How to Print and Export Man Pages to PDF in Linux and Unix

Need to convert Unix man pages to PDF or print them? This comprehensive guide shows you exactly how to export, print, and save man pages on Linux, macOS, and BSD systems using the man -t command and ps2pdf.

Whether you need a quick reference PDF, want to print documentation for offline study, or need to share man pages with your team, you'll find the complete workflow here.

This guide also includes troubleshooting for common errors and a cheat sheet for quick reference.

Quick Summary

Use man -t command | ps2pdf - command.pdf to convert any man page to PDF instantly. Replace command with actual command's name.

Example:

man -t man | ps2pdf - man.pdf

Understanding Man Page Export: How man -t Works

When you run man ls, the system retrieves the source file (written in roff format), processes it through groff (the GNU text formatter), and displays it via a pager like less.

Using the -t flag tells man to output PostScript instead—a format designed for printing that can be easily converted to PDF or sent directly to printers. This is the foundation for all export workflows.

What happens behind the scenes:

1. man locates the appropriate manual page file (e.g., /usr/share/man/man1/ls.1.gz)
2. groff formats the roff source into PostScript
3. The PostScript is either displayed, saved, or piped to another tool

Why PostScript? It's a device-independent page description language that printers understand natively, and it converts cleanly to PDF.

What's New in 2026

Linux Updates:

• Many modern Linux distributions now ship with groff 1.23+ with improved Unicode support.
• Systemd-based systems provide systemd and journald documentation through standard man pages.
• xdg-open over SSH is unreliable on Wayland-based systems.

macOS Changes:

• macOS Sonoma (14.0+) removed the pstopdf utility - use ps2pdf from Ghostscript instead.
• Preview.app now has no PostScript support in Sequoia (15.0+).
• Ghostscript is now required on macOS for PostScript-to-PDF conversion workflows.

New Tools:

• mandoc is the default man-page formatter on OpenBSD, FreeBSD, and modern macOS.
• Newer col implementations produce cleaner plain-text output than older versions.
• Modern terminals do not render PostScript. PostScript output must be viewed through a document viewer or converted to PDF.

Prerequisites

Tools Required (What You Need)

Throughout this guide, we will be using the following tools:

• man - Manual page viewer (standard on all Unix systems)
• groff - GNU troff text formatter
• ps2pdf - PostScript to PDF converter (part of Ghostscript)
• lp / lpr - CUPS printing commands
• mandoc - BSD manual page formatter
• col - Filter reverse line feeds from input

Already installed on most systems:

• man - Manual page viewer (standard on all Unix/Linux)
• groff or mandoc - Manual page formatting systems (groff on Linux, mandoc on BSD/macOS)
• col - Text filter for cleaning up formatted output (part of util-linux on Linux)

For PDF conversion (requires installation):

• ps2pdf - PostScript to PDF converter
  • Part of Ghostscript package
  • Not included by default on macOS

For printing:

• CUPS (Common Unix Printing System) with configured printer
• lp or lpr command

Installing Ghostscript (for ps2pdf)

To install Ghostscript in Linux, use the following commands.

Linux:

# Alpine Linux
apk add ghostscript

# Arch Linux / EndeavourOS / Manjaro
sudo pacman -S ghostscript

# Debian / Ubuntu / Linux Mint / Pop!_OS
sudo apt update && sudo apt install ghostscript

# RHEL / Fedora / CentOS / AlmaLinux / Rocky Linux
sudo dnf install ghostscript

# OpenSUSE
sudo zypper install ghostscript

BSD:

# FreeBSD
sudo pkg install ghostscript

# OpenBSD
doas pkg_add ghostscript

# NetBSD
pkgin install ghostscript

macOS:

# Using Homebrew (install from https://brew.sh if needed)
brew install ghostscript

# Or using MacPorts
sudo port install ghostscript

Verify Installation

Check if tools are available:

which ps2pdf  # Should return: /usr/bin/ps2pdf or similar
which man     # Should return: /usr/bin/man
which groff   # Should return: /usr/bin/groff
lpstat -p     # Lists configured printers

If ps2pdf is missing after installing Ghostscript, try:

# Find where it was installed
find /usr -name ps2pdf 2>/dev/null

# Or check Ghostscript version
gs --version

Exporting a Man Page to PDF (Recommended Workflow)

PDF is the most portable format for sharing and archiving man pages.

Basic PDF export

man -t ls | ps2pdf - ls.pdf

This command converts the ls manual page into a PDF file named ls.pdf.

Breaking this down:

• man -t ls generates PostScript for the ls command
• | pipes the output to the next command
• ps2pdf converts PostScript to PDF
• - tells ps2pdf to read from standard input
• ls.pdf is the output filename

Export a Man Page to PDF and Open it in One Command

The following commands will convert the given command's manual page into a PDF file and open that PDF immediately in your desktop viewer.

Linux:

man -t ssh | ps2pdf - ssh.pdf && xdg-open ssh.pdf

macOS:

man -t ssh | ps2pdf - ssh.pdf && open ssh.pdf

BSD with mandoc:

mandoc -Tpdf /usr/share/man/man1/ssh.1 > ssh.pdf && xdg-open ssh.pdf

Specify Man Page Sections

Man pages are organized in numbered sections (1 for commands, 5 for file formats, etc.).

To export from a specific section:

man -t 5 passwd | ps2pdf - passwd.5.pdf

This exports the passwd file format documentation (section 5) rather than the passwd command (section 1).

Man page section numbers:

• 1: User commands (ls, grep, etc.)
• 2: System calls (fork, open, etc.)
• 3: Library functions (printf, malloc, etc.)
• 4: Special files (devices in /dev)
• 5: File formats (passwd, fstab, etc.)
• 6: Games
• 7: Miscellaneous (regex, ascii, etc.)
• 8: System administration commands (mount, iptables, etc.)

Batch Export Multiple Manual Pages

You can export multiple man pages in one go like below:

for cmd in ls grep sed awk; do
    man -t "$cmd" | ps2pdf - "${cmd}.pdf"
done

Use quotes around variables to handle edge cases safely.

This loop:

• Converts the manual pages for ls, grep, sed, and awk
• Saves each one as a separate PDF
• Produces the files namely ls.pdf, grep.pdf, sed.pdf and awk.pdf.

It runs the same workflow four times, once per command.

Printing Man Pages

Print directly without Saving Files

man -t du | lp

This sends PostScript directly to your default printer. No intermediate files are created.

If you want to preview before printing, run:

man -t du | ps2pdf - du.pdf

Print to a Specific Printer

Check available printers first:

lpstat -p

Then specify the printer:

man -t date | lp -d HP_LaserJet_Pro

Replace HP_LaserJet_Pro with your actual printer name from lpstat.

Print only Specific Man Pages

For lengthy man pages like bash:

man -t bash | lp -P 1-5,10

This prints pages 1-5 and page 10. Note these are physical page numbers, not man page section numbers.

If you want to preview page numbers first, do:

man -t bash | ps2pdf - bash.pdf

Then inspect page ranges before printing.

Print in Landscape Orientation

Useful for pages with wide tables or long command lines:

man -t ip | lp -o landscape

You can also open and inspect the layout before printing using command:

man -t ip | ps2pdf - ip.pdf

Adjust Margins and Scaling

man -t df | lp -o scaling=110 -o page-left=36

Options depend on your printer driver. Common options include:

• scaling=<percent> - Increase or decrease size (default 100)
• page-left=<points> - Left margin in points (72 points = 1 inch)
• page-top=<points> - Top margin in points

Please note that scaling can cause clipping.

• Enlarged content may run off the page
• Long lines may wrap unexpectedly

Always test with a preview first.

To inspect margins and scale before printing, run:

man -t df | ps2pdf - df.pdf

Working with PostScript Files

Sometimes you need the intermediate PostScript file for review or conversion with other tools.

Save a Man Page as PostScript

man -t sort > sort.ps

View PostScript files

Linux/BSD:

evince sort.ps
# or
okular sort.ps
# or
xdg-open sort.ps

macOS:

open sort.ps  # Opens in Preview

Convert Existing PostScript to PDF

If you already have a .ps file:

ps2pdf sort.ps sort.pdf

This command saves the sort manual page as a PostScript file named sort.ps.

Exporting Man Pages as Plain Text

For searching, version control, or email, plain text is often better than formatted output.

Clean Text Export

man sort | col -bx > sort.txt

This command saves the sort manual page as clean plain text in a file called sort.txt.

The col -bx command removes:

• Backspace characters used for bold/underline
• Control characters
• Overstrike formatting

This creates clean, searchable text suitable for grep command, editors, or email.

Plain Text with Basic Formatting Preserved

man sort | col -b > sort.txt

Omitting the -x flag preserves some basic formatting while still removing control characters.

BSD-Specific: Using mandoc

Modern BSD systems (OpenBSD, FreeBSD) use mandoc instead of groff. It can generate PDF directly without PostScript as an intermediate format.

Direct PDF Generation

mandoc -Tpdf /usr/share/man/man1/ls.1 > ls.pdf

It converts the ls manual page directly into a PDF file, without using man, groff, or Ghostscript. This is common on BSD systems and macOS.

Find the Man Page Source File

man -w ls

This prints the path to the man page file, which you can then pass to mandoc.

Sample Output:

/usr/share/man/man1/ls.1.gz

Complete Workflow

mandoc -Tpdf "$(man -w ls)" > ls.pdf

It finds the real source file for the ls manual page and converts it directly to PDF.

Troubleshooting Common Problems

Error: "ps2pdf: command not found"

Cause: Ghostscript is not installed.

Solution - Install Ghostscript:

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt install ghostscript

# RHEL/Fedora/CentOS
sudo dnf install ghostscript

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S ghostscript

# macOS (requires Homebrew)
brew install ghostscript

# FreeBSD
sudo pkg install ghostscript9-base

# OpenBSD
doas pkg_add ghostscript

After installation, verify: which ps2pdf should return a path like /usr/bin/ps2pdf.

Error: "Can't open display" when using xdg-open

Cause: Attempting to open a GUI application over SSH without X11 forwarding.

Solutions:

Option 1 - Use X11 forwarding:

ssh -X user@host
man -t ls | ps2pdf - ls.pdf && xdg-open ls.pdf

Option 2 - Copy to local system:

# On remote system
man -t ls | ps2pdf - ls.pdf

# On local system
scp user@host:ls.pdf .

Option 3 - Just create the PDF (skip opening):

man -t ls | ps2pdf - ls.pdf
# Copy manually or view later

Garbled Output or Empty PDF

Common causes and fixes:

1. Missing groff:

# Verify groff is installed
which groff

# Install if missing
sudo apt install groff  # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo dnf install groff  # RHEL/Fedora

2. Man page doesn't exist:

# Check if the man page exists
man -w commandname

# If it returns nothing, the man page isn't installed

3. Corrupted man page:

# Try a different man page to rule out corruption
man -t man | ps2pdf - test.pdf

If this works, the original man page is corrupted

Error: "No manual entry for command"

Cause: The command's documentation isn't installed.

Solutions:

Install documentation package:

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install manpages manpages-dev

# For specific software, install its -doc package
sudo apt install git-doc python3-doc

Search for the command:

# Find which package provides the man page
apt-cache search "man page" | grep commandname

Warning: "some characters couldn't be converted to PostScript"

Cause: The man page contains Unicode characters not supported in PostScript.

Solution:

# Force UTF-8 encoding
man -t -Tutf8 command | ps2pdf - output.pdf

# Or use col to clean the output first
man command | col -bx > clean.txt
# Then work with the text file

Printing to Wrong Printer or No Default Set

Check available printers:

lpstat -p

Set default printer:

lpoptions -d printer_name

Always specify printer explicitly:

man -t ls | lp -d correct_printer_name

Check print queue:

lpstat -o  # Show pending jobs
cancel job_id  # Cancel a job if needed

PDF Output Has Tiny or Wrong Fonts

Cause: Font embedding issues with Ghostscript.

Solution - Force font embedding:

man -t ls | ps2pdf -dEmbedAllFonts=true - ls.pdf

Or adjust PDF settings:

man -t ls | ps2pdf -dPDFSETTINGS=/printer - ls.pdf

Options for -dPDFSETTINGS:

• /screen - Low resolution (72 dpi), smallest files
• /ebook - Medium resolution (150 dpi)
• /printer - High resolution (300 dpi) - Recommended
• /prepress - Highest quality (300+ dpi), large files

Man Page Missing Sections or Truncated

Cause: Insufficient processing or complex formatting.

Solution 1 - Use plain text export:

man command | col -bx > command.txt

After exporting, verify all content is there.

Solution 2 - Increase groff memory:

groff -Tps -man /usr/share/man/man1/command.1 | ps2pdf - output.pdf

Permission Denied When Printing

Cause: User not in printer group or CUPS access restrictions.

Solution:

# Add user to lp group
sudo usermod -aG lp $USER

# Log out and back in for group changes to take effect

# Or check CUPS permissions
sudo nano /etc/cups/cupsd.conf
# Ensure your user has access

macOS: "Preview can't open PostScript file"

Cause: Recent macOS versions have limited PostScript support.

Solution 1 - Use ps2pdf:

man -t command | ps2pdf - command.pdf && open command.pdf

Solution 2 - Alternative Preview method:

man -t command | open -f -a Preview
# If this fails, PostScript support is disabled

Solution 3 - Install Ghostscript:

brew install ghostscript
# Then use ps2pdf as shown above

BSD: "mandoc: ERROR: cannot read"

Cause: Incorrect file path or permissions.

Solution:

# Find the correct path
man -w command

# Use the full path
mandoc -Tpdf "$(man -w command)" > output.pdf

# Check file permissions
ls -l "$(man -w command)"

Output Doesn't Include Section Number in Filename

Not an error, but common confusion.

To include section numbers in exported filenames:

# Get section number first
SECTION=$(man -w grep | sed 's/.*\.\([0-9]\).*/\1/')
man -t grep | ps2pdf - "grep.${SECTION}.pdf"

# Or just add it manually
man -t 5 crontab | ps2pdf - crontab.5.pdf

Verifying Successful Export

Always verify your PDF before sharing:

# Check file size (should be > 0 bytes)
ls -lh output.pdf

# Check PDF integrity
pdfinfo output.pdf

# Quick visual check
xdg-open output.pdf  # Linux
open output.pdf       # macOS

Expected file sizes:

• Small man pages (like ls): 20-50 KB
• Medium man pages (like bash): 100-300 KB
• Large man pages (like ffmpeg): 500 KB - 2 MB

If your PDF is less than 5 KB, something went wrong.

Practical Use Cases

You might wonder why would I export a man page to pdf or ps format? Here are some use cases.

Create a Personal Reference Library

mkdir -p ~/manuals/pdf
cd ~/manuals/pdf

# Export frequently-used commands
for cmd in bash ssh git rsync tar grep sed awk find; do
    man -t "$cmd" | ps2pdf - "${cmd}.pdf"
done

Popular Commands to Export

Here are commonly exported man pages for offline reference:

System Administration:

# Core system commands
man -t systemctl | ps2pdf - systemctl.pdf
man -t journalctl | ps2pdf - journalctl.pdf
man -t crontab | ps2pdf - crontab.pdf
man -t sudo | ps2pdf - sudo.pdf

# File system and disk management
man -t mount | ps2pdf - mount.pdf
man -t fdisk | ps2pdf - fdisk.pdf
man -t df | ps2pdf - df.pdf
man -t lsblk | ps2pdf - lsblk.pdf

Networking:

# Network utilities
man -t ip | ps2pdf - ip.pdf
man -t netstat | ps2pdf - netstat.pdf
man -t ss | ps2pdf - ss.pdf
man -t iptables | ps2pdf - iptables.pdf
man -t tcpdump | ps2pdf - tcpdump.pdf

Development Tools:

# Git and version control
man -t git | ps2pdf - git.pdf
man -t git-commit | ps2pdf - git-commit.pdf
man -t git-rebase | ps2pdf - git-rebase.pdf

# Compilers and build tools
man -t gcc | ps2pdf - gcc.pdf
man -t make | ps2pdf - make.pdf
man -t cmake | ps2pdf - cmake.pdf

Docker and Containers:

man -t docker | ps2pdf - docker.pdf
man -t docker-compose | ps2pdf - docker-compose.pdf
man -t podman | ps2pdf - podman.pdf

Text Processing:

# Essential text tools
man -t grep | ps2pdf - grep.pdf
man -t sed | ps2pdf - sed.pdf
man -t awk | ps2pdf - awk.pdf
man -t find | ps2pdf - find.pdf
man -t xargs | ps2pdf - xargs.pdf

Shell Scripting:

# Bash reference
man -t bash | ps2pdf - bash.pdf
man -t zsh | ps2pdf - zsh.pdf

# Configuration files
man -t 5 bashrc | ps2pdf - bashrc.pdf
man -t 5 crontab | ps2pdf - crontab-format.pdf

Share documentation with a colleague

man -t systemctl | ps2pdf - systemctl-reference.pdf
# Email or upload systemctl-reference.pdf

Study Offline or Annotate

Export to PDF, then open in a PDF reader that supports annotations. This is particularly useful for studying complex commands like iptables or ffmpeg.

Quick Printer Test

man -t cal | lp

The cal man page is short—perfect for testing printer configuration.

Limitations and Considerations

1. Output appearance:

Man pages converted this way are functional but not styled. They use basic fonts and simple layouts. For public documentation, consider tools like Pandoc or dedicated documentation systems.

2. Not all formatting survives:

Complex tables, special symbols, or formatting may not convert perfectly. Always verify the output before sharing widely.

3. Resource usage:

Printing consumes paper and ink. Use print preview or PDF export for review before sending jobs to the printer.

4. Alternative tools exist:

For HTML export, consider man2html. For styled PDFs, look at documentation generators like Sphinx or Asciidoctor if you're creating reference materials from scratch.

Advanced Tips

Create a Shell Function for Quick Exports

Add to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc:

manpdf() {
    local name="${*: -1}"
    local open_cmd="xdg-open"
    command -v open >/dev/null && open_cmd="open"

    man -t "$@" | ps2pdf - "${name}.pdf" && "$open_cmd" "${name}.pdf"
}

Usage:

manpdf grep

Export with Custom Filename

man -t 5 crontab | ps2pdf - crontab-file-format.pdf

Combine Multiple Manual Pages into one PDF

# Export individually
man -t ls | ps2pdf - /tmp/ls.pdf
man -t cp | ps2pdf - /tmp/cp.pdf
man -t mv | ps2pdf - /tmp/mv.pdf

Combine all PDFs using pdfunite:

pdfunite /tmp/ls.pdf /tmp/cp.pdf /tmp/mv.pdf file-commands.pdf

Or using Ghostscript:

gs -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -sDEVICE=pdfwrite \
   -sOutputFile=file-commands.pdf \
   /tmp/ls.pdf /tmp/cp.pdf /tmp/mv.pdf

You can also use pdftk utility:

pdftk /tmp/ls.pdf /tmp/cp.pdf /tmp/mv.pdf cat output file-commands.pdf

For more details, refer this guide:

• Merge PDF Files In Command Line On Linux

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Key Takeaways

• Prerequisites: Most systems have man and groff; PDF conversion requires ps2pdf (Ghostscript)
• PDF Export: man -t command | ps2pdf - output.pdf converts man pages to portable PDFs
• Direct Printing: man -t command | lp sends man pages straight to your printer
• Plain Text: man command | col -bx > output.txt creates clean, searchable text files
• macOS Special: man -t command | open -f -a Preview opens in Preview without extra tools
• BSD Alternative: Systems with mandoc can use mandoc -Tpdf $(man -w command) > output.pdf

Cheat Sheet

Convert man page to PDF (Linux/macOS):

man -t ls | ps2pdf - ls.pdf

Print man page directly:

man -t command | lp

Export to plain text:

man command | col -bx > command.txt

macOS: Open in Preview:

man -t ssh | open -f -a Preview

For more details, refer the manual page of the respective command:

• man man - Learn more about the man system
• man groff - GNU roff text formatter documentation
• man mandoc - BSD manual page formatter (BSD systems)
• man lp - Send jobs to CUPS printers
• man ps2pdf - PostScript to PDF converter options

Alternative Approaches

Here's a few alternative approaches for man -t:

• Pandoc - Universal document converter (can convert Markdown to man pages)
• ronn / ronn-ng - Generate man pages from Markdown
• help2man - Generate simple man pages from program help output
• man2html - Convert man pages to HTML (less reliable than PDF)

Summary

Exporting and printing manual pages is straightforward once you understand the PostScript workflow. The core command "man -t" generates printer-friendly output that you can save, convert, or print directly.

For most users, the PDF workflow (man -t command | ps2pdf - output.pdf) provides the best balance of portability and quality. For quick prints, piping directly to lp eliminates intermediate files. For text processing, col -bx creates clean, searchable output.

These techniques use standard Unix tools that have been stable for decades. They work across distributions and Unix variants with minimal dependencies. Master these basics, and you'll have reliable documentation access regardless of your environment.

Resources

• Linux man-pages project - Source for Linux man pages
• CUPS Printing Guide - Printer options reference
• Ghostscript Documentation - ps2pdf details
• groff Manual - Text formatting system

Related Read:

• Learn To Use Man Pages Efficiently In Linux
• Efficiently Search Linux Manual Pages
• Good Alternatives To Man Pages Every Linux User Needs To Know
• View A Specific Section In Man Pages In Linux
• Find Longest Man Page In Linux
• Easily Recall Forgotten Linux Commands
• Create And Maintain Your Own Man Pages
• Install Man Pages In Alpine Linux
• Install Missing Man Pages Of Commands On Ubuntu
• Pinfo – A CLI Program To Read Info And Man Pages In Color
• Find Command Help In Linux (Man, Info, Apropos, Whatis, –help)
• Browse And Read Entire Arch Wiki As Linux Man Pages
• Display Linux Commands Cheatsheets With Tealdeer Tool
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• Navi: An Interactive Commandline Cheatsheet Tool
• Search, Study And Practice Linux Commands On The Fly Using Tldr++