mandoc/mandoc_char.7 - diff

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Diff for /mandoc/mandoc_char.7 between version 1.67 and 1.78

version 1.67, 2017/06/14 20:57:07

version 1.78, 2020/10/31 11:45:16

Line 2

.\"

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

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

Line 35 documents.

.Pp

The rendering depends on the

.Xr mandoc 1

output mode; in ASCII output, most characters are completely

output mode; it can be inspected by calling

unintelligible.

.Xr man 1

For that reason, using any of the special characters documented here,

on the

except those discussed in the

.Nm

manual page with different

.Fl T

arguments.

In ASCII output, the rendering of some characters may be hard

to interpret for the reader.

Many are rendered as descriptive strings like

.Qq <integral> ,

.Qq <degree> ,

.Qq <Gamma> ,

which may look ugly, and many are replaced by similar ASCII characters.

In particular, accented characters are usually shown without the accent.

For that reason, try to avoid using any of the special characters

documented here except those discussed in the

.Sx DESCRIPTION ,

is strongly discouraged; they are supported merely for backwards

unless they are essential for explaining the subject matter at hand,

compatibility with existing documents.

for example when documenting complicated mathematical functions.

.Pp

In particular, in English manual pages, do not use special-character

escape sequences to represent national language characters in author

names; instead, provide ASCII transcriptions of the names.

.Ss Dashes and Hyphens

In typography there are different types of dashes of various width:

the hyphen (-),

the hyphen (\(hy),

the minus sign (\(mi),

the en-dash (\(en),

and the em-dash (\(em).

the em-dash (\(em),

and the mathematical minus sign (\(mi).

.Pp

Hyphens are used for adjectives;

to separate the two parts of a compound word;

Line 62 blue-eyed

Line 76 blue-eyed

lorry-driver

.Ed

.Pp

The en-dash is used to separate the two elements of a range,

or can be used the same way as an em-dash.

It should be written as

.Sq \e(en :

.Bd -unfilled -offset indent

pp. 95\e(en97.

Go away \e(en or else!

.Ed

.Pp

The em-dash can be used to show an interruption

or can be used the same way as colons, semi-colons, or parentheses.

It should be written as

.Sq \e(em :

.Bd -unfilled -offset indent

Three things \e(em apples, oranges, and bananas.

This is not that \e(em rather, this is that.

.Ed

.Pp

.Xr roff 7

documents, the minus sign is normally written as

.Sq \e- .

In manual pages, some style guides recommend to also use

.Sq \e-

if an ASCII 0x2d

.Dq hyphen-minus

output glyph that can be copied and pasted is desired in output modes

supporting it, for example in

.Fl T Cm utf8

and

.Fl T Cm html .

But currently, no practically relevant manual page formatter requires

that subtlety, so in manual pages, it is sufficient to write plain

.Sq -

to represent hyphen, minus, and hyphen-minus.

.Pp

If a word on a text input line contains a hyphen, a formatter may decide

to insert an output line break after the hyphen if that helps filling

the current output line, but the whole word would overflow the line.

Line 85 Such automatic hyphenation is not supported by

Line 135 Such automatic hyphenation is not supported by

.Xr mandoc 1 ,

which only breaks the line at whitespace, and inside words only

after existing hyphens.

.Pp

The mathematical minus sign is used for negative numbers or subtraction.

It should be written as

.Sq \e(mi :

.Bd -unfilled -offset indent

a = 3 \e(mi 1;

b = \e(mi2;

.Ed

.Pp

The en-dash is used to separate the two elements of a range,

or can be used the same way as an em-dash.

It should be written as

.Sq \e(en :

.Bd -unfilled -offset indent

pp. 95\e(en97.

Go away \e(en or else!

.Ed

.Pp

The em-dash can be used to show an interruption

or can be used the same way as colons, semi-colons, or parentheses.

It should be written as

.Sq \e(em :

.Bd -unfilled -offset indent

Three things \e(em apples, oranges, and bananas.

This is not that \e(em rather, this is that.

.Ed

.Pp

Note:

hyphens, minus signs, and en-dashes look identical under normal ASCII output.

Other formats, such as PostScript, render them correctly,

with differing widths.

.Ss Spaces

To separate words in normal text, for indenting and alignment

in literal context, and when none of the following special cases apply,

Line 242 subsection of the

Line 261 subsection of the

.Xr roff 7

manual.

.Pp

Spacing:

Spaces, non-breaking unless stated otherwise:

.Bl -column "Input" "Description" -offset indent -compact

.It Em Input Ta Em Description

.It Sq \e\ \& Ta unpaddable non-breaking space

.It Sq \e\ \& Ta unpaddable space

.It \e\(ti Ta paddable non-breaking space

.It \e\(ti Ta paddable space

.It \e0 Ta unpaddable, breaking digit-width space

.It \e0 Ta digit-width space

.It \e| Ta one-sixth \e(em narrow space, zero width in nroff mode

.It \e^ Ta one-twelfth \e(em half-narrow space, zero width in nroff

.It \e& Ta zero-width space

.It \e) Ta zero-width space transparent to end-of-sentence detection

.It \e% Ta zero-width space allowing hyphenation

.It \e: Ta zero-width space allowing line break

.El

.Pp

Lines:

Line 319 Quotes:

Line 340 Quotes:

.It \e(rq Ta \(rq Ta right double-quote

.It \e(oq Ta \(oq Ta left single-quote

.It \e(cq Ta \(cq Ta right single-quote

.It \e(aq Ta \(aq Ta apostrophe quote (text)

.It \e(aq Ta \(aq Ta apostrophe quote (ASCII character)

.It \e(dq Ta \(dq Ta double quote (text)

.It \e(dq Ta \(dq Ta double quote (ASCII character)

.It \e(Fo Ta \(Fo Ta left guillemet

.It \e(Fc Ta \(Fc Ta right guillemet

.It \e(fo Ta \(fo Ta left single guillemet

Line 336 Brackets:

Line 357 Brackets:

.It \e(rC Ta \(rC Ta right brace

.It \e(la Ta \(la Ta left angle

.It \e(ra Ta \(ra Ta right angle

.It \e(bv Ta \(bv Ta brace extension

.It \e(bv Ta \(bv Ta brace extension (special font)

.It \e[braceex] Ta \[braceex] Ta brace extension

.It \e[bracketlefttp] Ta \[bracketlefttp] Ta top-left hooked bracket

.It \e[bracketleftbt] Ta \[bracketleftbt] Ta bottom-left hooked bracket

Line 389 Logical:

Line 410 Logical:

.It Em Input Ta Em Rendered Ta Em Description

.It \e(AN Ta \(AN Ta logical and

.It \e(OR Ta \(OR Ta logical or

.It \e(no Ta \(no Ta logical not

.It \e[tno] Ta \[tno] Ta logical not (text font)

.It \e[tno] Ta \[tno] Ta logical not (text)

.It \e(no Ta \(no Ta logical not (special font)

.It \e(te Ta \(te Ta existential quantifier

.It \e(fa Ta \(fa Ta universal quantifier

.It \e(st Ta \(st Ta such that

Line 402 Logical:

Line 423 Logical:

Mathematical:

.Bl -column "xxcoproductxx" "Rendered" "Description" -offset indent -compact

.It Em Input Ta Em Rendered Ta Em Description

.It \e(pl Ta \(pl Ta plus

.It \e- Ta \- Ta minus (text font)

.It \e(mi Ta \(mi Ta minus

.It \e(mi Ta \(mi Ta minus (special font)

.It \e- Ta \- Ta minus (text)

.It + Ta + Ta plus (text font)

.It \e(pl Ta \(pl Ta plus (special font)

.It \e(-+ Ta \(-+ Ta minus-plus

.It \e(+- Ta \(+- Ta plus-minus

.It \e[t+-] Ta \[t+-] Ta plus-minus (text font)

.It \e[t+-] Ta \[t+-] Ta plus-minus (text)

.It \e(+- Ta \(+- Ta plus-minus (special font)

.It \e(pc Ta \(pc Ta center-dot

.It \e(mu Ta \(mu Ta multiply

.It \e[tmu] Ta \[tmu] Ta multiply (text font)

.It \e[tmu] Ta \[tmu] Ta multiply (text)

.It \e(mu Ta \(mu Ta multiply (special font)

.It \e(c* Ta \(c* Ta circle-multiply

.It \e(c+ Ta \(c+ Ta circle-plus

.It \e(di Ta \(di Ta divide

.It \e[tdi] Ta \[tdi] Ta divide (text font)

.It \e[tdi] Ta \[tdi] Ta divide (text)

.It \e(di Ta \(di Ta divide (special font)

.It \e(f/ Ta \(f/ Ta fraction

.It \e(** Ta \(** Ta asterisk

.It \e(<= Ta \(<= Ta less-than-equal

Line 511 Accents:

Line 533 Accents:

.It \e(ao Ta \(ao Ta ring

.It \e(a\(ti Ta \(a~ Ta tilde

.It \e(ho Ta \(ho Ta ogonek

.It \e(ha Ta \(ha Ta hat (text)

.It \e(ha Ta \(ha Ta hat (ASCII character)

.It \e(ti Ta \(ti Ta tilde (text)

.It \e(ti Ta \(ti Ta tilde (ASCII character)

.El

.Pp

Accented letters:

Line 523 Accented letters:

Line 545 Accented letters:

.It \e(\(aqI Ta \('I Ta acute I

.It \e(\(aqO Ta \('O Ta acute O

.It \e(\(aqU Ta \('U Ta acute U

.It \e(\(aqY Ta \('Y Ta acute Y

.It \e(\(aqa Ta \('a Ta acute a

.It \e(\(aqe Ta \('e Ta acute e

.It \e(\(aqi Ta \('i Ta acute i

.It \e(\(aqo Ta \('o Ta acute o

.It \e(\(aqu Ta \('u Ta acute u

.It \e(\(aqy Ta \('y Ta acute y

.It \e(\(gaA Ta \(`A Ta grave A

.It \e(\(gaE Ta \(`E Ta grave E

.It \e(\(gaI Ta \(`I Ta grave I

Line 685 Their syntax is similar to special characters, using

Line 709 Their syntax is similar to special characters, using

and

.Sq \e*[N]

.Pq N-character .

For details, see the

.Em Predefined Strings

subsection of the

.Xr roff 7

manual.

.Bl -column "Input" "Rendered" "Description" -offset indent

.It Em Input Ta Em Rendered Ta Em Description

.It \e*(Ba Ta \*(Ba Ta vertical bar

Line 741 For backward compatibility with existing manuals,

Line 760 For backward compatibility with existing manuals,

.Xr mandoc 1

also supports the

.Pp

.Dl \eN\(aq Ns Ar number Ns \(aq

.Dl \eN\(aq Ns Ar number Ns \(aq and \e[ Ns Cm char Ns Ar number ]

.Pp

escape sequence, inserting the character

escape sequences, 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.

as deprecated in the Heirloom roff manual;

For example, do not use \eN\(aq34\(aq, use \e(dq, or even the plain

on top of that, the second form is a GNU extension.

For example, do not use \eN\(aq34\(aq or \e[char34], use \e(dq,

or even the plain

.Sq \(dq

character where possible.

.Sh COMPATIBILITY

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