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31 .\" @(#)fortune.6 8.3 (Berkeley) 4/19/94
32 .\" $FreeBSD: src/games/fortune/fortune/fortune.6,v 1.9.2.6 2001/12/14 14:26:32 ru Exp $
39 .Nd "print a random, hopefully interesting, adage"
51 is run with no arguments it prints out a random epigram.
52 Epigrams are divided into several categories, where each category
53 is subdivided into those which are potentially offensive and those
55 The options are as follows:
58 Choose from all lists of maxims, both offensive and not.
61 option for more information on offensive fortunes.)
63 Enable additional debugging output.
64 Specify this option multiple times for more verbose output.
65 Only available if compiled with -DDEBUG.
67 Consider all fortune files to be of equal size (see discussion below
70 Print out the list of files which would be searched, but don't
75 Print out all fortunes which match the regular expression
79 for a description of patterns.
81 Choose only from potentially offensive aphorisms.
83 Please, please, please request a potentially offensive fortune if and
84 only if you believe, deep down in your heart, that you are willing
86 (And that if you are not willing, you'll just quit using
89 grief about it, okay?)
91 .Bd -unfilled -offset indent
92 \&... let us keep in mind the basic governing philosophy
93 of The Brotherhood, as handsomely summarized in these words:
94 we believe in healthy, hearty laughter -- at the expense of
95 the whole human race, if needs be. Needs be.
96 --H. Allen Smith, "Rude Jokes"
105 Wait before termination for an amount of time calculated from the
106 number of characters in the message.
107 This is useful if it is executed as part of the logout procedure
108 to guarantee that the message can be read before the screen is cleared.
111 The user may specify alternate sayings.
112 You can specify a specific file, a directory which contains one or
113 more files, or the special word
115 which says to use all the standard databases.
116 Any of these may be preceded by a percentage, which is a number
118 between 0 and 100 inclusive, followed by a
120 If it is, there will be a
122 percent probability that an adage will be picked from that file
124 If the percentages do not sum to 100, and there are specifications
125 without percentages, the remaining percent will apply to those files
126 and/or directories, in which case the probability of selecting from
127 one of them will be based on their relative sizes.
129 As an example, given two databases
136 .Bd -literal -offset indent
137 fortune funny not-funny
140 will get you fortunes out of
142 two-thirds of the time.
144 .Bd -literal -offset indent
145 fortune 90% funny 10% not-funny
148 will pick out 90% of its fortunes from
152 is unnecessary, since 10% is all that's left).
155 option says to consider all files equal;
157 .Bd -literal -offset indent
158 fortune -e funny not-funny
162 .Bd -literal -offset indent
163 fortune 50% funny 50% not-funny
166 .Bl -tag -width Pa -compact
167 .It Pa /usr/games/fortune
169 .It Pa /usr/share/games/fortune/*
170 the fortunes databases (those files ending