path: root/tmac/groff_man.man

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Free Software Foundation, Inc.

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..
.
.
.TH GROFF_MAN @MAN7EXT@ "@MDATE@" "Groff Version @VERSION@"
.
.
.\" ----------------------------------------------------------------
.
.SH NAME
.
groff_man \- groff `man' macros to support generation of man pages
.
.
.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
.
.SH SYNOPSIS
.
.SY "groff\ \-man"
.RI [ options
.IR .\|.\|.\& ]
.RI [ files
.IR .\|.\|.\& ]
.
.SY "groff\ \-m\ man"
.RI [ options
.IR .\|.\|.\& ]
.RI [ files
.IR .\|.\|.\& ]
.YS
.
.
.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
.
.SH DESCRIPTION
.
The
.B man
macros used to generate
.I man\~pages
with
.I groff
were written by James Clark.
.
This document provides a brief summary of the use of each macro in that
package.
.
.
.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
.
.SH OPTIONS
.
The
.B man
macros understand the following command line options (which define
various registers).
.
.TP
.B \-rcR=1
This option (the default if in nroff mode) creates a single, very
long page instead of multiple pages.
.
Say
.B \-rcR=0
to disable it.
.
.TP
.B \-rC1
If more than one manual page is given on the command line, number the
pages continuously, rather than starting each at\~1.
.
.TP
.B \-rD1
Double-sided printing.
.
Footers for even and odd pages are formatted differently.
.
.TP
.BI \-rFT= dist
Set distance of the footer relative to the bottom of the page if
negative or relative to the top if positive.
.
The default is -0.5i.
.
.TP
.BI \-rHY= flags
Set hyphenation flags.
.
Possible values are 1\~to hyphenate without restrictions, 2\~to not
hyphenate the last word on a page, 4\~to not hyphenate the last two
characters of a word, and 8\~to not hyphenate the first two characters
of a word.
.
These values are additive; the default is\~14.
.
.TP
.BI \-rIN= width
Set body text indentation to
.IR width .
The default is 7n for
.IR nroff ,
7.2n for
.IR troff .
For
.IR nroff ,
this value should always be an integer multiple of unit `n' to get
consistent indentation.
.
.TP
.BI \-rLL= line-length
Set line length.
.
If this option is not given,
the line length is set to respect any value set by a prior `.ll' request,
(which
.I must
be in effect when the `.TH' macro is invoked),
if this differs from the built\-in default for the formatter;
otherwise it defaults to 78n in
.I nroff
mode and 6.5i in
.I troff
mode.
.
.IP
Note that the use of a `.ll' request to initialize the line length
is supported for backward compatibility with some versions of the
.B man
program;
direct initialization of the `LL' register should
.I always
be preferred to the use of such a request.
In particular, note that a `.ll\ 65n' request does
.I not
preserve the normal
.I nroff
default line length,
(the
.B man
default initialization to 78n prevails),
whereas,
the `-rLL=65n' option, or an equivalent `.nr\ LL\ 65n'
request preceding the use of the `TH' macro,
.I does
set a line length of 65n.
.
.TP
.BI \-rLT= title-length
Set title length.
.
If this option is not given, the title length defaults to the line
length.
.
.TP
.BI \-rP nnn
Enumeration of pages start with
.I nnn
rather than with\~1.
.
.TP
.BI \-rS xx
Base document font size is
.I xx
points
.RI ( xx
can be 10, 11, or\~12) rather than 10\~points.
.
.TP
.BI \-rSN= width
Set sub-subheading indentation to
.IR width .
The default is 3n.
.
.TP
.BI \-rX nnn
After page\~\c
.IR nnn ,
number pages as
.IR nnn a,
.IR nnn b,
.IR nnn c,
etc.
.
For example, the option `\-rX2' produces the following page
numbers: 1, 2, 2a, 2b, 2c, etc.
.
.
.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
.
.SH USAGE
.
This section describes the available macros for manual pages.
.
For further customization, put additional macros and requests into the
file
.B man.local
which is loaded immediately after the
.B man
package.
.
.TP
.BI .TH " title section \fR[\fPextra1\fR]\fP \fR[\fPextra2\fR]\fP \fR[\fPextra3\fR]"
Set the title of the
.I man\~page
to
.I title
and the section to
.IR section ,
which must take on a value between 1 and\~8.
.
The value
.I section
may also have a string appended, e.g. `.pm', to indicate a specific
subsection of the
.IR \%man\~pages .
Both
.I title
and
.I section
are positioned at the left and right in the header line (with
.I section
in parentheses immediately appended to
.IR title .
.I extra1
is positioned in the middle of the footer line.
.I extra2
is positioned at the left in the footer line (or at the left on
even pages and at the right on odd pages if double-sided printing is
active).
.I extra3
is centered in the header line.
.
.IP
For HTML output, headers and footers are completely suppressed.
.
.IP
Additionally, this macro starts a new page; the new line number is\~1
again (except if the `-rC1' option is given on the command line) --
this feature is intended only for formatting multiple
.IR \%man\~pages ;
a single
.I \%man\~page
should contain exactly one
.B TH
macro at the beginning of the file.
.
.TP
.BI .SH " \fR[\fPtext for a heading\fR]\fP"
Set up an unnumbered section heading sticking out to the left.
.
Prints out all the text following
.B SH
up to the end of the line (or the text in the next input line if there
is no argument to
.BR SH )
in bold face
(or the font specified by the string
.BR HF ),
one size larger than the base document size.
.
Additionally, the left margin and the indentation for the following
text is reset to the default values.
.
.TP
.BI .SS " \fR[\fPtext for a heading\fR]\fP"
Set up a secondary, unnumbered section heading.
.
Prints out all the text following
.B SS
up to the end of the line (or the text in the next input line if there
is no argument to
.BR SS )
in bold face
(or the font specified by the string
.BR HF ),
at the same size as the base document size.
.
Additionally, the left margin and the indentation for the following
text is reset to the default values.
.
.TP
.BI .TP " \fR[\fPnnn\fR]\fP"
Set up an indented paragraph with label.
.
The indentation is set to
.I nnn
if that argument is supplied (the default unit is `n' if omitted),
otherwise it is set to the previous indentation value specified with
.BR TP ,
.BR IP ,
or
.B HP
(or to the default value if none of them have been used yet).
.
.IP
The first input line of text following this macro is interpreted as a
string to be printed flush-left, as it is appropriate for a label.
.
It is not interpreted as part of a paragraph, so there is no attempt
to fill the first line with text from the following input lines.
.
Nevertheless, if the label is not as wide as the indentation the
paragraph starts at the same line (but indented), continuing on the
following lines.
.
If the label is wider than the indentation the descriptive part of the
paragraph begins on the line following the label, entirely indented.
.
Note that neither font shape nor font size of the label is set to a
default value; on the other hand, the rest of the text has default
font settings.
.
.IP
The
.B TP
macro is the macro used for the explanations you are just reading.
.
.TP
.B .TQ
The
.B TQ
macro sets up header continuation for a .TP macro.
.
With it, you can stack up any number of labels (such as in a
glossary, or list of commands) before beginning the indented
paragraph.
.
For an example, look just past the next paragraph.
.
.IP
This macro is not defined on legacy Unix systems running classic
troff.
.
To be certain your page will be portable to those systems,
copy its definition from the
.B \%an-ext.tmac
file of a
.BR groff
installation.
.
.TP
.B .LP
.TQ
.B .PP
.TQ
.B .P
These macros are mutual aliases.
.
Any of them causes a line break at the current position, followed by a
vertical space downwards by the amount specified by the
.B PD
macro.
.
The font size and shape are reset to the default value (normally 10pt
Roman).
.
Finally, the current left margin and the indentation is reset to the
default values.
.
.TP
.BI .IP " \fR[\fPdesignator\fR]\fP \fR[\fPnnn\fR]\fP"
Set up an indented paragraph, using
.I designator
as a tag to mark its beginning.
.
The indentation is set to
.I nnn
if that argument is supplied (the default unit is `n' if omitted),
otherwise it is set to the previous indentation value specified with
.BR TP ,
.BR IP ,
or
.B HP
(or to the default value if none of them have been used yet).
.
Font size and face of the paragraph (but not the designator) are reset
to its default values.
.
.IP
To start an indented paragraph with a particular indentation but
without a designator, use `""' (two doublequotes) as the second
argument.
.
.IP
For example, the following paragraphs were all set up with bullets as
the designator, using `.IP\ \\(bu\ 4'.
.
The whole block has been enclosed with `.RS' and `.RE' to set the left
margin temporarily to the current indentation value.
.
.RS
.IP \(bu 4
.B IP
is one of the three macros used in the
.B man
package to format lists.
.
.IP \(bu 4
.B HP
is another.
.
This macro produces a paragraph with a left hanging indentation.
.
.IP \(bu 4
.B TP
is another.
.
This macro produces an unindented label followed by an indented
paragraph.
.RE
.
.TP
.BI .HP " \fR[\fPnnn\fR]\fP"
Set up a paragraph with hanging left indentation.
.
The indentation is set to
.I nnn
if that argument is supplied (the default unit is `n' if omitted),
otherwise it is set to the previous indentation value specified with
.BR TP ,
.BR IP ,
or
.B HP
(or to the default value if none of them have been used yet).
.
Font size and face are reset to its default values.
.
The following paragraph illustrates the effect of this macro with
hanging indentation set to\~4 (enclosed by
.B .RS
and
.B .RE
to set the left margin temporarily to the current indentation):
.
.RS
.HP 4
This is a paragraph following an invocation of the
.B HP
macro.
.
As you can see, it produces a paragraph where all lines but the first
are indented.
.
.RE
.IP
Use of this presentation-level macro is deprecated.
.
While it is universally portable to legacy Unix systems, a hanging
indentation cannot be expressed naturally under HTML, and many
HTML-based manual viewers simply interpret it as a starter for a
normal paragraph.
.
Thus, any information or distinction you tried to express with the
indentation may be lost.
.
.TP
.BI .RS " \fR[\fPnnn\fR]\fP"
This macro moves the left margin to the right by the value
.I nnn
if specified (default unit is `n'); otherwise it is set to the
previous indentation value specified with
.BR TP ,
.BR IP ,
or
.B HP
(or to the default value if none of them have been used yet).
.
The indentation value is then set to the default.
.
.IP
Calls to the
.B RS
macro can be nested.
.
.TP
.BI .RE " \fR[\fPnnn\fR]\fP"
This macro moves the left margin back to level
.IR nnn ,
restoring the previous left margin.
.
If no argument is given, it moves one level back.
.
The first level (i.e., no call to
.B RS
yet) has number\~1, and each call to
.B RS
increases the level by\~1.
.
.TP
.B .EX
.TQ
.B .EE
Example/End Example.
.
After
.BR EX ,
filling is disabled and the font is set to constant-width.
.
This is useful for formatting code, command, and
configuration-file examples.
.
The
.B EE
macro restores the previous font.
.
.IP
These macros are defined on many (but not all) legacy Unix systems
running classic troff.
.
To be certain your page will be portable to those systems, copy
their definitions from the
.B \%an-ext.tmac
file of a
.BR groff
installation.
.
.PP
To summarize, the following macros cause a line break with the
insertion of vertical space (which amount can be changed with the
.B PD
macro):
.BR SH ,
.BR SS ,
.BR TP ,
.BR TQ ,
.B LP
.RB ( PP ,
.BR P ),
.BR IP ,
and
.BR HP .
The macros
.BR RS ,
.BR RE ,
.BR EX ,
and
.B EE
also cause a break but no insertion of vertical space.
.
.
.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
.
.SH "MACROS TO SET FONTS"
.
The standard font is Roman; the default text size is 10\~point.
.
.TP
.BI .SM " \fR[\fPtext\fR]\fP"
Causes the text on the same line or the text on the next input line to
appear in a font that is one point size smaller than the default font.
.
.TP
.BI .SB " \fR[\fPtext\fR]\fP"
Causes the text on the same line or the text on the next input line to
appear in boldface font, one point size smaller than the default font.
.
.TP
.BI ".BI " text
Causes text on the same line to appear alternately in bold face and
italic.
.
The text must be on the same line as the macro call.
.
Thus
.
.RS
.IP
\&.BI this "word and" that
.
.PP
would cause `this' and `that' to appear in bold face, while `word and'
appears in italics.
.RE
.
.TP
.BI ".IB " text
Causes text to appear alternately in italic and bold face.
.
The text must be on the same line as the macro call.
.
.TP
.BI ".RI " text
Causes text on the same line to appear alternately in roman and
italic.
.
The text must be on the same line as the macro call.
.
.TP
.BI ".IR " text
Causes text on the same line to appear alternately in italic and
roman.
.
The text must be on the same line as the macro call.
.
.TP
.BI ".BR " text
Causes text on the same line to appear alternately in bold face and
roman.
.
The text must be on the same line as the macro call.
.
.TP
.BI ".RB " text
Causes text on the same line to appear alternately in roman and bold
face.
.
The text must be on the same line as the macro call.
.
.TP
.BI .B " \fR[\fPtext\fR]\fP"
Causes
.I text
to appear in bold face.
.
If no text is present on the line where the macro is called the text
of the next input line appears in bold face.
.
.TP
.BI .I " \fR[\fPtext\fR]\fP"
Causes
.I text
to appear in italic.
.
If no text is present on the line where the macro is called the text
of the next input line appears in italic.
.
.
.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
.
.SH "MACROS TO DESCRIBE HYPERLINKS AND EMAIL ADDRESSES"
.
The following macros are not defined on legacy Unix systems
running classic troff.
.
To be certain your page will be portable to those systems, copy
their definitions from the
.B \%an-ext.tmac
file of a
.BR groff
installation.
.
.PP
Using these macros helps ensure that you get hyperlinks when your
manual page is rendered in a browser or other program that is
Web-enabled.
.
.TP
.BI .UR " URL"
.TQ
.BI .UE " \fR[\fPpunctuation\fR]\fP"
Wrap a World Wide Web hyperlink.
.
The argument to
.B UR
is the URL; thereafter, lines until
.B UE
are collected and used as the link text.
.
Any argument to the
.B UE
macro is pasted to the end of the text.
.
On a device that is not a browser,
.
.RS
.IP
.EX
this is a link to
\&.UR http://\e:randomsite.org/\e:fubar
some random site
\&.UE ,
given as an example
.EE
.RE
.
.IP
usually displays like this: \[lq]this is a link to some random
site <http://\:randomsite.org/\:fubar>, given as an example\[rq].
.
.IP
The use of
.B \e:
to insert hyphenless breakpoints is a groff extension and can
be omitted.
.
.TP
.BI .MT " address"
.TQ
.BI .ME " \fR[\fPpunctuation\fR]\fP"
Wrap an email address.
.
The argument of
.B MT
is the address; text following, until
.BR ME ,
is a name to be associated with the address.
.
Any argument to the
.B ME
macro is pasted to the end of the link text.
.
On a device that is not a browser,
.
.RS
.IP
.EX
contact
\&.UR fred.foonly@\e:fubar.net
Fred Foonly
\&.UE
for more information
.EE
.RE
.
.IP
usually displays like this: \[lq]contact Fred Foonly
<fred.foonly@\:fubar.net> for more information\[rq].
.
.IP
The use of
.B \e:
to insert hyphenless breakpoints is a groff extension and can
be omitted.
.
.
.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
.
.SH "MACROS TO DESCRIBE COMMAND SYNOPSES"
.
The following macros are not defined on legacy Unix systems
running classic troff.
.
To be certain your page will be portable to those systems, copy their
definitions from the
.B \%an-ext.tmac
file of a
.BR groff
installation.
.
.PP
These macros are a convenience for authors.
They also assist automated translation tools and help browsers in
recognizing command synopses and treating them differently from
running text.
.
.TP
.BI .SY " command"
Begin synopsis.
.
Takes a single argument, the name of a command.
.
Text following, until closed by
.BR YS ,
is set with a hanging indentation with the width of
.I command
plus a space.
.
This produces the traditional look of a Unix command synopsis.
.
.TP
.BI .OP " key value"
Describe an optional command argument.
.
The arguments of this macro are set surrounded by option braces
in the default Roman font; the first argument is printed with
a bold face, while the second argument is typeset as italic.
.
.TP
.B .YS
This macro restores normal indentation at the end of a command
synopsis.
.
.PP
Here is a real example:
.
.IP
.EX
\&.SY groff
\&.OP \e-abcegiklpstzCEGNRSUVXZ
\&.OP \e-d cs
\&.OP \e-f fam
\&.OP \e-F dir
\&.OP \e-I dir
\&.OP \e-K arg
\&.OP \e-L arg
\&.OP \e-m name
\&.OP \e-M dir
\&.OP \e-n num
\&.OP \e-o list
\&.OP \e-P arg
\&.OP \e-r cn
\&.OP \e-T dev
\&.OP \e-w name
\&.OP \e-W name
\&.RI [ file
\&.IR .\e|.\e|. ]
\&.YS
.EE
.
.PP
produces the following output:
.
.RS
.PP
.SY groff
.OP \-abcegiklpstzCEGNRSUVXZ
.OP \-d cs
.OP \-f fam
.OP \-F dir
.OP \-I dir
.OP \-K arg
.OP \-L arg
.OP \-m name
.OP \-M dir
.OP \-n num
.OP \-o list
.OP \-P arg
.OP \-r cn
.OP \-T dev
.OP \-w name
.OP \-W name
.RI [ file
.IR .\|.\|. ]
.YS
.RE
.
.PP
If necessary, you might use
.B br
requests to control line breaking.
.
You can insert plain text as well; this looks like the traditional
(unornamented) syntax for a required command argument or filename.
.
.
.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
.
.SH "MISCELLANEOUS"
.
The default indentation is 7.2n in troff mode and 7n in nroff mode
except for
.B grohtml
which ignores indentation.
.
.TP
.B .DT
Set tabs every 0.5\~inches.
.
Since this macro is always called during a
.B TH
request, it makes sense to call it only if the tab positions have been
changed.
.
.IP
Use of this presentation-level macro is deprecated.
.
It translates poorly to HTML, under which exact whitespace control
and tabbing are not readily available.
.
Thus, information or distinctions that you use
.B DT
to express are likely to be lost.
.
If you feel tempted to use it, you should probably be composing a
table using
.BR @g@tbl (@MAN1DIR@)
markup instead.
.
.TP
.BI .PD " \fR[\fPnnn\fR]\fP"
Adjust the empty space before a new paragraph or section.
.
The optional argument gives the amount of space (default unit is `v');
without parameter, the value is reset to its default value (1\~line in
nroff mode, 0.4v\~otherwise).
.
This affects the macros
.BR SH ,
.BR SS ,
.BR TP ,
.B LP
(resp.\&
.B PP
and
.BR P ),
.BR IP ,
and
.BR HP .
.
.IP
Use of this presentation-level macro is deprecated.
.
It translates poorly to HTML, under which exact control of
inter-paragraph spacing is not readily available.
.
Thus, information or distinctions that you use
.B PD
to express are likely to be lost.
.
.TP
.BI .AT " \fR[\fPsystem \fR[\fPrelease\fR]]\fP"
Alter the footer for use with \f[CR]AT&T\f[]
.IR \%man\~pages .
This command exists only for compatibility; don't use it.
.
See the
.I groff
info manual for more.
.
.TP
.BI .UC " \fR[\fPversion\fR]\fP"
Alter the footer for use with \f[CR]BSD\f[]
.IR man\~pages .
This command exists only for compatibility; don't use it.
.
See the
.I groff
info manual for more.
.
.TP
.B .PT
Print the header string.
.
Redefine this macro to get control of the header.
.
.TP
.B .BT
Print the footer string.
.
Redefine this macro to get control of the footer.
.
.PP
The following strings are defined:
.
.TP
.B \e*S
Switch back to the default font size.
.
.TP
.B \e*R
The `registered' sign.
.
.TP
.B \e*(Tm
The `trademark' sign.
.
.TP
.B \e*(lq
.TQ
.B \e*(rq
Left and right quote.
.
This is equal to `\e(lq' and `\e(rq', respectively.
.
.TP
.B \e*(HF
The typeface used to print headings and subheadings.
.
The default is `B'.
.
.PP
If a preprocessor like
.B @g@tbl
or
.B @g@eqn
is needed, it has become common to make the first line of the
.I \%man\~page
look like this:
.
.PP
.RS
.BI '\e"\  word
.RE
.
.PP
Note the single space character after the double quote.
.I word
consists of letters for the needed preprocessors: `e' for
.BR @g@eqn ,
`r' for
.BR @g@refer ,
and `t' for
.BR @g@tbl .
Modern implementations of the
.B man
program read this first line and automatically call the right
preprocessor(s).
.
.
.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
.
.SH "PORTABILITY AND TROFF REQUESTS"
.
Since the
.B man
macros consist of groups of
.I groff
requests, one can, in principle, supplement the functionality of the
.B man
macros with individual
.I groff
requests where necessary.
.
See the
.I groff
info pages for a complete reference of all requests.
.
.PP
Note, however, that using raw troff requests is likely to make your
page render poorly on the (increasingly common) class of viewers that
render it to HTML.
.
Troff requests make implicit assumptions about things like character
and page sizes that may break in an HTML environment; also, many of
these viewers don't interpret the full troff vocabulary, a problem
which can lead to portions of your text being silently dropped.
.
.PP
For portability to modern viewers, it is best to write your page
entirely in the requests described on this page.
.
Further, it is best to completely avoid those we have described as
`presentation-level'
.RB ( HP ,
.BR PD ,
and
.BR DT ).
.
.PP
The macros we have described as extensions
.RB ( .EX / .EE ,
.BR .SY / .OP / .YS ,
.BR .UR / .UE ,
and
.BR .MT / .ME )
should be used with caution, as they may not yet be built in to
some viewer that is important to your audience.
.
If in doubt, copy the implementation onto your page.
.
.
.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
.
.SH FILES
.
.TP
.B man.tmac
.TQ
.B an.tmac
These are wrapper files to call
.BR andoc.tmac .
.
.TP
.B andoc.tmac
Use this file in case you don't know whether the
.B man
macros or the
.B mdoc
package should be used.
Multiple man pages (in either format) can be handled.
.
.TP
.B an-old.tmac
Most
.B man
macros are contained in this file.
.
.TP
.B an-ext.tmac
The extension macro definitions for
.BR .SY ,
.BR .OP ,
.BR .YS ,
.BR .TQ ,
.BR .EX/.EE ,
.BR .UR/.UE ,
and
.BR .MT/.ME
are contained in this file.
.
It is written in classic troff, and released for free re-use,
and not copylefted; manual page authors concerned about
portability to legacy Unix systems are encouraged to copy these
definitions into their pages, and maintainers of troff
or its workalikes are encouraged to re-use them.
.
.TP
.B man.local
Local changes and customizations should be put into this file.
.
.
.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.
.PP
.BR @g@tbl (@MAN1EXT@),
.BR @g@eqn (@MAN1EXT@),
.BR @g@refer (@MAN1EXT@),
.BR man (1),
.BR man (7),
.BR groff_mdoc (7)
.
.
.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
.
.SH AUTHORS
.
This manual page was originally written for the Debian GNU/Linux
system by
.MT sgk@debian.org
Susan G. Kleinmann
.ME .
.
It was corrected and updated by
.MT wl@gnu.org
Werner Lemberg
.ME .
.
The extension macros were documented (and partly designed) by
.MT esr@thyrsus.com
Eric S. Raymond
.ME ;
he also wrote the portability advice.
.
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