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version 1.35, 2009/08/21 12:12:12 version 1.143, 2019/03/02 22:04:40
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 .\"     $Id$  .\"     $Id$
 .\"  .\"
 .\" Copyright (c) 2009 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@kth.se>  .\" Copyright (c) 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@bsd.lv>
   .\" Copyright (c) 2011-2015,2017,2018,2019 Ingo Schwarze <schwarze@openbsd.org>
   .\" Copyright (c) 2017 Anthony Bentley <bentley@openbsd.org>
   .\" Copyright (c) 2010 Joerg Sonnenberger <joerg@netbsd.org>
 .\"  .\"
 .\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any  .\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
 .\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above  .\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
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 .Dd $Mdocdate$  .Dd $Mdocdate$
 .Dt MAN 7  .Dt MAN 7
 .Os  .Os
 .  
 .  
 .Sh NAME  .Sh NAME
 .Nm man  .Nm man
 .Nd man language reference  .Nd legacy formatting language for manual pages
 .  
 .  
 .Sh DESCRIPTION  .Sh DESCRIPTION
 The  The
 .Nm man  .Nm man
 language was historically used to format  language was the standard formatting language for
 .Ux  .At
 manuals.  This reference document describes its syntax, structure, and  manual pages from 1979 to 1989.
 usage.  Do not use it to write new manual pages: it is a purely presentational
 .  language and lacks support for semantic markup.
 .Pp  
 .Bf -emphasis  
 Do not use  
 .Nm  
 to write your manuals.  
 .Ef  
 Use the  Use the
 .Xr mdoc 7  .Xr mdoc 7
 language, instead.  language, instead.
 .  
 .Pp  .Pp
 An  In a
 .Nm  .Nm
 document follows simple rules:  lines beginning with the control  document, lines beginning with the control character
 character  
 .Sq \&.  .Sq \&.
 are parsed for macros.  Other lines are interpreted within the scope of  are called
 prior macros:  .Dq macro lines .
   The first word is the macro name.
   It usually consists of two capital letters.
   For a list of portable macros, see
   .Sx MACRO OVERVIEW .
   The words following the macro name are arguments to the macro.
   .Pp
   Lines not beginning with the control character are called
   .Dq text lines .
   They provide free-form text to be printed; the formatting of the text
   depends on the respective processing context:
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  .Bd -literal -offset indent
 \&.SH Macro lines change control state.  \&.SH Macro lines change control state.
 Other lines are interpreted within the current state.  Text lines are interpreted within the current state.
 .Ed  .Ed
 .  
 .  
 .Sh INPUT ENCODING  
 .Nm  
 documents may contain only graphable 7-bit ASCII characters, the  
 space character, and the tabs character.  All manuals must have  
 .Ux  
 line termination.  
 .  
 .Pp  .Pp
 Blank lines are acceptable; where found, the output will assert a  Many aspects of the basic syntax of the
 vertical space.  
 .  
 .Pp  
 The  
 .Sq \ec  
 escape is common in historical  
 .Nm  .Nm
 documents; if encountered at the end of a word, it ensures that the  language are based on the
 subsequent word isn't off-set by whitespace.  .Xr roff 7
 .  language; see the
 .  .Em LANGUAGE SYNTAX
 .Ss Comments  
 Text following a  
 .Sq \e\*" ,  
 whether in a macro or free-form text line, is ignored to the end of  
 line.  A macro line with only a control character and comment escape,  
 .Sq \&.\e" ,  
 is also ignored.  Macro lines with only a control charater and  
 optionally whitespace are stripped from input.  
 .  
 .  
 .Ss Special Characters  
 Special characters may occur in both macro and free-form lines.  
 Sequences begin with the escape character  
 .Sq \e  
 followed by either an open-parenthesis  
 .Sq \&(  
 for two-character sequences; an open-bracket  
 .Sq \&[  
 for n-character sequences (terminated at a close-bracket  
 .Sq \&] ) ;  
 or a single one-character sequence.  See  
 .Xr mandoc_char 7  
 for a complete list.  Examples include  
 .Sq \e(em  
 .Pq em-dash  
 and  and
 .Sq \ee  .Em MACRO SYNTAX
 .Pq back-slash .  sections in the
 .  .Xr roff 7
 .  manual for details, in particular regarding
 .Ss Text Decoration  comments, escape sequences, whitespace, and quoting.
 Terms may be text-decorated using the  .Pp
 .Sq \ef  
 escape followed by an indicator: B (bold), I, (italic), or P and R  
 (Roman, or reset).  
 .  
 .  
 .Ss Whitespace  
 Unless specifically escaped, consecutive blocks of whitespace are pruned  
 from input.  These are later re-added, if applicable, by a front-end  
 utility such as  
 .Xr mandoc 1 .  
 .  
 .  
 .Sh MANUAL STRUCTURE  
 Each  Each
 .Nm  .Nm
 document must contain contains at least the  document starts with the
 .Sq TH  .Ic TH
 macro describing the document's section and title.  It may occur  macro specifying the document's name and section, followed by the
 anywhere in the document, although conventionally, it appears as the  .Sx NAME
 first macro.  section formatted as follows:
 .  
 .Pp  
 Beyond  
 .Sq TH ,  
 at least one macro or text node must appear in the document.  Documents  
 are generally structured as follows:  
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  .Bd -literal -offset indent
 \&.TH FOO 1 "13 Aug 2009"  \&.TH PROGNAME 1 1979-01-10
 \&.  
 \&.SH NAME  \&.SH NAME
 \efBfoo\efR \e(en a description goes here  \efBprogname\efR \e(en one line about what it does
 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 2 & 3 only.  
 \&.\e\*q .SH LIBRARY  
 \&.  
 \&.SH SYNOPSIS  
 \efBfoo\efR [\efB\e-options\efR] arguments...  
 \&.  
 \&.SH DESCRIPTION  
 The \efBfoo\efR utility processes files...  
 \&.  
 \&.\e\*q .SH IMPLEMENTATION NOTES  
 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1 & 8 only.  
 \&.\e\*q .SH EXIT STATUS  
 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 2, 3, & 9 only.  
 \&.\e\*q .SH RETURN VALUES  
 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1, 6, 7, & 8 only.  
 \&.\e\*q .SH ENVIRONMENT  
 \&.\e\*q .SH FILES  
 \&.\e\*q .SH EXAMPLES  
 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1, 4, 6, 7, & 8 only.  
 \&.\e\*q .SH DIAGNOSTICS  
 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 2, 3, & 9 only.  
 \&.\e\*q .SH ERRORS  
 \&.\e\*q .SH SEE ALSO  
 \&.\e\*q \efBbar\efR(1)  
 \&.\e\*q .SH STANDARDS  
 \&.\e\*q .SH HISTORY  
 \&.\e\*q .SH AUTHORS  
 \&.\e\*q .SH CAVEATS  
 \&.\e\*q .SH BUGS  
 \&.\e\*q .SH SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS  
 .Ed  .Ed
 .  .Sh MACRO OVERVIEW
 .  This overview is sorted such that macros of similar purpose are listed
 .Sh MACRO SYNTAX  together.
 Macros are one to three three characters in length and begin with a  Deprecated and non-portable macros are not included in the overview,
 control character ,  but can be found in the alphabetical reference below.
 .Sq \&. ,  .Ss Page header and footer meta-data
 at the beginning of the line.  An arbitrary amount of whitespace may  .Bl -column "RS, RE" description
 sit between the control character and the macro name.  Thus,  .It Ic TH Ta set the title: Ar name section date Op Ar source Op Ar volume
 .Sq .PP  .It Ic AT Ta display AT&T UNIX version in the page footer (<= 1 argument)
 and  .It Ic UC Ta display BSD version in the page footer (<= 1 argument)
 .Sq \&.\ \ \ PP  
 are equivalent.  
 .  
 .Pp  
 The  
 .Nm  
 macros are classified by scope: line scope or block scope.  Line  
 macros are only scoped to the current line (and, in some situations,  
 the subsequent line).  Block macros are scoped to the current line and  
 subsequent lines until closed by another block macro.  
 .  
 .  
 .Ss Line Macros  
 Line macros are generally scoped to the current line, with the body  
 consisting of zero or more arguments.  If a macro is scoped to the next  
 line and the line arguments are empty, the next line is used instead,  
 else the general syntax is used.  Thus:  
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  
 \&.I  
 foo  
 .Ed  
 .  
 .Pp  
 is equivalent to  
 .Sq \&.I foo .  
 If next-line macros are invoked consecutively, only the last is used.  
 If a next-line macro is proceded by a block macro, it is ignored.  
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  
 \&.YO \(lBbody...\(rB  
 \(lBbody...\(rB  
 .Ed  
 .  
 .Pp  
 .Bl -column -compact -offset indent "MacroX" "ArgumentsX" "ScopeXXXXX"  
 .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Scope  
 .It    B     Ta    n         Ta    next-line  
 .It    BI    Ta    n         Ta    current  
 .It    BR    Ta    n         Ta    current  
 .It    DT    Ta    0         Ta    current  
 .It    I     Ta    n         Ta    next-line  
 .It    IB    Ta    n         Ta    current  
 .It    IR    Ta    n         Ta    current  
 .It    R     Ta    n         Ta    next-line  
 .It    RB    Ta    n         Ta    current  
 .It    RI    Ta    n         Ta    current  
 .It    SB    Ta    n         Ta    next-line  
 .It    SM    Ta    n         Ta    next-line  
 .It    TH    Ta    >1, <6    Ta    current  
 .It    br    Ta    0         Ta    current  
 .It    fi    Ta    0         Ta    current  
 .It    i     Ta    n         Ta    current  
 .It    na    Ta    0         Ta    current  
 .It    nf    Ta    0         Ta    current  
 .It    r     Ta    0         Ta    current  
 .It    sp    Ta    1         Ta    current  
 .El  .El
 .  .Ss Sections and paragraphs
 .Pp  .Bl -column "RS, RE" description
 The  .It Ic SH Ta section header (one line)
 .Sq RS ,  .It Ic SS Ta subsection header (one line)
 .Sq RE ,  .It Ic PP Ta start an undecorated paragraph (no arguments)
 .Sq br ,  .It Ic RS , RE Ta reset the left margin: Op Ar width
 .Sq fi ,  .It Ic IP Ta indented paragraph: Op Ar head Op Ar width
 .Sq i ,  .It Ic TP Ta tagged paragraph: Op Ar width
 .Sq na ,  .It Ic PD Ta set vertical paragraph distance: Op Ar height
 .Sq nf ,  .It Ic in Ta additional indent: Op Ar width
 .Sq r ,  
 and  
 .Sq sp  
 macros aren't historically part of  
 .Nm  
 and should not be used.  They're included for compatibility.  
 .  
 .  
 .Ss Block Macros  
 Block macros are comprised of a head and body.  Like for in-line macros,  
 the head is scoped to the current line and, in one circumstance, the  
 next line; the body is scoped to subsequent lines and is closed out by a  
 subsequent block macro invocation.  
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  
 \&.YO \(lBhead...\(rB  
 \(lBhead...\(rB  
 \(lBbody...\(rB  
 .Ed  
 .  
 .Pp  
 The closure of body scope may be to the section, where a macro is closed  
 by  
 .Sq SH ;  
 sub-section, closed by a section or  
 .Sq SS ;  
 part, closed by a section, sub-section, or  
 .Sq RE ;  
 or paragraph, closed by a section, sub-section, part,  
 .Sq HP ,  
 .Sq IP ,  
 .Sq LP ,  
 .Sq P ,  
 .Sq PP ,  
 or  
 .Sq TP .  
 No closure refers to an explicit block closing macro.  
 .  
 .Pp  
 .Bl -column "MacroX" "ArgumentsX" "Head ScopeX" "sub-sectionX" -compact -offset indent  
 .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Head Scope Ta Em Body Scope  
 .It   HP     Ta    <2        Ta    current    Ta    paragraph  
 .It   IP     Ta    <3        Ta    current    Ta    paragraph  
 .It   LP     Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph  
 .It   P      Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph  
 .It   PP     Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph  
 .It   RE     Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    none  
 .It   RS     Ta    1         Ta    current    Ta    part  
 .It   SH     Ta    >0        Ta    next-line  Ta    section  
 .It   SS     Ta    >0        Ta    next-line  Ta    sub-section  
 .It   TP     Ta    n         Ta    next-line  Ta    paragraph  
 .El  .El
 .  .Ss Physical markup
 .Pp  .Bl -column "RS, RE" description
 If a block macro is next-line scoped, it may only be followed by in-line  .It Ic B Ta boldface font
 macros (excluding  .It Ic I Ta italic font
 .Sq DT ,  .It Ic SB Ta small boldface font
 .Sq TH ,  .It Ic SM Ta small roman font
 .Sq br ,  .It Ic BI Ta alternate between boldface and italic fonts
 .Sq na ,  .It Ic BR Ta alternate between boldface and roman fonts
 .Sq sp ,  .It Ic IB Ta alternate between italic and boldface fonts
 .Sq nf ,  .It Ic IR Ta alternate between italic and roman fonts
 and  .It Ic RB Ta alternate between roman and boldface fonts
 .Sq fi ) .  .It Ic RI Ta alternate between roman and italic fonts
 .  .El
 .  .Sh MACRO REFERENCE
 .Sh REFERENCE  
 This section is a canonical reference to all macros, arranged  This section is a canonical reference to all macros, arranged
 alphabetically.  For the scoping of individual macros, see  alphabetically.
   For the scoping of individual macros, see
 .Sx MACRO SYNTAX .  .Sx MACRO SYNTAX .
 .  .Bl -tag -width 3n
 .  .It Ic AT
 .Ss Definitions  Sets the volume for the footer for compatibility with man pages from
 In this reference, a numerical width may be either a standalone natural  .At
 number (such as 3, 4, 10, etc.) or a natural number followed by a width  releases.
 multiplier  The optional arguments specify which release it is from.
 .Qq n ,  .It Ic B
 corresponding to the width of the formatted letter n, or  
 .Qq m ,  
 corresponding to the width of the formatted letter m.  The latter is the  
 default, if unspecified.  Thus,  
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  
 \&.HP 12n  
 .Ed  
 .  
 .Pp  
 indicates an offset of 12  
 .Qq n  
 .Ns -sized  
 letters.  
 .  
 .  
 .Ss Macro Reference  
 .Bl -tag -width Ds  
 .It B  
 Text is rendered in bold face.  Text is rendered in bold face.
 .It BI  .It Ic BI
 Text is rendered alternately in bold face and italic.  Thus,  Text is rendered alternately in bold face and italic.
   Thus,
 .Sq .BI this word and that  .Sq .BI this word and that
 causes  causes
 .Sq this  .Sq this
 and  and
 .Sq and  .Sq and
 to render in bold face, while  to render in bold face, while
 .Sq word  .Sq word
 and  and
 .Sq that  .Sq that
 render in italics.  Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.  render in italics.
 .It BR  Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
   .Pp
   Example:
   .Pp
   .Dl \&.BI bold italic bold italic
   .It Ic BR
 Text is rendered alternately in bold face and roman (the default font).  Text is rendered alternately in bold face and roman (the default font).
 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.  Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
 .It DT  See also
 Re-set the tab spacing to 0.5 inches.  .Ic BI .
 .It HP  .It Ic DT
   Restore the default tabulator positions.
   They are at intervals of 0.5 inches.
   This has no effect unless the tabulator positions were changed with the
   .Xr roff 7
   .Ic ta
   request.
   .It Ic EE
   This is a non-standard GNU extension.
   In
   .Xr mandoc 1 ,
   it does the same as the
   .Xr roff 7
   .Ic fi
   request (switch to fill mode).
   .It Ic EX
   This is a non-standard GNU extension.
   In
   .Xr mandoc 1 ,
   it does the same as the
   .Xr roff 7
   .Ic nf
   request (switch to no-fill mode).
   .It Ic HP
 Begin a paragraph whose initial output line is left-justified, but  Begin a paragraph whose initial output line is left-justified, but
 subsequent output lines are indented, with the following syntax:  subsequent output lines are indented, with the following syntax:
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  
 \&.HP [width]  
 .Ed  
 .  
 .Pp  .Pp
 If  .D1 Pf . Ic HP Op Ar width
 .Va width  .Pp
 is specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if  The
 unspecified, the saved or default width is used.  .Ar width
 .It I  argument is a
   .Xr roff 7
   scaling width.
   If specified, it's saved for later paragraph left margins;
   if unspecified, the saved or default width is used.
   .Pp
   This macro is portable, but deprecated
   because it has no good representation in HTML output,
   usually ending up indistinguishable from
   .Ic PP .
   .It Ic I
 Text is rendered in italics.  Text is rendered in italics.
 .It IB  .It Ic IB
 Text is rendered alternately in italics and bold face.  Whitespace  Text is rendered alternately in italics and bold face.
 between arguments is omitted in output.  Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
 .It IP  See also
 Begin a paragraph with the following syntax:  .Ic BI .
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  .It Ic IP
 \&.IP [head [width]]  Begin an indented paragraph with the following syntax:
 .Ed  
 .  
 .Pp  .Pp
 This follows the behaviour of the  .D1 Pf . Ic IP Op Ar head Op Ar width
 .Sq TP  .Pp
 except for the macro syntax (all arguments on the line, instead of  The
 having next-line scope).  If  .Ar width
 .Va width  argument is a
 is specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if  .Xr roff 7
 unspecified, the saved or default width is used.  scaling width defining the left margin.
 .It IR  It's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if unspecified, the saved or
   default width is used.
   .Pp
   The
   .Ar head
   argument is used as a leading term, flushed to the left margin.
   This is useful for bulleted paragraphs and so on.
   .It Ic IR
 Text is rendered alternately in italics and roman (the default font).  Text is rendered alternately in italics and roman (the default font).
 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.  Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
 .It LP, P, PP  See also
 Begin an undecorated paragraph.  The scope of a paragraph is closed by a  .Ic BI .
 subsequent paragraph, sub-section, section, or end of file.  The saved  .It Ic LP
 paragraph left-margin width is re-set to the default.  A synonym for
 .It R  .Ic PP .
 Text is rendered in roman (the default font).  .It Ic ME
 .It RB  End a mailto block started with
   .Ic MT .
   This is a non-standard GNU extension.
   .It Ic MT
   Begin a mailto block.
   This is a non-standard GNU extension.
   It has the following syntax:
   .Bd -unfilled -offset indent
   .Pf . Ic MT Ar address
   link description to be shown
   .Pf . Ic ME
   .Ed
   .It Ic OP
   Optional command-line argument.
   This is a non-standard GNU extension.
   It has the following syntax:
   .Pp
   .D1 Pf . Ic OP Ar key Op Ar value
   .Pp
   The
   .Ar key
   is usually a command-line flag and
   .Ar value
   its argument.
   .It Ic P
   A synonym for
   .Ic PP .
   .It Ic PD
   Specify the vertical space to be inserted before each new paragraph.
   .br
   The syntax is as follows:
   .Pp
   .D1 Pf . Ic PD Op Ar height
   .Pp
   The
   .Ar height
   argument is a
   .Xr roff 7
   scaling width.
   It defaults to
   .Cm 1v .
   If the unit is omitted,
   .Cm v
   is assumed.
   .Pp
   This macro affects the spacing before any subsequent instances of
   .Ic HP ,
   .Ic IP ,
   .Ic LP ,
   .Ic P ,
   .Ic PP ,
   .Ic SH ,
   .Ic SS ,
   .Ic SY ,
   and
   .Ic TP .
   .It Ic PP
   Begin an undecorated paragraph.
   The scope of a paragraph is closed by a subsequent paragraph,
   sub-section, section, or end of file.
   The saved paragraph left-margin width is reset to the default.
   .It Ic RB
 Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and bold face.  Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and bold face.
 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.  Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
 .It RE  See also
   .Ic BI .
   .It Ic RE
 Explicitly close out the scope of a prior  Explicitly close out the scope of a prior
 .Sq RS .  .Ic RS .
 .It RI  The default left margin is restored to the state before that
   .Ic RS
   invocation.
   .Pp
   The syntax is as follows:
   .Pp
   .D1 Pf . Ic RE Op Ar level
   .Pp
   Without an argument, the most recent
   .Ic RS
   block is closed out.
   If
   .Ar level
   is 1, all open
   .Ic RS
   blocks are closed out.
   Otherwise,
   .Ar level No \(mi 1
   nested
   .Ic RS
   blocks remain open.
   .It Ic RI
 Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and italics.  Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and italics.
 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.  Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
 .It RS  See also
 Begin a part setting the left margin.  The left margin controls the  .Ic BI .
 offset, following an initial indentation, to un-indented text such as  .It Ic RS
 that of  Temporarily reset the default left margin.
 .Sq PP .  This has the following syntax:
 The width may be specified as following:  
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  
 \&.RS [width]  
 .Ed  
 .  
 .Pp  .Pp
 If  .D1 Pf . Ic RS Op Ar width
 .Va width  .Pp
 is not specified, the saved or default width is used.  The
 .It SB  .Ar width
   argument is a
   .Xr roff 7
   scaling width.
   If not specified, the saved or default width is used.
   .Pp
   See also
   .Ic RE .
   .It Ic SB
 Text is rendered in small size (one point smaller than the default font)  Text is rendered in small size (one point smaller than the default font)
 bold face.  bold face.
 .It SH  .It Ic SH
 Begin a section.  The scope of a section is only closed by another  Begin a section.
 section or the end of file.  The paragraph left-margin width is re-set  The scope of a section is only closed by another section or the end of
 to the default.  file.
 .It SM  The paragraph left-margin width is reset to the default.
   .It Ic SM
 Text is rendered in small size (one point smaller than the default  Text is rendered in small size (one point smaller than the default
 font).  font).
 .It SS  .It Ic SS
 Begin a sub-section.  The scope of a sub-section is closed by a  Begin a sub-section.
 subsequent sub-section, section, or end of file.  The paragraph  The scope of a sub-section is closed by a subsequent sub-section,
 left-margin width is re-set to the default.  section, or end of file.
 .It TH  The paragraph left-margin width is reset to the default.
 Sets the title of the manual page with the following syntax:  .It Ic SY
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  Begin a synopsis block with the following syntax:
 \&.TH title section [date [source [volume]]]  .Bd -unfilled -offset indent
   .Pf . Ic SY Ar command
   .Ar arguments
   .Pf . Ic YS
 .Ed  .Ed
 .  
 .Pp  .Pp
 At least the  This is a non-standard GNU extension
 .Va title  and very rarely used even in GNU manual pages.
 and  Formatting is similar to
 .Va section  .Ic IP .
 arguments must be provided.  The  .It Ic TH
 .Va date  Set the name of the manual page for use in the page header
 argument should be formatted as  and footer with the following syntax:
 .Qq %b [%d] %Y  .Pp
 format, described in  .D1 Pf . Ic TH Ar name section date Op Ar source Op Ar volume
 .Xr strptime 3 .  .Pp
   Conventionally, the document
   .Ar name
   is given in all caps.
 The  The
 .Va source  .Ar section
 string specifies the organisation providing the utility.  The  is usually a single digit, in a few cases followed by a letter.
 .Va volume  The recommended
 replaces the default rendered volume as dictated by the manual section.  .Ar date
 .It TP  format is
 Begin a paragraph where the head, if exceeding the indentation width, is  .Sy YYYY-MM-DD
 followed by a newline; if not, the body follows on the same line after a  as specified in the ISO-8601 standard;
 buffer to the indentation width.  Subsequent output lines are indented.  if the argument does not conform, it is printed verbatim.
 .  If the
   .Ar date
   is empty or not specified, the current date is used.
   The optional
   .Ar source
   string specifies the organisation providing the utility.
   When unspecified,
   .Xr mandoc 1
   uses its
   .Fl Ios
   argument.
   The
   .Ar volume
   string replaces the default volume title of the
   .Ar section .
 .Pp  .Pp
 The indentation width may be set as follows:  Examples:
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  .Pp
 \&.TP [width]  .Dl \&.TH CVS 5 "1992-02-12" GNU
   .It Ic TP
   Begin a paragraph where the head, if exceeding the indentation width, is
   followed by a newline; if not, the body follows on the same line after
   advancing to the indentation width.
   Subsequent output lines are indented.
   The syntax is as follows:
   .Bd -unfilled -offset indent
   .Pf . Ic TP Op Ar width
   .Ar head No \e" one line
   .Ar body
 .Ed  .Ed
 .  
 .Pp  .Pp
 Where  The
 .Va width  .Ar width
 must be a properly-formed numeric width.  If  argument is a
 .Va width  .Xr roff 7
 is specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if  scaling width.
   If specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if
 unspecified, the saved or default width is used.  unspecified, the saved or default width is used.
 .It br  .It Ic TQ
 Breaks the current line.  Consecutive invocations have no further effect.  Like
 .It fi  .Ic TP ,
 End literal mode begun by  except that no vertical spacing is inserted before the paragraph.
 .Sq nf .  This is a non-standard GNU extension
 .It i  and very rarely used even in GNU manual pages.
 Italicise arguments.  If no arguments are specified, all subsequent text  .It Ic UC
 is italicised.  Sets the volume for the footer for compatibility with man pages from
 .It na  .Bx
 Don't alignment the right margin.  releases.
 .It nf  The optional first argument specifies which release it is from.
 Begin literal mode: all subsequent free-form lines have their end of  .It Ic UE
 line boundaries preserved.  May be ended by  End a uniform resource identifier block started with
 .Sq fi .  .Ic UR .
 .It r  This is a non-standard GNU extension.
 Fonts and styles (bold face, italics) reset to roman (default font).  .It Ic UR
 .It sp  Begin a uniform resource identifier block.
 Insert n spaces, where n is the macro's positive numeric argument.  If  This is a non-standard GNU extension.
 0, this is equivalent to the  It has the following syntax:
 .Sq br  .Bd -unfilled -offset indent
 macro.  .Pf . Ic UR Ar uri
   link description to be shown
   .Pf . Ic UE
   .Ed
   .It Ic YS
   End a synopsis block started with
   .Ic SY .
   This is a non-standard GNU extension.
   .It Ic in
   Indent relative to the current indentation:
   .Pp
   .D1 Pf . Ic in Op Ar width
   .Pp
   If
   .Ar width
   is signed, the new offset is relative.
   Otherwise, it is absolute.
   This value is reset upon the next paragraph, section, or sub-section.
 .El  .El
 .  .Sh MACRO SYNTAX
 .  
 .Sh COMPATIBILITY  
 This section documents compatibility with other roff implementations, at  
 this time limited to  
 .Xr groff 1 .  
 .Bl -hyphen  
 .It  
 In quoted literals, groff allowed pair-wise double-quotes to produce a  
 standalone double-quote in formatted output.  This idiosyncratic  
 behaviour is no longer applicable.  
 .It  
 The  The
 .Sq sp  .Nm
 macro does not accept negative numbers.  macros are classified by scope: line scope or block scope.
 .It  Line macros are only scoped to the current line (and, in some
 Blocks of whitespace are stripped from both macro and free-form text  situations, the subsequent line).
 lines (except when in literal mode), while groff would retain whitespace  Block macros are scoped to the current line and subsequent lines until
 in free-form text lines.  closed by another block macro.
   .Ss Line Macros
   Line macros are generally scoped to the current line, with the body
   consisting of zero or more arguments.
   If a macro is scoped to the next line and the line arguments are empty,
   the next line, which must be text, is used instead.
   Thus:
   .Bd -literal -offset indent
   \&.I
   foo
   .Ed
   .Pp
   is equivalent to
   .Sq .I foo .
   If next-line macros are invoked consecutively, only the last is used.
   If a next-line macro is followed by a non-next-line macro, an error is
   raised.
   .Pp
   The syntax is as follows:
   .Bd -literal -offset indent
   \&.YO \(lBbody...\(rB
   \(lBbody...\(rB
   .Ed
   .Bl -column "MacroX" "ArgumentsX" "ScopeXXXXX" "CompatX" -offset indent
   .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Scope     Ta Em Notes
   .It Ic AT  Ta    <=1       Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Ic B   Ta    n         Ta    next-line Ta    \&
   .It Ic BI  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Ic BR  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Ic DT  Ta    0         Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Ic EE  Ta    0         Ta    current   Ta    GNU
   .It Ic EX  Ta    0         Ta    current   Ta    GNU
   .It Ic I   Ta    n         Ta    next-line Ta    \&
   .It Ic IB  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Ic IR  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Ic OP  Ta    >=1       Ta    current   Ta    GNU
   .It Ic PD  Ta    1         Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Ic RB  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Ic RI  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Ic SB  Ta    n         Ta    next-line Ta    \&
   .It Ic SM  Ta    n         Ta    next-line Ta    \&
   .It Ic TH  Ta    >1, <6    Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Ic UC  Ta    <=1       Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Ic in  Ta    1         Ta    current   Ta    Xr roff 7
 .El  .El
 .  .Ss Block Macros
 .  Block macros comprise a head and body.
   As with in-line macros, the head is scoped to the current line and, in
   one circumstance, the next line (the next-line stipulations as in
   .Sx Line Macros
   apply here as well).
   .Pp
   The syntax is as follows:
   .Bd -literal -offset indent
   \&.YO \(lBhead...\(rB
   \(lBhead...\(rB
   \(lBbody...\(rB
   .Ed
   .Pp
   The closure of body scope may be to the section, where a macro is closed
   by
   .Ic SH ;
   sub-section, closed by a section or
   .Ic SS ;
   or paragraph, closed by a section, sub-section,
   .Ic HP ,
   .Ic IP ,
   .Ic LP ,
   .Ic P ,
   .Ic PP ,
   .Ic RE ,
   .Ic SY ,
   or
   .Ic TP .
   No closure refers to an explicit block closing macro.
   .Pp
   As a rule, block macros may not be nested; thus, calling a block macro
   while another block macro scope is open, and the open scope is not
   implicitly closed, is syntactically incorrect.
   .Bl -column "MacroX" "ArgumentsX" "Head ScopeX" "sub-sectionX" "compatX" -offset indent
   .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Head Scope Ta Em Body Scope  Ta Em Notes
   .It Ic HP  Ta    <2        Ta    current    Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&
   .It Ic IP  Ta    <3        Ta    current    Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&
   .It Ic LP  Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&
   .It Ic ME  Ta    0         Ta    none       Ta    none        Ta    GNU
   .It Ic MT  Ta    1         Ta    current    Ta    to \&ME     Ta    GNU
   .It Ic P   Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&
   .It Ic PP  Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&
   .It Ic RE  Ta    <=1       Ta    current    Ta    none        Ta    \&
   .It Ic RS  Ta    1         Ta    current    Ta    to \&RE     Ta    \&
   .It Ic SH  Ta    >0        Ta    next-line  Ta    section     Ta    \&
   .It Ic SS  Ta    >0        Ta    next-line  Ta    sub-section Ta    \&
   .It Ic SY  Ta    1         Ta    current    Ta    to \&YS     Ta    GNU
   .It Ic TP  Ta    n         Ta    next-line  Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&
   .It Ic TQ  Ta    n         Ta    next-line  Ta    paragraph   Ta    GNU
   .It Ic UE  Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    none        Ta    GNU
   .It Ic UR  Ta    1         Ta    current    Ta    part        Ta    GNU
   .It Ic YS  Ta    0         Ta    none       Ta    none        Ta    GNU
   .El
   .Pp
   If a block macro is next-line scoped, it may only be followed by in-line
   macros for decorating text.
   .Ss Font handling
   In
   .Nm
   documents, both
   .Sx Physical markup
   macros and
   .Xr roff 7
   .Ql \ef
   font escape sequences can be used to choose fonts.
   In text lines, the effect of manual font selection by escape sequences
   only lasts until the next macro invocation; in macro lines, it only lasts
   until the end of the macro scope.
   Note that macros like
   .Ic BR
   open and close a font scope for each argument.
 .Sh SEE ALSO  .Sh SEE ALSO
   .Xr man 1 ,
 .Xr mandoc 1 ,  .Xr mandoc 1 ,
 .Xr mandoc_char 7  .Xr eqn 7 ,
 .  .Xr mandoc_char 7 ,
 .  .Xr mdoc 7 ,
 .Sh AUTHORS  .Xr roff 7 ,
   .Xr tbl 7
   .Sh HISTORY
 The  The
 .Nm  .Nm
   language first appeared as a macro package for the roff typesetting
   system in
   .At v7 .
   It was later rewritten by James Clark as a macro package for groff.
   Eric S. Raymond wrote the extended
   .Nm
   macros for groff in 2007.
   The stand-alone implementation that is part of the
   .Xr mandoc 1
   utility written by Kristaps Dzonsons appeared in
   .Ox 4.6 .
   .Sh AUTHORS
   This
   .Nm
 reference was written by  reference was written by
 .An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@kth.se .  .An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq Mt kristaps@bsd.lv .
 .  
 .  
 .Sh CAVEATS  
 Do not use this language.  Use  
 .Xr mdoc 7 ,  
 instead.  
 .  
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Removed from v.1.35  
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  Added in v.1.143
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