===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/mandoc/mandoc_char.7,v
retrieving revision 1.37
retrieving revision 1.41
diff -u -p -r1.37 -r1.41
--- mandoc/mandoc_char.7	2010/05/09 15:08:16	1.37
+++ mandoc/mandoc_char.7	2011/01/30 16:05:37	1.41
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.\"	$Id: mandoc_char.7,v 1.37 2010/05/09 15:08:16 kristaps Exp $
+.\"	$Id: mandoc_char.7,v 1.41 2011/01/30 16:05:37 schwarze Exp $
 .\"
 .\" Copyright (c) 2009 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@bsd.lv>
 .\"
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 .\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
 .\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
 .\"
-.Dd $Mdocdate: May 9 2010 $
+.Dd $Mdocdate: January 30 2011 $
 .Dt MANDOC_CHAR 7
 .Os
 .Sh NAME
@@ -513,11 +513,25 @@ implementations:
 .It \e*(aa   Ta \*(aa       Ta acute
 .It \e*(ga   Ta \*(ga       Ta grave
 .El
+.Sh NUMBERED CHARACTERS
+For backward compatibility with existing manuals,
+.Xr mandoc 1
+also supports the
+.Pp
+.Dl \eN\(aq Ns Ar number Ns \(aq
+.Pp
+escape sequence, inserting the character
+.Ar number
+from the current character set into the output.
+Of course, this is inherently non-portable and is already marked
+as deprecated in the Heirloom roff manual.
+For example, do not use \eN'34', use \e(dq, or even the plain
+.Sq \(dq
+character where possible.
 .Sh COMPATIBILITY
 This section documents compatibility of
 .Nm
-with older or existing versions of
-.Xr groff 1 .
+with older or existing versions of groff.
 .Pp
 The following render differently in
 .Fl T Ns Ar ascii
@@ -546,3 +560,14 @@ The
 .Nm
 manual page was written by
 .An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@bsd.lv .
+.Sh CAVEATS
+The
+.Sq \e*(Ba
+escape mimics the behaviour of the
+.Sq \&|
+character in
+.Xr mdoc 7 ;
+thus, if you wish to render a vertical bar with no side effects, use
+the
+.Sq \e(ba
+escape.