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version 1.43, 2009/11/02 06:22:45 version 1.146, 2020/10/14 14:22:54
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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, 2017-2020 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  Each
 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 .  
 .  
 .Ss Dates  
 The  
 .Sx \&TH  
 macro is the only  
 .Nm  .Nm
 macro that requires a date.  The form for this date is the ISO-8601  document starts with the
 standard  .Ic TH
 .Cm YYYY-MM-DD .  macro specifying the document's name and section, followed by the
 .  .Sx NAME
 .Ss Scaling Widths  section formatted as follows:
 Many macros support scaled widths for their arguments, such as  
 stipulating a two-inch list indentation with the following:  
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  .Bd -literal -offset indent
 \&.Bl -tag -width 2i  \&.TH PROGNAME 1 1979-01-10
   \&.SH NAME
   \efBprogname\efR \e(en one line about what it does
 .Ed  .Ed
 .  .Sh MACRO OVERVIEW
 .  This overview is sorted such that macros of similar purpose are listed
 .Ss Scaling Widths  together.
 Many macros support scaled widths for their arguments, such as  Deprecated and non-portable macros are not included in the overview,
 stipulating a two-inch paragraph indentation with the following:  but can be found in the alphabetical reference below.
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  .Ss Page header and footer meta-data
 \&.HP 2i  .Bl -column "RS, RE" description
 .Ed  .It Ic TH Ta set the title: Ar name section date Op Ar source Op Ar volume
 .  .It Ic AT Ta display AT&T UNIX version in the page footer (<= 1 argument)
   .It Ic UC Ta display BSD version in the page footer (<= 1 argument)
   .El
   .Ss Sections and paragraphs
   .Bl -column "RS, RE" description
   .It Ic SH Ta section header (one line)
   .It Ic SS Ta subsection header (one line)
   .It Ic PP Ta start an undecorated paragraph (no arguments)
   .It Ic RS , RE Ta reset the left margin: Op Ar width
   .It Ic IP Ta indented paragraph: Op Ar head Op Ar width
   .It Ic TP Ta tagged paragraph: Op Ar width
   .It Ic PD Ta set vertical paragraph distance: Op Ar height
   .It Ic in Ta additional indent: Op Ar width
   .El
   .Ss Physical markup
   .Bl -column "RS, RE" description
   .It Ic B Ta boldface font
   .It Ic I Ta italic font
   .It Ic SB Ta small boldface font
   .It Ic SM Ta small roman font
   .It Ic BI Ta alternate between boldface and italic fonts
   .It Ic BR Ta alternate between boldface and roman fonts
   .It Ic IB Ta alternate between italic and boldface fonts
   .It Ic IR Ta alternate between italic and roman fonts
   .It Ic RB Ta alternate between roman and boldface fonts
   .It Ic RI Ta alternate between roman and italic fonts
   .El
   .Sh MACRO REFERENCE
   This section is a canonical reference to all macros, arranged
   alphabetically.
   For the scoping of individual macros, see
   .Sx MACRO SYNTAX .
   .Bl -tag -width 3n
   .It Ic AT
   Sets the volume for the footer for compatibility with man pages from
   .At
   releases.
   The optional arguments specify which release it is from.
   This macro is an extension that first appeared in
   .Bx 4.3 .
   .It Ic B
   Text is rendered in bold face.
   .It Ic BI
   Text is rendered alternately in bold face and italic.
   Thus,
   .Sq .BI this word and that
   causes
   .Sq this
   and
   .Sq and
   to render in bold face, while
   .Sq word
   and
   .Sq that
   render in italics.
   Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
 .Pp  .Pp
 The syntax for scaled widths is  Example:
 .Sq Li [+-]?[0-9]*.[0-9]*[:unit:]? ,  
 where a decimal must be preceded or proceeded by at least one digit.  
 Negative numbers, while accepted, are truncated to zero.  The following  
 scaling units are accepted:  
 .  
 .Pp  .Pp
 .Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact  .Dl \&.BI bold italic bold italic
 .It c  .It Ic BR
 centimetre  Text is rendered alternately in bold face and roman (the default font).
 .It i  Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
 inch  See also
 .It P  .Ic BI .
 pica (~1/6 inch)  .It Ic DT
 .It p  Restore the default tabulator positions.
 point (~1/72 inch)  They are at intervals of 0.5 inches.
 .It f  This has no effect unless the tabulator positions were changed with the
 synonym for  .Xr roff 7
 .Sq u  .Ic ta
 .It v  request.
 default vertical span  .It Ic EE
 .It m  This is a non-standard Version 9
 width of rendered  .At
 .Sq m  extension later adopted by GNU.
 .Pq em  In
 character  .Xr mandoc 1 ,
 .It n  it does the same as the
 width of rendered  .Xr roff 7
 .Sq n  .Ic fi
 .Pq en  request (switch to fill mode).
 character  .It Ic EX
 .It u  This is a non-standard Version 9
 default horizontal span  .At
 .It M  extension later adopted by GNU.
 mini-em (~1/100 em)  In
 .El  .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
   subsequent output lines are indented, with the following syntax:
 .Pp  .Pp
 Using anything other than  .D1 Pf . Ic HP Op Ar width
 .Sq m ,  
 .Sq n ,  
 .Sq u ,  
 or  
 .Sq v  
 is necessarily non-portable across output media.  See  
 .Sx COMPATIBILITY .  
 .  
 .Pp  .Pp
 If a scaling unit is not provided, the numerical value is interpreted  The
 under the default rules of  .Ar width
 .Sq v  argument is a
 for vertical spaces and  .Xr roff 7
 .Sq u  scaling width.
 for horizontal ones.  If specified, it's saved for later paragraph left margins;
 .Em Note :  if unspecified, the saved or default width is used.
 this differs from  
 .Xr mdoc 7 ,  
 which, if a unit is not provided, will instead interpret the string as  
 literal text.  
 .  
 .  
 .Sh MANUAL STRUCTURE  
 Each  
 .Nm  
 document must contain contains at least the  
 .Sx \&TH  
 macro describing the document's section and title.  It may occur  
 anywhere in the document, although conventionally, it appears as the  
 first macro.  
 .  
 .Pp  .Pp
 Beyond  This macro is portable, but deprecated
 .Sx \&TH ,  because it has no good representation in HTML output,
 at least one macro or text node must appear in the document.  Documents  usually ending up indistinguishable from
 are generally structured as follows:  .Ic PP .
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  .It Ic I
 \&.TH FOO 1 2009-10-10  Text is rendered in italics.
 \&.  .It Ic IB
 \&.SH NAME  Text is rendered alternately in italics and bold face.
 \efBfoo\efR \e(en a description goes here  Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 2 & 3 only.  See also
 \&.\e\*q .SH LIBRARY  .Ic BI .
 \&.  .It Ic IP
 \&.SH SYNOPSIS  Begin an indented paragraph with the following syntax:
 \efBfoo\efR [\efB\e-options\efR] arguments...  .Pp
 \&.  .D1 Pf . Ic IP Op Ar head Op Ar width
 \&.SH DESCRIPTION  .Pp
 The \efBfoo\efR utility processes files...  The
 \&.  .Ar width
 \&.\e\*q .SH IMPLEMENTATION NOTES  argument is a
 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1 & 8 only.  .Xr roff 7
 \&.\e\*q .SH EXIT STATUS  scaling width defining the left margin.
 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 2, 3, & 9 only.  It's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if unspecified, the saved or
 \&.\e\*q .SH RETURN VALUES  default width is used.
 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1, 6, 7, & 8 only.  .Pp
 \&.\e\*q .SH ENVIRONMENT  The
 \&.\e\*q .SH FILES  .Ar head
 \&.\e\*q .SH EXAMPLES  argument is used as a leading term, flushed to the left margin.
 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1, 4, 6, 7, & 8 only.  This is useful for bulleted paragraphs and so on.
 \&.\e\*q .SH DIAGNOSTICS  .It Ic IR
 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 2, 3, & 9 only.  Text is rendered alternately in italics and roman (the default font).
 \&.\e\*q .SH ERRORS  Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
 \&.\e\*q .SH SEE ALSO  See also
 \&.\e\*q .BR foo ( 1 )  .Ic BI .
 \&.\e\*q .SH STANDARDS  .It Ic LP
 \&.\e\*q .SH HISTORY  A synonym for
 \&.\e\*q .SH AUTHORS  .Ic PP .
 \&.\e\*q .SH CAVEATS  .It Ic ME
 \&.\e\*q .SH BUGS  End a mailto block started with
 \&.\e\*q .SH SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS  .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  .Ed
   .It Ic OP
   Optional command-line argument.
   This is a non-standard GNU extension.
   It has the following syntax:
 .Pp  .Pp
 The sections in a  .D1 Pf . Ic OP Ar key Op Ar value
 .Nm  
 document are conventionally ordered as they appear above.  Sections  
 should be composed as follows:  
 .Bl -ohang -offset indent  
 .It Em NAME  
 The name(s) and a short description of the documented material.  The  
 syntax for this is generally as follows:  
 .Pp  .Pp
 .D1 \efBname\efR \e(en description  The
 .It Em LIBRARY  .Ar key
 The name of the library containing the documented material, which is  is usually a command-line flag and
 assumed to be a function in a section 2 or 3 manual.  For functions in  .Ar value
 the C library, this may be as follows:  its argument.
   .It Ic P
   This synonym for
   .Ic PP
   is an
   .At III
   extension later adopted by
   .Bx 4.3 .
   .It Ic PD
   Specify the vertical space to be inserted before each new paragraph.
   .br
   The syntax is as follows:
 .Pp  .Pp
 .D1 Standard C Library (libc, -lc)  .D1 Pf . Ic PD Op Ar height
 .It Em SYNOPSIS  
 Documents the utility invocation syntax, function call syntax, or device  
 configuration.  
 .Pp  .Pp
 For the first, utilities (sections 1, 6, and 8), this is  The
 generally structured as follows:  .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  .Pp
 .D1 \efBname\efR [-\efBab\efR] [-\efBc\efR\efIarg\efR] \efBpath\efR...  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.
   Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
   See also
   .Ic BI .
   .It Ic RE
   Explicitly close out the scope of a prior
   .Ic RS .
   The default left margin is restored to the state before that
   .Ic RS
   invocation.
 .Pp  .Pp
 For the second, function calls (sections 2, 3, 9):  The syntax is as follows:
 .Pp  .Pp
 .D1 \. Ns Sx \&B No char *name(char *\efIarg\efR);  .D1 Pf . Ic RE Op Ar level
 .Pp  .Pp
 And for the third, configurations (section 4):  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.
   Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
   See also
   .Ic BI .
   .It Ic RS
   Temporarily reset the default left margin.
   This has the following syntax:
 .Pp  .Pp
 .D1 \. Ns Sx \&B No name* at cardbus ? function ?  .D1 Pf . Ic RS Op Ar width
 .Pp  .Pp
 Manuals not in these sections generally don't need a  The
 .Em SYNOPSIS .  .Ar width
 .It Em DESCRIPTION  argument is a
 This expands upon the brief, one-line description in  .Xr roff 7
 .Em NAME .  scaling width.
 It usually contains a break-down of the options (if documenting a  If not specified, the saved or default width is used.
 command).  
 .It Em IMPLEMENTATION NOTES  
 Implementation-specific notes should be kept here.  This is useful when  
 implementing standard functions that may have side effects or notable  
 algorithmic implications.  
 .It Em EXIT STATUS  
 Command exit status for section 1, 6, and 8 manuals.  This section is  
 the dual of  
 .Em RETURN VALUES ,  
 which is used for functions.  Historically, this information was  
 described in  
 .Em DIAGNOSTICS ,  
 a practise that is now discouraged.  
 .  
 .It Em RETURN VALUES  
 This section is the dual of  
 .Em EXIT STATUS ,  
 which is used for commands.  It documents the return values of functions  
 in sections 2, 3, and 9.  
 .  
 .It Em ENVIRONMENT  
 Documents any usages of environment variables, e.g.,  
 .Xr environ 7 .  
 .  
 .It Em FILES  
 Documents files used.  It's helpful to document both the file and a  
 short description of how the file is used (created, modified, etc.).  
 .  
 .It Em EXAMPLES  
 Example usages.  This often contains snippets of well-formed,  
 well-tested invocations.  Make doubly sure that your examples work  
 properly!  Assume that users will skip to this section and use your  
 example verbatim.  
 .  
 .It Em DIAGNOSTICS  
 Documents error conditions.  This is most useful in section 4 manuals.  
 Historically, this section was used in place of  
 .Em EXIT STATUS  
 for manuals in sections 1, 6, and 8; however, this practise is  
 discouraged.  
 .  
 .It Em ERRORS  
 Documents error handling in sections 2, 3, and 9.  
 .  
 .It Em SEE ALSO  
 References other manuals with related topics.  This section should exist  
 for most manuals.  Cross-references should conventionally be ordered  
 first by section, then alphabetically.  
 .Pp  .Pp
 .D1 \. Ns Sx \&BR No bar \&( 1 \&),  See also
 .D1 \. Ns Sx \&BR No foo \&( 1 \&),  .Ic RE .
 .D1 \. Ns Sx \&BR No baz \&( 2 \&).  .It Ic SB
 .  Text is rendered in small size (one point smaller than the default font)
 .It Em STANDARDS  bold face.
 References any standards implemented or used, such as  This macro is an extension that probably first appeared in SunOS 4.0
   and was later adopted by GNU and by
   .Bx 4.4 .
   .It Ic SH
   Begin a section.
   The scope of a section is only closed by another section or the end of
   file.
   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
   font).
   .It Ic SS
   Begin a sub-section.
   The scope of a sub-section is closed by a subsequent sub-section,
   section, or end of file.
   The paragraph left-margin width is reset to the default.
   .It Ic SY
   Begin a synopsis block with the following syntax:
   .Bd -unfilled -offset indent
   .Pf . Ic SY Ar command
   .Ar arguments
   .Pf . Ic YS
   .Ed
 .Pp  .Pp
 .D1 IEEE Std 1003.2 (\e(lqPOSIX.2\e(rq)  This is a non-standard GNU extension
   and very rarely used even in GNU manual pages.
   Formatting is similar to
   .Ic IP .
   .It Ic TH
   Set the name of the manual page for use in the page header
   and footer with the following syntax:
 .Pp  .Pp
 If not adhering to any standards, the  .D1 Pf . Ic TH Ar name section date Op Ar source Op Ar volume
 .Em HISTORY  .Pp
 section should be used.  Conventionally, the document
 .  .Ar name
 .It Em HISTORY  is given in all caps.
 The history of any manual without a  The
 .Em STANDARDS  .Ar section
 section should be described in this section.  is usually a single digit, in a few cases followed by a letter.
 .  The recommended
 .It Em AUTHORS  .Ar date
 Credits to authors, if applicable, should appear in this section.  format is
 Authors should generally be noted by both name and an e-mail address.  .Sy YYYY-MM-DD
 .  as specified in the ISO-8601 standard;
 .It Em CAVEATS  if the argument does not conform, it is printed verbatim.
 Explanations of common misuses and misunderstandings should be explained  If the
 in this section.  .Ar date
 .  is empty or not specified, the current date is used.
 .It Em BUGS  The optional
 Extant bugs should be described in this section.  .Ar source
 .  string specifies the organisation providing the utility.
 .It Em SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS  When unspecified,
 Documents any security precautions that operators should consider.  .Xr mandoc 1
 .  uses its
 .El  .Fl Ios
 .  argument.
 .  The
 .Sh MACRO SYNTAX  .Ar volume
 Macros are one to three three characters in length and begin with a  string replaces the default volume title of the
 control character ,  .Ar section .
 .Sq \&. ,  .Pp
 at the beginning of the line.  An arbitrary amount of whitespace may  Examples:
 sit between the control character and the macro name.  Thus, the  .Pp
 following are equivalent:  .Dl \&.TH CVS 5 "1992-02-12" GNU
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  .It Ic TP
 \&.PP  Begin a paragraph where the head, if exceeding the indentation width, is
 \&.\ \ \ PP  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
 The  The
   .Ar width
   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.
   .It Ic TQ
   Like
   .Ic TP ,
   except that no vertical spacing is inserted before the paragraph.
   This is a non-standard GNU extension
   and very rarely used even in GNU manual pages.
   .It Ic UC
   Sets the volume for the footer for compatibility with man pages from
   .Bx
   releases.
   The optional first argument specifies which release it is from.
   This macro is an extension that first appeared in
   .Bx 3 .
   .It Ic UE
   End a uniform resource identifier block started with
   .Ic UR .
   This is a non-standard GNU extension.
   .It Ic UR
   Begin a uniform resource identifier block.
   This is a non-standard GNU extension.
   It has the following syntax:
   .Bd -unfilled -offset indent
   .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
   .Sh MACRO SYNTAX
   The
 .Nm  .Nm
 macros are classified by scope: line scope or block scope.  Line  macros are classified by scope: line scope or block scope.
 macros are only scoped to the current line (and, in some situations,  Line macros are only scoped to the current line (and, in some
 the subsequent line).  Block macros are scoped to the current line and  situations, the subsequent line).
 subsequent lines until closed by another block macro.  Block macros are scoped to the current line and subsequent lines until
 .  closed by another block macro.
 .  
 .Ss Line Macros  .Ss Line Macros
 Line macros are generally scoped to the current line, with the body  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  consisting of zero or more arguments.
 line and the line arguments are empty, the next line is used instead,  If a macro is scoped to the next line and the line arguments are empty,
 else the general syntax is used.  Thus:  the next line, which must be text, is used instead.
   Thus:
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  .Bd -literal -offset indent
 \&.I  \&.I
 foo  foo
 .Ed  .Ed
 .  
 .Pp  .Pp
 is equivalent to  is equivalent to
 .Sq \&.I foo .  .Sq .I foo .
 If next-line macros are invoked consecutively, only the last is used.  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.  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  .Bd -literal -offset indent
 \&.YO \(lBbody...\(rB  \&.YO \(lBbody...\(rB
 \(lBbody...\(rB  \(lBbody...\(rB
 .Ed  .Ed
 .  .Bl -column "MacroX" "ArgumentsX" "ScopeXXXXX" "CompatX" -offset indent
 .Pp  .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Scope     Ta Em Notes
 .Bl -column -compact -offset indent "MacroX" "ArgumentsX" "ScopeXXXXX"  .It Ic AT  Ta    <=1       Ta    current   Ta    \&
 .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Scope  .It Ic B   Ta    n         Ta    next-line Ta    \&
 .It Sx \&B   Ta    n         Ta    next-line  .It Ic BI  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&
 .It Sx \&BI  Ta    n         Ta    current  .It Ic BR  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&
 .It Sx \&BR  Ta    n         Ta    current  .It Ic DT  Ta    0         Ta    current   Ta    \&
 .It Sx \&DT  Ta    0         Ta    current  .It Ic EE  Ta    0         Ta    current   Ta    Version 9 At
 .It Sx \&I   Ta    n         Ta    next-line  .It Ic EX  Ta    0         Ta    current   Ta    Version 9 At
 .It Sx \&IB  Ta    n         Ta    current  .It Ic I   Ta    n         Ta    next-line Ta    \&
 .It Sx \&IR  Ta    n         Ta    current  .It Ic IB  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&
 .It Sx \&PD  Ta    n         Ta    current  .It Ic IR  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&
 .It Sx \&R   Ta    n         Ta    next-line  .It Ic OP  Ta    >=1       Ta    current   Ta    GNU
 .It Sx \&RB  Ta    n         Ta    current  .It Ic PD  Ta    1         Ta    current   Ta    \&
 .It Sx \&RI  Ta    n         Ta    current  .It Ic RB  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&
 .It Sx \&SB  Ta    n         Ta    next-line  .It Ic RI  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&
 .It Sx \&SM  Ta    n         Ta    next-line  .It Ic SB  Ta    n         Ta    next-line Ta    \&
 .It Sx \&TH  Ta    >1, <6    Ta    current  .It Ic SM  Ta    n         Ta    next-line Ta    \&
 .It Sx \&UC  Ta    n         Ta    current  .It Ic TH  Ta    >1, <6    Ta    current   Ta    \&
 .It Sx \&br  Ta    0         Ta    current  .It Ic UC  Ta    <=1       Ta    current   Ta    \&
 .It Sx \&fi  Ta    0         Ta    current  .It Ic in  Ta    1         Ta    current   Ta    Xr roff 7
 .It Sx \&i   Ta    n         Ta    current  
 .It Sx \&na  Ta    0         Ta    current  
 .It Sx \&nf  Ta    0         Ta    current  
 .It Sx \&r   Ta    0         Ta    current  
 .It Sx \&sp  Ta    1         Ta    current  
 .El  .El
 .  
 .Pp  
 The  
 .Sx \&PD ,  
 .Sx \&RS ,  
 .Sx \&RE ,  
 .Sx \&UC ,  
 .Sx \&br ,  
 .Sx \&fi ,  
 .Sx \&i ,  
 .Sx \&na ,  
 .Sx \&nf ,  
 .Sx \&r ,  
 and  
 .Sx \&sp  
 macros should not be used.  They're included for compatibility.  
 .  
 .  
 .Ss Block Macros  .Ss Block Macros
 Block macros are comprised of a head and body.  Like for in-line macros,  Block macros comprise a head and body.
 the head is scoped to the current line and, in one circumstance, the  As with in-line macros, the head is scoped to the current line and, in
 next line; the body is scoped to subsequent lines and is closed out by a  one circumstance, the next line (the next-line stipulations as in
 subsequent block macro invocation.  .Sx Line Macros
   apply here as well).
   .Pp
   The syntax is as follows:
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  .Bd -literal -offset indent
 \&.YO \(lBhead...\(rB  \&.YO \(lBhead...\(rB
 \(lBhead...\(rB  \(lBhead...\(rB
 \(lBbody...\(rB  \(lBbody...\(rB
 .Ed  .Ed
 .  
 .Pp  .Pp
 The closure of body scope may be to the section, where a macro is closed  The closure of body scope may be to the section, where a macro is closed
 by  by
 .Sx \&SH ;  .Ic SH ;
 sub-section, closed by a section or  sub-section, closed by a section or
 .Sx \&SS ;  .Ic SS ;
 part, closed by a section, sub-section, or  or paragraph, closed by a section, sub-section,
 .Sx \&RE ;  .Ic HP ,
 or paragraph, closed by a section, sub-section, part,  .Ic IP ,
 .Sx \&HP ,  .Ic LP ,
 .Sx \&IP ,  .Ic P ,
 .Sx \&LP ,  .Ic PP ,
 .Sx \&P ,  .Ic RE ,
 .Sx \&PP ,  .Ic SY ,
 or  or
 .Sx \&TP .  .Ic TP .
 No closure refers to an explicit block closing macro.  No closure refers to an explicit block closing macro.
 .  
 .Pp  .Pp
 .Bl -column "MacroX" "ArgumentsX" "Head ScopeX" "sub-sectionX" -compact -offset indent  As a rule, block macros may not be nested; thus, calling a block macro
 .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Head Scope Ta Em Body Scope  while another block macro scope is open, and the open scope is not
 .It Sx \&HP  Ta    <2        Ta    current    Ta    paragraph  implicitly closed, is syntactically incorrect.
 .It Sx \&IP  Ta    <3        Ta    current    Ta    paragraph  .Bl -column "MacroX" "ArgumentsX" "Head ScopeX" "sub-sectionX" "compatX" -offset indent
 .It Sx \&LP  Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph  .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Head Scope Ta Em Body Scope  Ta Em Notes
 .It Sx \&P   Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph  .It Ic HP  Ta    <2        Ta    current    Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&
 .It Sx \&PP  Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph  .It Ic IP  Ta    <3        Ta    current    Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&
 .It Sx \&RE  Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    none  .It Ic LP  Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&
 .It Sx \&RS  Ta    1         Ta    current    Ta    part  .It Ic ME  Ta    0         Ta    none       Ta    none        Ta    GNU
 .It Sx \&SH  Ta    >0        Ta    next-line  Ta    section  .It Ic MT  Ta    1         Ta    current    Ta    to \&ME     Ta    GNU
 .It Sx \&SS  Ta    >0        Ta    next-line  Ta    sub-section  .It Ic P   Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&
 .It Sx \&TP  Ta    n         Ta    next-line  Ta    paragraph  .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  .El
 .  
 .Pp  .Pp
 If a block macro is next-line scoped, it may only be followed by in-line  If a block macro is next-line scoped, it may only be followed by in-line
 macros (excluding  macros for decorating text.
 .Sx \&DT ,  .Ss Font handling
 .Sx \&PD ,  In
 .Sx \&TH ,  .Nm
 .Sx \&UC ,  documents, both
 .Sx \&br ,  .Sx Physical markup
 .Sx \&na ,  macros and
 .Sx \&sp ,  .Xr roff 7
 .Sx \&nf ,  .Ql \ef
 and  font escape sequences can be used to choose fonts.
 .Sx \&fi ) .  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.
 .Sh REFERENCE  Note that macros like
 This section is a canonical reference to all macros, arranged  .Ic BR
 alphabetically.  For the scoping of individual macros, see  open and close a font scope for each argument.
 .Sx MACRO SYNTAX .  
 .  
 .Ss \&B  
 Text is rendered in bold face.  
 .Ss \&BI  
 Text is rendered alternately in bold face and italic.  Thus,  
 .Sq .BI this word and that  
 causes  
 .Sq this  
 and  
 .Sq and  
 to render in bold face, while  
 .Sq word  
 and  
 .Sq that  
 render in italics.  Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.  
 .Ss \&BR  
 Text is rendered alternately in bold face and roman (the default font).  
 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.  
 .Ss \&DT  
 Has no effect.  Included for compatibility.  
 .Ss \&HP  
 Begin a paragraph whose initial output line is left-justified, but  
 subsequent output lines are indented, with the following syntax:  
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  
 \&.HP [width]  
 .Ed  
 .  
 .Pp  
 If scaling width  
 .Va width  
 is specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if  
 unspecified, the saved or default width is used.  
 .Ss \&I  
 Text is rendered in italics.  
 .Ss \&IB  
 Text is rendered alternately in italics and bold face.  Whitespace  
 between arguments is omitted in output.  
 .Ss \&IP  
 Begin a paragraph with the following syntax:  
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  
 \&.IP [head [width]]  
 .Ed  
 .  
 .Pp  
 This follows the behaviour of the  
 .Sx \&TP  
 except for the macro syntax (all arguments on the line, instead of  
 having next-line scope).  If  
 .Va width  
 is specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if  
 unspecified, the saved or default width is used.  
 .Ss \&IR  
 Text is rendered alternately in italics and roman (the default font).  
 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.  
 .Ss \&LP  
 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 re-set to the default.  
 .Ss \&P  
 Synonym for  
 .Sx \&LP .  
 .Ss \&PP  
 Synonym for  
 .Sx \&LP .  
 .Ss \&R  
 Text is rendered in roman (the default font).  
 .Ss \&RB  
 Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and bold face.  
 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.  
 .Ss \&RE  
 Explicitly close out the scope of a prior  
 .Sx \&RS .  
 .Ss \&RI  
 Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and italics.  
 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.  
 .Ss \&RS  
 Begin a part setting the left margin.  The left margin controls the  
 offset, following an initial indentation, to un-indented text such as  
 that of  
 .Sx \&PP .  
 A scaling width may be specified as following:  
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  
 \&.RS [width]  
 .Ed  
 .  
 .Pp  
 If  
 .Va width  
 is not specified, the saved or default width is used.  
 .Ss \&SB  
 Text is rendered in small size (one point smaller than the default font)  
 bold face.  
 .Ss \&SH  
 Begin a section.  The scope of a section is only closed by another  
 section or the end of file.  The paragraph left-margin width is re-set  
 to the default.  
 .Ss \&SM  
 Text is rendered in small size (one point smaller than the default  
 font).  
 .Ss \&SS  
 Begin a sub-section.  The scope of a sub-section is closed by a  
 subsequent sub-section, section, or end of file.  The paragraph  
 left-margin width is re-set to the default.  
 .Ss \&TH  
 Sets the title of the manual page with the following syntax:  
 .Pp  
 .D1 \. Ns Sx \&TH No Cm title msec Op Cm date Op Cm src Op Cm vol  
 .Pp  
 At least the upper-case document title  
 .Cm title  
 and numeric manual section  
 .Cm msec  
 arguments must be provided.  The  
 .Cm date  
 argument should be formatted as described in  
 .Sx Dates :  
 if it does not conform, the current date is used instead.  The  
 .Cm src  
 string specifies the organisation providing the utility.  The  
 .Cm vol  
 string replaces the default rendered volume, which is dictated by the  
 manual section.  
 .Pp  
 Examples:  
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  
 \&.TH CVS 5 "1992-02-12" GNU  
 .Ed  
 .  
 .Ss \&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 a  
 buffer to the indentation width.  Subsequent output lines are indented.  
 .  
 .Pp  
 The indentation scaling width may be set as follows:  
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  
 \&.TP [width]  
 .Ed  
 .  
 .Pp  
 If  
 .Va width  
 is specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if  
 unspecified, the saved or default width is used.  
 .Ss \&PD  
 Has no effect.  Included for compatibility.  
 .Ss \&UC  
 Has no effect.  Included for compatibility.  
 .Ss \&br  
 Breaks the current line.  Consecutive invocations have no further effect.  
 .Ss \&fi  
 End literal mode begun by  
 .Sx \&nf .  
 .Ss \&i  
 Italicise arguments.  If no arguments are specified, all subsequent text  
 is italicised.  
 .Ss \&na  
 Don't align to the right margin.  
 .Ss \&nf  
 Begin literal mode: all subsequent free-form lines have their end of  
 line boundaries preserved.  May be ended by  
 .Sx \&fi .  
 .Ss \&r  
 Fonts and styles (bold face, italics) reset to roman (default font).  
 .Ss \&sp  
 Insert n spaces, where n is the macro's positive numeric argument.  If  
 0, this is equivalent to the  
 .Sx \&br  
 macro.  
 .  
 .  
 .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  
 .Sq sp  
 macro does not accept negative numbers.  
 .It  
 Blocks of whitespace are stripped from both macro and free-form text  
 lines (except when in literal mode), while groff would retain whitespace  
 in free-form text lines.  
 .El  
 .  
 .  
 .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
   .An James Clark
   as a macro package for groff.
   .An Eric S. Raymond Aq Mt esr@thyrsus.com
   and
   .An Werner Lemberg Aq Mt wl@gnu.org
   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.  
 .  
Legend:
Removed from v.1.43  
changed lines
  Added in v.1.146
CVSweb