mandoc/man.7 - diff

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Diff for /mandoc/man.7 between version 1.5 and 1.21

version 1.5, 2009/03/26 23:01:26

version 1.21, 2009/07/27 12:35:53

Line 1

.\" $Id$

.\"

.\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any

.\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the

.\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above

.\" above copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all

.\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.

.\" copies.

.\"

.\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL

.\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES

.\" WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED

.\" WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF

.\" WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE

.\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR

.\" AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL

.\" ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES

.\" DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR

.\" WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN

.\" PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER

.\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF

.\" TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR

.\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

.\" PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

.\"

.Dd $Mdocdate$

.Dt man 7

.Dt MAN 7

.Os

.\" SECTION

.Sh NAME

Line 27

Line 25

.Sh DESCRIPTION

The

.Nm man

language was historically used to format

.Ux

manuals. In this reference document, we describe the syntax and

manuals. This reference document describes its syntax, structure, and

structure of the

usage.

.Nm

language.

.Pp

.Em \&Do not ever

.Bf -emphasis

use

Do not use

.Nm

to write your manuals. Use the

to write your manuals.

.Ef

Use the

.Xr mdoc 7

language, instead.

.\" PARAGRAPH

Line 45 language, instead.

Line 43 language, instead.

.Nm

document follows simple rules: lines beginning with the control

character

.Sq \&.

are parsed for macros. Other lines are interpreted within the scope of

prior macros:

Line 56 Other lines are interpreted within the current state.

Line 54 Other lines are interpreted within the current state.

.\" SECTION

.Sh INPUT ENCODING

.Nm

documents may contain only graphable 7-bit ASCII characters and the

documents may contain only graphable 7-bit ASCII characters, the

space character

space character, and the tabs character. All manuals must have

.Sq \ .

All manuals must have

.Ux

.Sq \en

line termination.

.Pp

Blank lines are acceptable; where found, the output will assert a

vertical space.

Line 74 escape is common in historical

Line 69 escape is common in historical

documents; if encountered at the end of a word, it ensures that the

subsequent word isn't off-set by whitespace.

.\" SUB-SECTION

.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.

.\" SUB-SECTION

.Ss Special Characters

Special character sequences begin with the escape character

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.

or a single one-character sequence. See

.Pp

.Xr mandoc_char 7

Characters may alternatively be escaped by a slash-asterisk,

for a complete list. Examples include

.Sq \e* ,

.Sq \e(em

with the same combinations as described above. This form is deprecated.

.Pq em-dash

.Pp

and

The

.Sq \ee

.Xr mdoc 7

.Pq back-slash .

contains a table of all available escapes.

.\" SUB-SECTION----------------------

.Ss Text Decoration

Terms may be text-decorated using the

.Sq \ef

escape followed by an indicator: B (bold), I, (italic), or P and R

(Roman, or reset).

.\" SUB-SECTION----------------------

.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 .

.\" SECTION

.Sh STRUCTURE

Each

.Nm

document must contain contains at least the

.Sq \&.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

Beyond the

.Sq \&.TH ,

at least one macro or text node must appear in the document.

.\" SECTION

.Sh SYNTAX

Macros are one to three three characters in length and begin with a

control character ,

.Sq \&. ,

Line 104 and

Line 132 and

.Sq \&.\ \ \ \&PP

are equivalent.

.Pp

All

.Nm

macros follow the same structural rules:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.YO \(lBbody...\(rB

.Ed

.Pp

The

Line 116 The

Line 144 The

consists of zero or more arguments to the macro.

.Pp

.Nm

has a primitive notion of multi-line scope for the following macros:

.Sq \&.TM ,

.Sq \&.SM ,

.Sq \&.SB ,

Line 127 has a primitive notion of multi-line scope for the fol

Line 155 has a primitive notion of multi-line scope for the fol

.Sq \&.R ,

.Sq \&.B ,

.Sq \&.I ,

.Sq \&.IR

and

.Sq \&.RI .

When these macros are invoked without arguments, the subsequent line is

considered a continuation of the macro. Thus:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.RI

foo

.Ed

.Pp

is equivalent to

.Sq \&.RI foo .

If two consecutive lines exhibit the latter behaviour,

an error is raised. Thus, the following is not acceptable:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.RI

\&.I

Hello, world.

.Ed

.Pp

Line 151 The

Line 179 The

.Sq \&.TP

macro is similar, but does not need an empty argument line to trigger

the behaviour.

.\" PARAGRAPH

.\" SECTION

.Sh MACROS

This section contains a complete list of all

.Nm

macros and corresponding number of arguments.

.Pp

Line 180 macros and corresponding number of arguments.

Line 208 macros and corresponding number of arguments.

.It \&.IR Ta n

.It \&.RI Ta n

.El

.Pp

Although not historically part of the

.Nm

system, the following macros are also supported:

.Pp

.Bl -column "MacroX" "Arguments" -compact -offset indent

.It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments

.It \&.br Ta 0

.It \&.i Ta n

.El

.Pp

These follow the same calling conventions as the above

.Nm

macros.

.\" SECTION

.Sh COMPATIBILITY

See

.Xr mdoc 7

for groff compatibility notes.

.\" SECTION

.Sh SEE ALSO

.Xr mandoc 1

.Xr mandoc 1 ,

.Xr mandoc_char 7

.\" SECTION

.Sh AUTHORS

The

.Nm

utility was written by

.An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@openbsd.org .

.An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@kth.se .

.\" SECTION

.Sh CAVEATS

Do not use this language. Use

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