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Diff for /mandoc/mdoc.7 between version 1.1 and 1.50

version 1.1, 2009/03/13 07:46:10 version 1.50, 2009/07/20 13:45:11
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 .\" $Id$  .\"     $Id$
 .\"  .\"
 .\" Copyright (c) 2009 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@kth.se>  .\" Copyright (c) 2009 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@kth.se>
 .\"  .\"
 .\" 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  .\" 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 $Mdocdate$  .Dd $Mdocdate$
 .Dt mdoc 7  .Dt MDOC 7
 .Os  .Os
 .\" SECTION  .\" SECTION---------------------------------------------
 .Sh NAME  .Sh NAME
 .Nm mdoc  .Nm mdoc
 .Nd mdoc macro reference  .Nd mdoc language reference
 .\" SECTION  .\" SECTION---------------------------------------------
 .Sh DESCRIPTION  .Sh DESCRIPTION
 The  The
 .Nm mdoc  .Nm mdoc
 language is used to format  language is used to format
 .Bx  .Bx
 .Ux  .Ux
 manuals.  An  manuals.  In this reference document, we describe its syntax, structure,
   and usage.  Our reference implementation is
   .Xr mandoc 1 .
   The
   .Sx COMPATIBILITY
   section describes compatibility with
   .Xr groff 1 .
   .\" PARAGRAPH------------
   .Pp
   An
 .Nm  .Nm
 document follows simple rules:  lines beginning with the control  document follows simple rules:  lines beginning with the control
 character  character
 .Sq \.  .Sq \.
 are parsed for macros.  Other lines are interpreted within the scope of  are parsed for macros.  Other lines are interpreted within the scope of
 prior macros.  Macros are either two or three characters in length.  prior macros:
 .\" SECTION  .Bd -literal -offset indent
 .Sh CHARACTER ENCODING  \&.Sh Macro lines change control state.
   Other lines are interpreted within the current state.
   .Ed
   .\" SECTION---------------------------------------------
   .Sh LANGUAGE SYNTAX
 .Nm  .Nm
 documents may contain only printable alphanumeric characters, the space  documents may contain only graphable 7-bit ASCII characters, the space
 character  character, and, in certain circumstances, the tab character.  All
 .Sq \  ,  manuals must have
 and, in certain circumstances, the tab character  .Ux
 .Sq \et .  line terminators.
 All manuals must have  .\" SUB-SECTION----------------------
 .Sq \en  .Ss Comments
 line termination.  Text following a
 .\" SUB-SECTION  .Sq \e" ,
 .Ss Special Characters  whether in a macro or free-form text line, is ignored to the end of
 Within a macro line, the following characters are special:  line.  A macro line with only a control character and comment escape,
 .\" PARAGRAPH  .Sq \&.\e" ,
 .Pp  is also ignored.
 .Bl -tag -width Ds -offset XXXX -compact  .\" SUB-SECTION----------------------
   .Ss Reserved Characters
   Within a macro line, the following characters are reserved:
   .Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
 .It \&.  .It \&.
 period  .Pq period
 .It \&,  .It \&,
 comma  .Pq comma
 .It \&:  .It \&:
 colon  .Pq colon
 .It \&;  .It \&;
 semicolon  .Pq semicolon
 .It \&(  .It \&(
 left-parenthesis  .Pq left-parenthesis
 .It \&)  .It \&)
 right-parenthesis  .Pq right-parenthesis
 .It \&[  .It \&[
 left-bracket  .Pq left-bracket
 .It \&]  .It \&]
 right-bracket  .Pq right-bracket
 .It \&?  .It \&?
 question  .Pq question
 .It \&!  .It \&!
 exclmamation  .Pq exclamation
   .It \&|
   .Pq vertical bar
 .El  .El
   .\" PARAGRAPH------------
 .Pp  .Pp
 Use of these characters must either be escaped with a non-breaking space  Use of reserved characters is described in
   .Sx MACRO SYNTAX .
   For general use in macro lines, these characters must either be escaped
   with a non-breaking space
 .Pq Sq \e&  .Pq Sq \e&
 or, if applicable, an appropriate escape-sequence used.  or, if applicable, an appropriate escape sequence used.
 .\" SUB-SECTION  .\" SUB-SECTION----------------------
 .Ss Special Characters  .Ss Special Characters
 Special character sequences begin with the escape character  Special characters may occur in both macro and free-form lines.
 .Sq \\  Sequences begin with the escape character
 and followed by either an open-parenthesis  .Sq \e
   followed by either an open-parenthesis
 .Sq \&(  .Sq \&(
 for two-character sequences; an open-bracket  for two-character sequences; an open-bracket
 .Sq \&[  .Sq \&[
 for n-character sequences (terminated at a close-bracket  for n-character sequences (terminated at a close-bracket
 .Sq \&] ) ;  .Sq \&] ) ;
 or a single one-character sequence.  or a single one-character sequence.  See
 .Pp  .Xr mandoc_char 1
 Characters may alternatively be escaped by a slash-asterisk,  for a complete list.  Examples include
 .Sq \\* ,  .Sq \e(em
 with the same combinations as described above.  This form, however, is  
 deprecated.  The following is a table of all available escapes, arranged  
 by classification.  
 .Pp  
 Grammatic:  
 .Pp  
 .Bl -tag -width 12n -offset "XXXX" -compact  
 .It \\(em  
 .Pq em-dash  .Pq em-dash
 .It \\(en  and
 .Pq en-dash  .Sq \ee
 .It \e-  .Pq back-slash .
 .Pq hyphen  .\" PARAGRAPH------------
 .It \\\\  
 .Pq back-slash  
 .It \e'  
 .Pq apostrophe  
 .It \e`  
 .Pq back-tick  
 .It \\  
 .Pq space  
 .It \\.  
 .Pq period  
 .El  
 .\" PARAGRAPH  
 .Pp  .Pp
 Enclosures:  An alternative escape sequence is
   the slash-asterisk,
   .Sq \e* ,
   but this method is discouraged for compatibility reasons.
   .\" PARAGRAPH------------
 .Pp  .Pp
 .Bl -tag -width 12n -offset "XXXX" -compact  Terms may
 .It \\(rC  also be text-decorated using the
 .Pq right brace  .Sq \ef
 .It \\(lC  escape followed by an indicator: B (bold), I, (italic), or P and R
 .Pq left brace  (Roman, or reset).  This form is not recommended.
 .It \\(ra  .\" SUB-SECTION----------------------
 .Pq right angle  .Ss Whitespace
 .It \\(la  In non-literal free-form lines, consecutive blocks of whitespace are
 .Pq left angle  pruned from input and added later in the output filter, if applicable:
 .It \\(rB  .Bd -literal -offset indent
 .Pq right bracket  These     spaces   are    pruned       from    input.
 .It \\(lB  \&.Bd \-literal
 .Pq left bracket  These         are              not.
 .It \\q  \&.Ed
 .Pq double-quote  .Ed
 .It \\(lq  .\" PARAGRAPH------------
 .Pq left double-quote  
 .It \\(Lq  
 .Pq left double-quote, deprecated  
 .It \\(rq  
 .Pq right double-quote  
 .It \\(Rq  
 .Pq right double-quote, deprecated  
 .It \\(oq  
 .Pq left single-quote  
 .It \\(aq  
 .Pq right single-quote  
 .El  
 .\" PARAGRAPH  
 .Pp  .Pp
 Indicatives:  In macro lines, whitespace delimits arguments and is discarded.  If
   arguments are quoted, whitespace within the quotes is retained.
   .\" PARAGRAPH------------
 .Pp  .Pp
 .Bl -tag -width 12n -offset "XXXX" -compact  Blank lines are only permitted within literal contexts, as are lines
 .It \\(<-  containing only whitespace.  Tab characters are only acceptable when
 .Pq left arrow  delimiting
 .It \\(->  .Sq \&Bl \-column
 .Pq right arrow  or when in a literal context.
 .It \\(ua  .\" SUB-SECTION----------------------
 .Pq up arrow  .Ss Quotation
 .It \\(da  Macro arguments may be quoted with a double-quote to group
 .Pq down arrow  space-delimited terms or to retain blocks of whitespace.  A quoted
 .El  argument begins with a double-quote preceded by whitespace.  The next
 .\" PARAGRAPH  double-quote not pair-wise adjacent to another double-quote terminates
   the literal, regardless of surrounding whitespace.
   .\" PARAGRAPH------------
 .Pp  .Pp
 Mathematical:  This produces tokens
   .Sq a" ,
   .Sq b c ,
   .Sq de ,
   and
   .Sq fg" .
   Note that any quoted term, be it argument or macro, is indiscriminately
   considered literal text.  Thus, the following produces
   .Sq \&Em a :
   .Bd -literal -offset indent
   \&.Em "Em a"
   .Ed
   .\" PARAGRAPH------------
 .Pp  .Pp
 .Bl -tag -width 12n -offset "XXXX" -compact  In free-form mode, quotes are regarded as opaque text.
 .It \\(Gt  .\" SECTION---------------------------------------------
 .Pq greater-than, deprecated  .Sh MANUAL STRUCTURE
 .It \\(Lt  Each
 .Pq less-than, deprecated  .Nm
 .It \\(<=  document must begin with a document prologue, containing, in order,
 .Pq less-than-equal  .Sq \&Dd ,
 .It \\(Le  .Sq \&Dt ,
 .Pq less-than-equal, deprecated  and
 .It \\(>=  .Sq \&Os ,
 .Pq greater-than-equal  then the NAME section containing at least one
 .It \\(Ge  .Sq \&Nm
 .Pq greater-than-equal  followed by
 .It \\(==  .Sq \&Nd :
 .Pq equal  .Bd -literal -offset indent
 .It \\(!=  \&.Dd $\&Mdocdate$
 .Pq not equal  \&.Dt mdoc 7
 .It \\(Ne  \&.Os
 .Pq not equal, deprecated  \&.Sh NAME
 .It \\(if  \&.Nm mdoc
 .Pq infinity  \&.Nd mdoc language reference
 .It \\(If  .Ed
 .Pq infinity, deprecated  .\" PARAGRAPH------------
 .It \\(na  
 .Pq NaN , an extension  
 .It \\(Na  
 .Pq NaN, deprecated  
 .It \\(+-  
 .Pq plus-minus  
 .It \\(Pm  
 .Pq plus-minus, deprecated  
 .It \\(**  
 .Pq asterisk  
 .El  
 .\" PARAGRAPH  
 .Pp  .Pp
 Diacritics:  Subsequent SYNOPSIS and DESCRIPTION sections are strongly encouraged,
   but non-compulsory.
   .\" SECTION---------------------------------------------
   .Sh MACRO SYNTAX
   Every line beginning with the control character
   .Sq \.
   is processed for macros, two- or three-character sequences.
   .\" PARAGRAPH------------
 .Pp  .Pp
 .Bl -tag -width 12n -offset "XXXX" -compact  The syntax of a macro depends on its classification.  In this section,
 .It \\(ga  .Sq \-arg
 .Pq accent grave  refers to macro arguments, which may be followed by zero or more
 .It \\(aa  .Sq parm
 .Pq accent accute  parameters;
 .El  .Sq \&Yo
 .\" PARAGRAPH  opens the scope of a macro; and if specified,
   .Sq \&Yc
   closes it out.
   .\" PARAGRAPH------------
 .Pp  .Pp
 Special symbols:  The
   .Em Callable
   column indicates that the macro may be called subsequent to the initial
   line-macro.  The
   .Em Parsable
   column indicates whether the macro may be followed by further
   (ostensibly callable) macros.  The
   .Em Scope
   column, if applicable, describes closure rules.
   .\" SUB-SECTION----------------------
   .Ss Block full-explicit
   Multi-line scope closed by an explicit closing macro.  All macros
   contains bodies; only
   .Pq Sq \&Bf
   contains a head.
   .Bd -literal -offset indent
   \&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB
   \(lBbody...\(rB
   \&.Yc
   .Ed
   .\" PARAGRAPH------------
 .Pp  .Pp
 .Bl -tag -width 12n -offset "XXXX" -compact  .Bl -column -compact -offset indent "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "closed by XXX"
 .It \\(bu  .It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Scope
 .Pq bullet  .It \&Bd     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    closed by \&Ed
 .It \\(ba  .It \&Bf     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    closed by \&Ef
 .Pq bar  .It \&Bk     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    closed by \&Ek
 .It \\(Ba  .It \&Bl     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    closed by \&El
 .Pq bar, deprecated  .It \&Ed     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    opened by \&Bd
 .It \\(co  .It \&Ef     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    opened by \&Bf
 .Pq copyright  .It \&Ek     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    opened by \&Bk
 .It \\&  .It \&El     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    opened by \&Bl
 .Pq non-breaking space  
 .It \\e  
 .Pq escape  
 .It \\(Am  
 .Pq ampersand, deprecated  
 .El  
 .\" SECTION  
 .Sh CLASSIFICATION  
 Macros are classified in an ontology described by scope rules.  
 .Bl -tag -width "in-lineX"  
 .\" LIST-ITEM  
 .It Em Block  
 Block macros enclose other block macros, in-line macros or text, and  
 may span multiple lines.  
 .Qq Implicit  
 block scope is closed by a subsequent invocation of the same macro,  
 one of a set of corresponding closure macros or end-of-file.  
 .Qq Explicit  
 block scope is closed by a corresponding closure macro.  
 .Bl -tag -width "partial-blockX"  
 .\" LIST-ITEM  
 .It Em Full-block  
 Always spans multiple lines.  Consists optionally of one or more  
 .Qq heads ,  
 subsequent macros or text on the same line following invocation; a  
 .Qq body ,  
 which spans subsequent lines of text or macros; and an optional  
 .Qq tail ,  
 macros or text on the same line following closure.  
 .\" LIST-ITEM  
 .It Em Partial-block  
 May span multiple lines.  Consists optionally of a  
 .Qq head ,  
 text immediately following invocation; always a  
 .Qq body ,  
 text or macros following the head on the same and subsequent lines; and  
 optionally a  
 .Qq tail ,  
 text immediately following closure.  
 .El  .El
 .\" LIST-ITEM  .\" SUB-SECTION----------------------
 .It Em In-line  
 In-line macros may only enclose text and span at most a single line.  If  
 a macro is parsable, its scope may be closed by subsequent macros or  
 delimiting punctuation.  In-line macros follow different conventions for  
 closure; see  
 .Sx MACROS  
 for per-macro details.  
 .El  
 .\" .\" SUB-SECTION  
 .\" .Ss Examples  
 .\" The following examples illustrate each macro classification.  
 .\" .\" PARAGRAPH  
 .\" .Pp  
 .\" Implicit full-block.  Has head, body and no tail.  Scope closed by  
 .\" second  
 .\" .Sq \&Sh  
 .\" invocation.  
 .\" .Bd -literal -offset XXXX  
 .\" \&.Sh SECTION 1  
 .\" body...  
 .\" \&.Sh SECTION 2  
 .\" .Ed  
 .\" .\" PARAGRAPH  
 .\" .Pp  
 .\" Nested implicit full-block, where the subsection  
 .\" .Sq \&Ss  
 .\" is within the scope of the parent section  
 .\" .Sq \&Sh  
 .\" and closed along with its parent by the subsequent  
 .\" .Sq \&Sh .  
 .\" .Bd -literal -offset XXXX  
 .\" \&.Sh SECTION 1  
 .\" \&.Ss Subsection 1  
 .\" body...  
 .\" \&.Sh SECTION 2  
 .\" .Ed  
 .\" .\" PARAGRAPH  
 .\" .Pp  
 .\" Explicit full-block.  Has a head, a body and no tail.  Scope closed by  
 .\" .Sq \&Ef  
 .\" invocation.  
 .\" .Bd -literal -offset XXXX  
 .\" \&.Bf symbolic  
 .\" body...  
 .\" \&.Ef  
 .\" .Ed  
 .\" .\" PARAGRAPH  
 .\" .Pp  
 .\" Nested explicit/implicit scope.  
 .\" .Sq \&It  
 .\" macro is an implicit block whose scope is closed by the explicit  
 .\" .Sq \&El  
 .\" closure.  
 .\" .Bd -literal -offset XXXX  
 .\" \&.Bl \-bullet  
 .\" \&.It head  
 .\" body...  
 .\" \&.El  
 .\" .Ed  
 .\" .\" PARAGRAPH  
 .\" .Pp  
 .\" Explicit partial-block.  Has head, body and tail.  Scope closed by  
 .\" .Sq \&Ec  
 .\" invocation.  
 .\" .Bd -literal -offset XXX  
 .\" \&.Eo head body... \&Ec tail  
 .\" .Ed  
 .\" .\" PARAGRAPH  
 .\" .Pp  
 .\" Implicit partial-block.  Has only body.  Scope is closed by end-of-line.  
 .\" .Bd -literal -offset XXX  
 .\" \&.Sq body...  
 .\" .Ed  
 .\" .\" PARAGRAPH  
 .\" .Pp  
 .\" Explicit partial-block with only body and scope closed by  
 .\" .Sq \&Ac  
 .\" invocation.  
 .\" .Bd -literal -offset XXXX  
 .\" \&.Ao body... \&Ac  
 .\" .Ed  
 .\" .\" PARAGRAPH  
 .\" .Pp  
 .\" Implicit partial-block enclosing explicit partial-block.  
 .\" .Bd -literal -offset XXX  
 .\" \&.Sq body... \&Ao body... \&Ac  
 .\" .Ed  
 .\" .\" PARAGRAPH  
 .\" .Pp  
 .\" Inline macros, several in sequence.  Scope is closed for  
 .\" .Sq \&Fl  
 .\" by the punctuation delimiter and  
 .\" .Sq \&Ar  
 .\" by the end-of-line.  
 .\" .Bd -literal -offset XXXX  
 .\" \&.Fl text0 text1 ; Ar text0 text1  
 .\" .Ed  
 .\" SECTION  
 .Sh MACROS  
 This section contains a complete list of all  
 .Nm  
 macros, arranged ontologically then alphanumerically by macro name.  A  
 .Qq callable  
 macro is may be invoked subsequent to the initial macro-line macro.  A  
 .Qq parsable  
 macro May be followed by further (ostensibly callable) macros.  
 .\" SUB-SECTION  
 .Ss Block full-implicit  .Ss Block full-implicit
 The head of these macros follows invocation; the body is the content of  Multi-line scope closed by end-of-file or implicitly by another macro.
 subsequent lines prior to closure.  None of these macros have tails;  All macros have bodies; some
 some  
 .Po  .Po
 .Sq \&It \-bullet ,  .Sq \&It \-bullet ,
 .Sq \-hyphen ,  .Sq \-hyphen ,
 .Sq \-dash ,  .Sq \-dash ,
 .Sq \-enum  .Sq \-enum ,
   .Sq \-item
 .Pc  .Pc
 don't have heads.  don't have heads, while
   .Sq \&It \-column
   may have multiple heads.
   .Bd -literal -offset indent
   \&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead... \(lBTa head...\(rB\(rB
   \(lBbody...\(rB
   .Ed
   .\" PARAGRAPH------------
 .Pp  .Pp
 .Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "Closing" -compact -offset XXXX  .Bl -column -compact -offset indent "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "closed by XXXXXXXXXXX"
 .It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Closing  .It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Scope
 .It \&.Sh    Ta    \&No    Ta    \&No    Ta    \&.Sh  .It \&It     Ta    \&No     Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by \&It, \&El
 .It \&.Ss    Ta    \&No    Ta    \&No    Ta    \&.Sh, \&.Ss  .It \&Nd     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    closed by \&Sh
 .It \&.It    Ta    \&No    Ta    Yes     Ta    \&.It, \&.El  .It \&Sh     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    closed by \&Sh
   .It \&Ss     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    closed by \&Sh, \&Ss
 .El  .El
 .\" SUB-SECTION  .\" SUB-SECTION----------------------
 .Ss Block full-explicit  .Ss Block partial-explicit
 None of these macros are callable or parsed.  The last column indicates  Like block full-explicit, but also with single-line scope.  Each
 the explicit scope rules.  All contains bodies, some may contain heads  has at least a body and, in limited circumstances, a head
 .Pq So \&Bf Sc .  .Pq So \&Fo Sc , So \&Eo Sc
   and/or tail
   .Pq So \&Ec Sc .
   .Bd -literal -offset indent
   \&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB
   \(lBbody...\(rB
   \&.Yc \(lBtail...\(rB
   
   \&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB \
   \(lBbody...\(rB \&Yc \(lBtail...\(rB
   .Ed
   .\" PARAGRAPH------------
 .Pp  .Pp
 .Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "closed by XXX" -compact -offset XXXX  .Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "closed by XXXX" -compact -offset indent
 .It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Scope  .It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Scope
 .It \&.Bd    Ta    \&No    Ta    \&No    Ta    closed by \&.Ed  .It \&Ac     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by \&Ao
 .It \&.Ed    Ta    \&No    Ta    \&No    Ta    opened by \&.Bd  .It \&Ao     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by \&Ac
 .It \&.Bl    Ta    \&No    Ta    \&No    Ta    closed by \&.El  .It \&Bc     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by \&Bo
 .It \&.El    Ta    \&No    Ta    \&No    Ta    opened by \&.Bl  .It \&Bo     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by \&Bc
 .It \&.Bf    Ta    \&No    Ta    \&No    Ta    closed by \&.Ef  .It \&Brc    Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by \&Bro
 .It \&.Ef    Ta    \&No    Ta    \&No    Ta    opened by \&.Bf  .It \&Bro    Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by \&Brc
   .It \&Dc     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by \&Do
   .It \&Do     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by \&Dc
   .It \&Ec     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by \&Eo
   .It \&Eo     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by \&Ec
   .It \&Fc     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by \&Fo
   .It \&Fo     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    closed by \&Fc
   .It \&Oc     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by \&Oo
   .It \&Oo     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by \&Oc
   .It \&Pc     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by \&Po
   .It \&Po     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by \&Pc
   .It \&Qc     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by \&Oo
   .It \&Qo     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by \&Oc
   .It \&Re     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    opened by \&Rs
   .It \&Rs     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    closed by \&Re
   .It \&Sc     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by \&So
   .It \&So     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by \&Sc
   .It \&Xc     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by \&Xo
   .It \&Xo     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by \&Xc
 .El  .El
 .\" SUB-SECTION  .\" SUB-SECTION----------------------
 .Ss Block partial-implicit  .Ss Block partial-implicit
 All of these are callable and parsed for further macros.  Their scopes  Like block full-implicit, but with single-line scope closed by
 close at the invocation's end-of-line.  .Sx Reserved Characters
   or end of line.
   .Bd -literal -offset indent
   \&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBbody...\(rB \(lBres...\(rB
   .Ed
   .\" PARAGRAPH------------
 .Pp  .Pp
 .Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" -compact -offset XXXX  .Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" -compact -offset indent
 .It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable  .It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable
 .It \&.Aq    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  .It \&Aq     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
 .It \&.Op    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  .It \&Bq     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
 .It \&.Bq    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  .It \&Brq    Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
 .It \&.Dq    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  .It \&D1     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&Yes
 .It \&.Pq    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  .It \&Dl     Ta    \&No     Ta    Yes
 .It \&.Qq    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  .It \&Dq     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
 .It \&.Sq    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  .It \&Op     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
 .It \&.Brq   Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  .It \&Pq     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
   .It \&Ql     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
   .It \&Qq     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
   .It \&Sq     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
 .El  .El
 .\" SUB-SECTION  .\" SUB-SECTION----------------------
 .Ss Block partial-explicit  .Ss In-line
 Each of these contains at least a body and, in limited circumstances, a  Closed by
 head  .Sx Reserved Characters ,
 .Pq So \&Fo Sc , So \&Eo Sc  end of line, fixed argument lengths, and/or subsequent macros.  In-line
 and/or tail  macros have only text children.  If a number (or inequality) of
 .Pq So \&Ec Sc .  arguments is
   .Pq n ,
   then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of arguments.
   .Bd -literal -offset indent
   \&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBargs...\(rB \(lbres...\(rb
   
   \&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBargs...\(rB Yc...
   
   \&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB arg0 arg1 argN
   .Ed
   .\" PARAGRAPH------------
 .Pp  .Pp
 .Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "closed by XXXX" -compact -offset XXXX  .Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "Arguments" -compact -offset indent
 .It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Scope  .It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Arguments
 .It \&.Ao    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    closed by \&.Ac  .It \&%A     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
 .It \&.Ac    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    opened by \&.Ao  .It \&%B     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
 .It \&.Bc    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    closed by \&.Bo  .It \&%C     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
 .It \&.Bo    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    opened by \&.Bc  .It \&%D     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
 .It \&.Pc    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    closed by \&.Po  .It \&%I     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
 .It \&.Po    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    opened by \&.Pc  .It \&%J     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
 .It \&.Do    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    closed by \&.Dc  .It \&%N     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
 .It \&.Dc    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    opened by \&.Do  .It \&%O     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
 .It \&.Xo    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    closed by \&.Xc  .It \&%P     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
 .It \&.Xc    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    opened by \&.Xo  .It \&%R     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
 .It \&.Bro   Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    closed by \&.Brc  .It \&%T     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
 .It \&.Brc   Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    opened by \&.Bro  .It \&%V     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
 .It \&.Oc    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    closed by \&.Oo  .It \&Ad     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
 .It \&.Oo    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    opened by \&.Oc  .It \&An     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
 .It \&.So    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    closed by \&.Sc  .It \&Ap     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    0
 .It \&.Sc    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    opened by \&.So  .It \&Ar     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
 .It \&.Fc    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    opened by \&.Fo  .It \&At     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    1
 .It \&.Fo    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No   Ta    closed by \&.Fc  .It \&Bsx    Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
 .It \&.Ec    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    opened by \&.Eo  .It \&Bt     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    0
 .It \&.Eo    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    closed by \&.Ec  .It \&Bx     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
 .It \&.Qc    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    opened by \&.Oo  .It \&Cd     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
 .It \&.Qo    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    closed by \&.Oc  .It \&Cm     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
   .It \&Db     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    1
   .It \&Dd     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
   .It \&Dt     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    n
   .It \&Dv     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
   .It \&Dx     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
   .It \&Em     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
   .It \&En     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    0
   .It \&Er     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
   .It \&Es     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    0
   .It \&Ev     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
   .It \&Ex     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    0
   .It \&Fa     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
   .It \&Fd     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
   .It \&Fl     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
   .It \&Fn     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
   .It \&Fr     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    n
   .It \&Ft     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
   .It \&Fx     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
   .It \&Hf     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    n
   .It \&Ic     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
   .It \&In     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    n
   .It \&Lb     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    1
   .It \&Li     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
   .It \&Lk     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
   .It \&Lp     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    0
   .It \&Ms     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
   .It \&Mt     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
   .It \&Nm     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
   .It \&No     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    0
   .It \&Ns     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    0
   .It \&Nx     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
   .It \&Os     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    n
   .It \&Ot     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    n
   .It \&Ox     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
   .It \&Pa     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
   .It \&Pf     Ta    \&No     Ta    Yes      Ta    1
   .It \&Pp     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    0
   .It \&Rv     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    0
   .It \&Sm     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    1
   .It \&St     Ta    \&No     Ta    Yes      Ta    1
   .It \&Sx     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
   .It \&Sy     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
   .It \&Tn     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
   .It \&Ud     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    0
   .It \&Ux     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
   .It \&Va     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
   .It \&Vt     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
   .It \&Xr     Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0, <3
   .It \&br     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    0
   .It \&sp     Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    1
 .El  .El
 .\" SUB-SECTION  .\" SECTION---------------------------------------------
 .Ss General  .Sh COMPATIBILITY
 .Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" -compact -offset XXXX  This section documents compatibility with other roff implementations, at
 .It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable  this time limited to
 .It \&.Dd    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  .Xr groff 1 .
 .It \&.Dt    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  The term
 .It \&.Os    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  .Qq historic groff
 .It \&.Pp    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  refers to those versions before the
 .It \&.D1    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  .Pa doc.tmac
 .It \&.Dl    Ta    \&    Ta    Yes  file re-write
 .It \&.Ad    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  .Pq somewhere between 1.15 and 1.19 .
 .It \&.An    Ta    \&    Ta    Yes  .\" PARAGRAPH------------
 .It \&.Ar    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  .Pp
 .It \&.Cd    Ta    Yes   Ta    \&  .Bl -dash -compact
 .It \&.Cm    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  .\" LIST-ITEM
 .It \&.Dv    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  .It
 .It \&.Er    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  In quoted literals, groff allowed pair-wise double-quotes to produce a
 .It \&.Ev    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  standalone double-quote in formatted output.  This idiosyncratic
 .It \&.Ex    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  behaviour is no longer applicable.
 .It \&.Fa    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  .\" LIST-ITEM
 .It \&.Fd    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  .It
 .It \&.Fl    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  The
 .It \&.Fn    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  .Sq \&sp
 .It \&.Ft    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  macro does not accept negative numbers.
 .It \&.Ic    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  .\" LIST-ITEM
 .It \&.In    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  .It
 .It \&.Li    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  Some character sequences in groff are not handled depending on escape
 .It \&.Nd    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  style, e.g.,
 .It \&.Nm    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  .Sq \e(ba
 .It \&.Ot    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  and
 .It \&.Pa    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  .Sq \e*(Ba
 .It \&.Rv    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  may not be interchanged.  This is no longer the case: all character
 .It \&.St    Ta    Yes   Ta    \&  sequences resolve to the same symbol, regardless the escape style.
 .It \&.Va    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  .\" LIST-ITEM
 .It \&.Vt    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  .It
 .It \&.Xr    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  Blocks of whitespace are stripped from both macro and free-form text
 .It \&.%A    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  lines (except when in literal mode), while groff would retain whitespace
 .It \&.%B    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  in free-form text lines.
 .It \&.%C    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  .\" LIST-ITEM
 .It \&.%D    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  .It
 .It \&.%I    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  Historic groff has many un-callable macros.  Most of these (excluding
 .It \&.%J    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  some block-level macros) are now callable, conforming to the
 .It \&.%N    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  non-historic groff version.
 .It \&.%O    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  .\" LIST-ITEM
 .It \&.%P    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  .It
 .It \&.%R    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  The vertical bar
 .It \&.%T    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  .Sq \(ba
 .It \&.%V    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  made historic groff
 .It \&.At    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  .Qq go orbital
 .It \&.Bsx   Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  but is a proper delimiter in this implementation.
 .It \&.Bx    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  .\" LIST-ITEM
 .It \&.Db    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  .It
 .It \&.Em    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  .Sq \&It \-nested
 .It \&.Fx    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  is assumed for all lists (it wasn't in historic groff): any list may be
 .It \&.Ms    Ta    \&    Ta    Yes  nested and
 .It \&.No    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  .Sq \-enum
 .It \&.Ns    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  lists will restart the sequence only for the sub-list.
 .It \&.Nx    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  .\" LIST-ITEM
 .It \&.Ox    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  .It
 .It \&.Pf    Ta    \&    Ta    Yes  .Sq \&It \-column
 .It \&.Ql    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  syntax where column widths may be preceded by other arguments (instead
 .It \&.Re    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  of proceeded) is not supported.
 .It \&.Rs    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  .\" LIST-ITEM
 .It \&.Sm    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  .It
 .It \&.Sx    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  The
 .It \&.Sy    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  .Sq \&At
 .It \&.Tn    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  macro only accepts a single parameter.
 .It \&.Ux    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  .\" LIST-ITEM
 .It \&.Bk    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  .It
 .It \&.Ek    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  Some manuals use
 .It \&.Bt    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  .Sq \&Li
 .It \&.Hf    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  incorrectly by following it with a reserved character and expecting the
 .It \&.Fr    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  delimiter to render.  This is not supported.
 .It \&.Ud    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  .\" LIST-ITEM
 .It \&.Lb    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  .It
 .It \&.Ap    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes  If an special-character control character is escaped
 .It \&.Lp    Ta    \&    Ta    \&  .Sq \e\e ,
 .It \&.Lk    Ta    \&    Ta    Yes  it will obviously not render the subsequent sequence.  Even newer
 .It \&.Mt    Ta    \&    Ta    Yes  versions of groff seem to dither on this.
   .\" LIST-ITEM
   .It
   In groff, the
   .Sq \&Fo
   macro only produces the first parameter.  This is no longer the case.
   .El
   .\" SECTION---------------------------------------------
   .Sh SEE ALSO
   .Xr mandoc 1 ,
   .Xr mandoc_char 7
   .\" SECTION---------------------------------------------
   .Sh AUTHORS
   The
   .Nm
   reference was written by
   .An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@kth.se .
   .\" SECTION---------------------------------------------
   .Sh CAVEATS
   There are many ambiguous parts of mdoc.
   .\" PARAGRAPH------------
   .Pp
   .Bl -dash -compact
   .\" LIST-ITEM
   .It
   .Sq \&Fa
   should be
   .Sq \&Va
   as function arguments are variables.
   .\" LIST-ITEM
   .It
   .Sq \&Ft
   should be
   .Sq \&Vt
   as function return types are still types.  Furthermore, the
   .Sq \&Ft
   should be removed and
   .Sq \&Fo ,
   which ostensibly follows it, should follow the same convention as
   .Sq \&Va .
   .\" LIST-ITEM
   .It
   .Sq \&Va
   should formalise that only one or two arguments are acceptable: a
   variable name and optional, preceding type.
   .\" LIST-ITEM
   .It
   .Sq \&Fd
   is ambiguous.  It's commonly used to indicate an include file in the
   synopsis section.
   .Sq \&In
   should be used, instead.
   .\" LIST-ITEM
   .It
   Only the
   .Sq \-literal
   argument to
   .Sq \&Bd
   makes sense.  The remaining ones should be removed.
   .\" LIST-ITEM
   .It
   The
   .Sq \&Xo
   and
   .Sq \&Xc
   macros should be deprecated.
   .\" LIST-ITEM
   .It
   The
   .Sq \&Dt
   macro lacks clarity.  It should be absolutely clear which title will
   render when formatting the manual page.
   .\" LIST-ITEM
   .It
   A
   .Sq \&Lx
   should be provided for Linux (\(`a la
   .Sq \&Ox ,
   .Sq \&Nx
   etc.).
   .\" LIST-ITEM
   .It
   There's no way to refer to references in
   .Sq \&Rs/Re
   blocks.
   .\" LIST-ITEM
   .It
   The \-split and \-nosplit arguments to
   .Sq \&An
   are inane.
 .El  .El
Legend:
Removed from v.1.1  
changed lines
  Added in v.1.50
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