2 or later (at your choice). Respect the license, bestie, always. 🫡

Copyright (C) Kevin B. McCarty, 2008.

aaand that's the page!! 🦋 source/version vibes: this is the General Commands Manual page NYSYNOPT(1), dated Mar 12, 2008 — go forth and list those patches, bestie, you're gonna slay 💖✨🎀

📦 where this page comes from