Provided by: nethack-common_3.6.7-1build3_amd64 bug

NAME

       nethack - Exploring The Mazes of Menace

SYNOPSIS

       nethack [ -d directory ] [ -n ] [ -p profession ] [ -r race ] [ -[DX] ] [ -u playername ]
       [ -dec ] [ -ibm ] [ --showpaths ] [ --version[:paste] ]

       nethack [ -d directory ] -s [ -v ] [ -p profession ] [ -r race ] [ playernames ]

DESCRIPTION

       NetHack is a display oriented Dungeons &  Dragons(tm)  -  like  game.   The  standard  tty
       display and command structure resemble rogue.

       Other, more graphical display options exist for most platforms.

       To  get started you really only need to know two commands.  The command ?  will give you a
       list of the available commands (as well as other  information)  and  the  command  /  will
       identify the things you see on the screen.

       To win the game (as opposed to merely playing to beat other people's high scores) you must
       locate the Amulet of Yendor which is somewhere below the 20th level of the dungeon and get
       it  out.   Few  people  achieve this; most never do.  Those who have go down in history as
       heroes among heroes - and then they find ways of making the game  even  harder.   See  the
       Guidebook section on Conduct if this game has gotten too easy for you.

       When  the  game ends, whether by your dying, quitting, or escaping from the caves, NetHack
       will give you (a fragment of) the list of top scorers.   The  scoring  is  based  on  many
       aspects  of  your  behavior, but a rough estimate is obtained by taking the amount of gold
       you've found in the cave plus four times your (real) experience.  Precious stones  may  be
       worth a lot of gold when brought to the exit.  There is a 10% penalty for getting yourself
       killed.

       The environment variable NETHACKOPTIONS can be used to initialize many  run-time  options.
       The  ?  command  provides  a  description of these options and syntax.  (The -dec and -ibm
       command line options are equivalent to the decgraphics and  ibmgraphics  run-time  options
       described  there,  and  are provided purely for convenience on systems supporting multiple
       types of terminals.)

       Because  the  option  list  can  be  very  long  (particularly  when  specifying  graphics
       characters), options may also be included in a configuration file.  The default is located
       in your home directory and named .nethackrc on  Unix  systems.   On  Debian  systems,  use
       .nethackrc.gnome  for  the  Gnome windowing port, use .nethackrc.x11 for the X11 windowing
       port, and use .nethackrc.qt for the QT windowing port.  You can use .nethackrc.tty for the
       non-graphical  version.   The  configuration  file's  location may be specified by setting
       NETHACKOPTIONS to a string consisting of an @ character followed by the filename.

       The -u playername option supplies the answer to the question "Who are you?".  It overrides
       any  name from the options or configuration file, USER, LOGNAME, or getlogin(), which will
       otherwise be tried in order.  If none of these provides a useful name, the player will  be
       asked  for  one.  Player names (in conjunction with uids) are used to identify save files,
       so you can have several saved games under different names.  Conversely, you must  use  the
       appropriate player name to restore a saved game.

       A  playername  suffix can be used to specify the profession, race, alignment and/or gender
       of the character.  The full syntax of the playername that includes a suffix is  "name-ppp-
       rrr-aaa-ggg".  "ppp" are at least the first three letters of the profession (this can also
       be specified using a separate -p profession option).  "rrr" are at least the  first  three
       letters  of  the  character's  race  (this  can also be specified using a separate -r race
       option).  "aaa" are at least the first three letters of  the  character's  alignment,  and
       "ggg" are at least the first three letters of the character's gender.  Any of the parts of
       the suffix may be left out.

       -p profession can be used to determine the character profession, also known as  the  role.
       You  can specify either the male or female name for the character role, or the first three
       characters of the role as an abbreviation.  -p @ has been retained to  explicitly  request
       that  a random role be chosen.  It may need to be quoted with a backslash (\@) if @ is the
       "kill" character (see "stty") for the terminal, in order to prevent the current input line
       from being cleared.

       Likewise, -r race can be used to explicitly request that a race be chosen.

       Leaving out any of these characteristics will result in you being prompted during the game
       startup for the information.

       The -s option alone will print out the list of your scores on  the  current  version.   An
       immediately  following  -v  reports on all versions present in the score file.  The -s may
       also be followed by arguments -p and -r to print the scores of particular roles and  races
       only.   It  may  also  be  followed by one or more player names to print the scores of the
       players mentioned, by 'all' to print out all scores, or by a number to print that many top
       scores.

       The -n option suppresses printing of any news from the game administrator.

       The -D or -X option will start the game in a special non-scoring discovery mode.  -D will,
       if the player is the game administrator, start in debugging (wizard) mode instead.

       The -d option, which must be the first argument if it appears, supplies a directory  which
       is  to  serve  as the playground.  It overrides the value from NETHACKDIR, HACKDIR, or the
       directory   specified   by   the   game   administrator   during   compilation    (usually
       /usr/lib/games/nethack).   This  option  is usually only useful to the game administrator.
       The playground must contain several auxiliary files such as help files, the  list  of  top
       scorers, and a subdirectory save where games are saved.

       --showpaths  can  be  used  to cause NetHack to show where it is expecting to find various
       configuration files.

       --version can be used to cause NetHack to show the version  information  it  was  compiled
       with,  then  exit.  That will include the git commit hash if the information was available
       when the game was compiled.  On some platforms, such as windows and  macosx,  a  variation
       --version:paste  can  be used to cause NetHack to show the version information, then exit,
       while also leaving a copy of the version information in the paste buffer or clipboard  for
       potential insertion into things like bug reports.

AUTHORS

       Jay  Fenlason  (+  Kenny Woodland, Mike Thome and Jon Payne) wrote the original hack, very
       much like rogue (but full of bugs).

       Andries Brouwer continuously deformed their sources into an entirely different game.

       Mike Stephenson has continued the perversion of sources, adding various  warped  character
       classes  and  sadistic traps with the help of many strange people who reside in that place
       between the worlds, the Usenet Zone.  A number of these miscreants are immortalized in the
       historical roll of dishonor and various other places.

       The  resulting  mess  is  now  called  NetHack,  to  denote its development by the Usenet.
       Andries Brouwer has made this request for the distinction, as he may eventually release  a
       new version of his own.

FILES

       Run-time configuration options were discussed above and use a platform specific name for a
       file in a platform specific location.  For Unix, the name is '.nethackrc'  in  the  user's
       home directory.

       All  other files are in the playground directory, normally /usr/lib/games/nethack.  If DLB
       was defined during the compile, the data files and special levels will be inside a  larger
       file, normally nhdat, instead of being separate files.

       nethack                     The program itself.
       data, oracles, rumors       Data files used by NetHack.
       quest.dat, bogusmon         More data files.
       engrave, epitaph, tribute   Still more data files.
       symbols                     Data file holding sets of specifications
                                   for how to display monsters, objects, and
                                   map features.
       options                     Data     file     containing     a    description    of    the
                                   build-time option settings.
       help, hh                    Help data files.
       cmdhelp, opthelp, wizhelp   More help data files.
       *.lev                       Predefined special levels.
       dungeon                     Control file for special levels.
       history                     A short history of NetHack.
       license                     Rules governing redistribution.
       record                      The list of top scorers.
       logfile                     An extended list of games played
                                   (optional).
       xlogfile                    A more detailed version of 'logfile'
                                   (also optional).
       paniclog                    Record of exceptional conditions
                                   discovered during program execution.
       xlock.nn                    Description of dungeon level 'nn' of
                                   active game 'x' if there's a limit on the
                                   number of simultaneously active games.
       UUcccccc.nn                 Alternate form for dungeon level 'nn'
                                   of active game by user 'UU' playing
                                   character named 'cccccc' when there's no
                                   limit on number of active games.
       perm                        Lock file for xlock.0 or UUcccccc.0.
       bonesDD.nn                  Descriptions of the ghost and belongings
                                   of a deceased adventurer who met his
                                   or her demise on level 'nn'.

       save/                       A subdirectory containing saved games.

       sysconf                     System-wide options.  Required if
                                   program is built with 'SYSCF' option
                                   enabled, ignored if not.

       The location of 'sysconf' is specified at build  time  and  can't  be  changed  except  by
       updating source file "config.h" and rebuilding the program.

       In a perfect world, 'paniclog' would remain empty.

ENVIRONMENT

       USER or LOGNAME         Your login name.
       HOME                    Your home directory.
       SHELL                   Your shell.
       TERM                    The type of your terminal.
       HACKPAGER or PAGER      Replacement for default pager.
       MAIL                    Mailbox file.
       MAILREADER              Replacement for default reader
                               (probably /usr/bin/mail).
       NETHACKDIR or HACKDIR   Playground.
       NETHACKOPTIONS          String predefining several NetHack
                               options.

       If  the same option is specified in both NETHACKOPTIONS and .nethackrc, the value assigned
       in NETHACKOPTIONS takes precedence.

       SHOPTYPE and SPLEVTYPE can be used in debugging (wizard) mode.
       DEBUGFILES can be used if the program was built with 'DEBUG' enabled.

SEE ALSO

       dgn_comp(6), lev_comp(6), recover(6)

BUGS

       Probably infinite.

COPYRIGHT

       This file is Copyright (C) Robert Patrick Rankin and was last modified 2019/09/15 (version
       NetHack-3.6:1.16).  NetHack may be freely redistributed.  See license for details.

       Dungeons & Dragons is a Trademark of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.