How to read syntax diagrams

Review the conventions used in syntax diagrams to understand the command descriptions.

Syntax diagrams consist of options, option arguments, and operands.

Options: Options indicate input that affects the behavior of the base command (for example, -l specifies long output) or required input that you can specify in different ways (for example, you can target objects using either -n name OR -N groupname OR -ac objectclass). Options consist of either a hyphen and single letter (for example, -h) or two hyphens and multiple letters (for example, --help). The single letter format is the short form of the multiple letter format, and the two formats are functionally interchangeable when issuing a command.
Option arguments: Some options are followed by one or more option arguments that specify a value for the option. For example, with -file file_name, file_name specifies the name of the file on or with which to take action.
Operands: Operands are parameters at the end of a command that specify the user input.

Syntax diagrams adhere to the following conventions:

Options and operands that are enclosed in brackets ([]) are optional. Do not include these brackets in the command.
Options and operands that are enclosed in braces ({}) are required. Do not include these braces in the command.
Options and operands that are not enclosed in either brackets or braces are required.
Operands and option arguments that are italicized must be replaced with actual values.
The names of options are case sensitive and must be typed exactly as shown.
Options preceded by two dashes (--) must be specified in their entirety.
A pipe (|) character signifies that you can or must, depending on the enclosing characters, choose one option or the other. For example, [a | b] indicates that you can choose either a or b, but not both. Similarly, {a | b} indicates that you must choose either a or b.
An ellipsis (...) signifies that you can repeat the operand and option argument on the command line.
A dash (-) represents standard output.