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version 1.70, 2009/10/26 04:09:45

version 1.99, 2010/05/12 08:41:17

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 above

Line 17

.Dd $Mdocdate$

.Dt MDOC 7

.Os

.Sh NAME

.Nm mdoc

.Nd mdoc language reference

.Sh DESCRIPTION

The

.Nm mdoc

Line 31 language is used to format

Line 27 language is used to format

.Bx

.Ux

manuals. In this reference document, we describe its syntax, structure,

and usage. Our reference implementation is

and usage. Our reference implementation is mandoc; the

.Xr mandoc 1 .

The

.Sx COMPATIBILITY

section describes compatibility with

section describes compatibility with other troff \-mdoc implementations.

.Xr groff 1 .

.Pp

.Nm

Line 50 prior macros:

Line 42 prior macros:

\&.Sh Macro lines change control state.

Other lines are interpreted within the current state.

.Ed

.Sh LANGUAGE SYNTAX

.Nm

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

Line 59 character, and, in certain circumstances, the tab char

Line 49 character, and, in certain circumstances, the tab char

manuals must have

.Ux

line terminators.

.Ss Comments

Text following a

.Sq \e" ,

Line 69 line. A macro line with only a control character and

Line 57 line. A macro line with only a control character and

.Sq \&.\e" ,

is also ignored. Macro lines with only a control charater and optionally

whitespace are stripped from input.

.Ss Reserved Characters

Within a macro line, the following characters are reserved:

.Pp

Line 98 Within a macro line, the following characters are rese

Line 84 Within a macro line, the following characters are rese

.It \&|

.Pq vertical bar

.El

.Pp

Use of reserved characters is described in

.Sx MACRO SYNTAX .

Line 106 For general use in macro lines, these characters must

Line 91 For general use in macro lines, these characters must

with a non-breaking space

.Pq Sq \e&

or, if applicable, an appropriate escape sequence used.

.Ss Special Characters

Special characters may occur in both macro and free-form lines.

Sequences begin with the escape character

Line 126 for a complete list. Examples include

Line 109 for a complete list. Examples include

and

.Sq \ee

.Pq back-slash .

.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

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

(Roman, or reset). This form is not recommended for

(revert to previous mode):

.Pp

.D1 \efBbold\efR \efIitalic\efP

.Pp

A numerical representation 3, 2, or 1 (bold, italic, and Roman,

respectively) may be used instead. A text decoration is valid within

the current font scope only: if a macro opens a font scope alongside

its own scope, such as

.Sx \&Bf

.Cm \&Sy ,

in-scope invocations of

.Sq \ef

are only valid within the font scope of the macro. If

.Sq \ef

is specified outside of any font scope, such as in unenclosed, free-form

text, it will affect the remainder of the document.

.Pp

Text may also be sized with the

.Sq \es

escape, whose syntax is one of

.Sq \es+-n

for one-digit numerals;

.Sq \es(+-nn

.Sq \es+-(nn

for two-digit numerals; and

.Sq \es[+-N] ,

.Sq \es+-[N] ,

.Sq \es'+-N' ,

.Sq \es+-'N'

for arbitrary-digit numerals:

.Pp

.D1 \es+1bigger\es-1

.D1 \es[+10]much bigger\es[-10]

.D1 \es+(10much bigger\es-(10

.D1 \es+'100'much much bigger\es-'100'

.Pp

Note these forms are

.Em not

recommended for

.Nm ,

which encourages semantic, not presentation, annotation.

which encourages semantic annotation.

.Ss Predefined Strings

Historically,

.Xr groff 1

also defined a set of package-specific

.Dq predefined strings ,

which, like

.Sx Special Characters ,

demark special output characters and strings by way of input codes.

Predefined strings are escaped with the slash-asterisk,

Line 161 for a complete list. Examples include

Line 180 for a complete list. Examples include

and

.Sq \e*(Ba

.Pq vertical bar .

.Ss Whitespace

In non-literal free-form lines, consecutive blocks of whitespace are

Whitespace consists of the space character.

pruned from input and added later in the output filter, if applicable:

In free-form lines, whitespace is preserved within a line; un-escaped

.Bd -literal -offset indent

trailing spaces are stripped from input (unless in a literal context).

These spaces are pruned from input.

Blank free-form lines, which may include whitespace, are only permitted

\&.Bd \-literal

within literal contexts.

These are not.

\&.Ed

.Ed

.Pp

In macro lines, whitespace delimits arguments and is discarded. If

arguments are quoted, whitespace within the quotes is retained.

.Pp

Blank lines are only permitted within literal contexts, as are lines

containing only whitespace. Tab characters are only acceptable when

delimiting

.Sq \&Bl \-column

or when in a literal context.

.Ss Quotation

Macro arguments may be quoted with a double-quote to group

space-delimited terms or to retain blocks of whitespace. A quoted

argument begins with a double-quote preceded by whitespace. The next

double-quote not pair-wise adjacent to another double-quote terminates

the literal, regardless of surrounding whitespace.

.Pp

This produces tokens

.Sq a" ,

Line 205 considered literal text. Thus, the following produces

Line 208 considered literal text. Thus, the following produces

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Em "Em a"

.Ed

.Pp

In free-form mode, quotes are regarded as opaque text.

.Ss Dates

There are several macros in

.Nm

that require a date argument. The

that require a date argument. The canonical form for dates is the

.Em canonical form

American format:

for dates is the American format:

.Pp

.D1 Cm Month Day , Year

.Pp

Line 226 value is the full month name. The

.Cm Year

value is the full four-digit year.

.Pp

The

Reduced form dates are broken-down canonical form dates:

.Em non-canonical form

is the same as the canonical form, but without the comma between the

.Cm Day

and

.Cm Year

field.

.Pp

Lastly,

.D1 Cm Month , Year

.Em reduced form

.D1 Cm Year

dates range from only a

.Cm Year

to the full canonical or non-canonical form.

.Pp

Some examples of valid dates follow:

.Pp

.D1 "May, 2009" Pq reduced form

.D1 "2009" Pq reduced form

.D1 "May 20, 2009" Pq canonical form

.D1 "May 20 2009" Pq non-canonical form

.Ss Scaling Widths

Many macros support scaled widths for their arguments, such as

stipulating a two-inch list indentation with the following:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Bl -tag -width 2i

.Ed

.Pp

The syntax for scaled widths is

.Sq Li [+-]?[0-9]*.[0-9]*[:unit:] ,

Line 299 or

Line 287 or

.Sq v

is necessarily non-portable across output media. See

.Sx COMPATIBILITY .

.Sh MANUAL STRUCTURE

A well-formed

.Nm

Line 314 and

Line 300 and

.Sx \&Os

macros, is required for every document.

.Pp

The first section (sections are denoted by

.Sx \&Sh )

must be the NAME section, consisting of at least one

.Sx \&Nm

Line 348 The

Line 334 The

\&.Nm

utility processes files ...

\&.\e\*q .Sh IMPLEMENTATION NOTES

\&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1 & 8 only.

\&.\e\*q .Sh EXIT STATUS

\&.\e\*q The next is for sections 2, 3, & 9 only.

\&.\e\*q .Sh RETURN VALUES

\&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1, 6, 7, & 8 only.

\&.\e\*q .Sh ENVIRONMENT

\&.\e\*q .Sh FILES

\&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1 & 8 only.

\&.\e\*q .Sh EXIT STATUS

\&.\e\*q .Sh EXAMPLES

\&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1, 4, 6, 7, & 8 only.

\&.\e\*q .Sh DIAGNOSTICS

Line 374 The sections in a

Line 360 The sections in a

.Nm

document are conventionally ordered as they appear above. Sections

should be composed as follows:

.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset Ds

.Bl -ohang -offset Ds

.It NAME

.It Em NAME

Must contain at least one

The name(s) and a short description of the documented material. The

syntax for this as follows:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Nm name0

\&.Nm name1

\&.Nm name2

\&.Nd a short description

.Ed

.Pp

The

.Sx \&Nm

followed by

macro(s) must precede the

.Sx \&Nd

macro.

.Pp

See

.Sx \&Nm

and

.Sx \&Nd .

The name needs re-stating since one

.It Em LIBRARY

.Nm

The name of the library containing the documented material, which is

documents can be used for more than one utility or function, such as

assumed to be a function in a section 2 or 3 manual. The syntax for

.Xr grep 1

this is as follows:

also being referenced as

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.Xr egrep 1

\&.Lb libarm

.Ed

.Pp

See

.Sx \&Lb .

.It Em SYNOPSIS

Documents the utility invocation syntax, function call syntax, or device

configuration.

.Pp

For the first, utilities (sections 1, 6, and 8), this is

generally structured as follows:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Nm foo

\&.Op Fl v

\&.Op Fl o Ar file

\&.Op Ar

\&.Nm bar

\&.Op Fl v

\&.Op Fl o Ar file

\&.Op Ar

.Ed

.Pp

For the second, function calls (sections 2, 3, 9):

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Vt extern const char *global;

\&.In header.h

\&.Ft "char *"

\&.Fn foo "const char *src"

\&.Ft "char *"

\&.Fn bar "const char *src"

.Ed

.Pp

And for the third, configurations (section 4):

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Cd \*qit* at isa? port 0x2e\*q

\&.Cd \*qit* at isa? port 0x4e\*q

.Ed

.Pp

Manuals not in these sections generally don't need a

.Em SYNOPSIS .

.Pp

See

.Sx \&Op ,

.Sx \&Cd ,

.Sx \&Fn ,

.Sx \&Ft ,

and

.Xr fgrep 1 .

.Sx \&Vt .

.It LIBRARY

.It Em DESCRIPTION

.It SYNOPSIS

This expands upon the brief, one-line description in

.It DESCRIPTION

.Em NAME .

.It IMPLEMENTATION NOTES

It usually contains a break-down of the options (if documenting a

.It EXIT STATUS

command), such as:

.It RETURN VALUES

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.It ENVIRONMENT

The arguments are as follows:

.It FILES

\&.Bl \-tag \-width Ds

.It EXAMPLES

\&.It Fl v

.It DIAGNOSTICS

Print verbose information.

.It ERRORS

\&.El

.It SEE ALSO

.Ed

.It STANDARDS

.Pp

.It HISTORY

Manuals not documenting a command won't include the above fragment.

.It AUTHORS

.It Em IMPLEMENTATION NOTES

.It CAVEATS

Implementation-specific notes should be kept here. This is useful when

.It BUGS

implementing standard functions that may have side effects or notable

.It SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS

algorithmic implications.

.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.

.Pp

See

.Sx \&Rv .

.It Em ENVIRONMENT

Documents any usages of environment variables, e.g.,

.Xr environ 7 .

.Pp

See

.Sx \&Ev .

.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.).

.Pp

See

.Sx \&Pa .

.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.

.Pp

See

.Sx \&Ex .

.It Em EXAMPLES

Example usages. This often contains snippets of well-formed,

well-tested invocations. Make doubly sure that your examples work

properly!

.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.

.Pp

See

.Sx \&Bl

.Fl diag .

.It Em ERRORS

Documents error handling in sections 2, 3, and 9.

.Pp

See

.Sx \&Er .

.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

See

.Sx \&Xr .

.It Em STANDARDS

References any standards implemented or used. If not adhering to any

standards, the

.Em HISTORY

section should be used instead.

.Pp

See

.Sx \&St .

.It Em HISTORY

The history of any manual without a

.Em STANDARDS

section should be described in this section.

.It Em AUTHORS

Credits to authors, if applicable, should appear in this section.

Authors should generally be noted by both name and an e-mail address.

.Pp

See

.Sx \&An .

.It Em CAVEATS

Explanations of common misuses and misunderstandings should be explained

in this section.

.It Em BUGS

Extant bugs should be described in this section.

.It Em SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS

Documents any security precautions that operators should consider.

.El

.Sh MACRO SYNTAX

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

control character ,

Line 420 following are equivalent:

Line 546 following are equivalent:

\&.Pp

\&.\ \ \ \&Pp

.Ed

.Pp

The syntax of a macro depends on its classification. In this section,

.Sq \-arg

Line 431 parameters;

Line 556 parameters;

opens the scope of a macro; and if specified,

.Sq \&Yc

closes it out.

.Pp

The

.Em Callable

Line 441 initial line macro is interpreted as opaque text, such

Line 565 initial line macro is interpreted as opaque text, such

.Sq \&.Fl \&Sh

produces

.Sq Fl \&Sh .

.Pp

The

.Em Parsable

column indicates whether the macro may be followed by further

(ostensibly callable) macros. If a macro is not parsable, subsequent

macro invocations on the line will be interpreted as opaque text.

.Pp

The

.Em Scope

column, if applicable, describes closure rules.

.Ss Block full-explicit

Multi-line scope closed by an explicit closing macro. All macros

contains bodies; only

Line 465 contains a head.

Line 585 contains a head.

\(lBbody...\(rB

\&.Yc

.Ed

.Pp

.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "closed by XXX"

.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Scope

Line 478 contains a head.

Line 597 contains a head.

.It Sx \&Ek Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta opened by Sx \&Bk

.It Sx \&El Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta opened by Sx \&Bl

.El

.Ss Block full-implicit

Multi-line scope closed by end-of-file or implicitly by another macro.

All macros have bodies; some

Line 493 All macros have bodies; some

Line 610 All macros have bodies; some

don't have heads; only one

.Po

.Sx \&It Fl column

.Pc

has multiple heads.

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead... \(lBTa head...\(rB\(rB

\(lBbody...\(rB

.Ed

.Pp

.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "closed by XXXXXXXXXXX"

.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Scope

Line 508 has multiple heads.

Line 624 has multiple heads.

.It Sx \&Sh Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Sh

.It Sx \&Ss Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Sh , Sx \&Ss

.El

.Ss Block partial-explicit

Like block full-explicit, but also with single-line scope. Each

has at least a body and, in limited circumstances, a head

Line 527 and/or tail

Line 641 and/or tail

\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB \

\(lBbody...\(rB \&Yc \(lBtail...\(rB

.Ed

.Pp

.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "closed by XXXX" -compact -offset indent

.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Scope

Line 556 and/or tail

Line 669 and/or tail

.It Sx \&Xc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Xo

.It Sx \&Xo Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Xc

.El

.Ss Block partial-implicit

Like block full-implicit, but with single-line scope closed by

.Sx Reserved Characters

Line 565 or end of line.

Line 676 or end of line.

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBbody...\(rB \(lBres...\(rB

.Ed

.Pp

.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" -compact -offset indent

.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable

Line 580 or end of line.

Line 690 or end of line.

.It Sx \&Ql Ta Yes Ta Yes

.It Sx \&Qq Ta Yes Ta Yes

.It Sx \&Sq Ta Yes Ta Yes

.It Sx \&Vt Ta Yes Ta Yes

.El

.Pp

Note that the

.Sx \&Vt

macro is a

.Sx Block partial-implicit

only when invoked as the first macro

in a SYNOPSIS section line, else it is

.Sx In-line .

.Ss In-line

Closed by

.Sx Reserved Characters ,

Line 598 then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of argument

Line 715 then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of argument

\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB arg0 arg1 argN

.Ed

.Pp

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

.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Arguments

Line 661 then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of argument

Line 777 then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of argument

.It Sx \&Ot Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n

.It Sx \&Ox Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n

.It Sx \&Pa Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n

.It Sx \&Pf Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta 1

.It Sx \&Pf Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 1

.It Sx \&Pp Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0

.It Sx \&Rv Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n

.It Sx \&Sm Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1

Line 673 then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of argument

Line 789 then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of argument

.It Sx \&Ux Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n

.It Sx \&Va Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n

.It Sx \&Vt Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0

.It Sx \&Xr Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0, <3

.It Sx \&Xr Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0

.It Sx \&br Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0

.It Sx \&sp Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1

.El

.Sh REFERENCE

This section is a canonical reference of all macros, arranged

alphabetically. For the scoping of individual macros, see

.Sx MACRO SYNTAX .

.Ss \&%A

Author name of an

.Sx \&Rs

Line 691 block. Multiple authors should each be accorded their

Line 804 block. Multiple authors should each be accorded their

.Sx \%%A

line. Author names should be ordered with full or abbreviated

forename(s) first, then full surname.

.Ss \&%B

Book title of an

.Sx \&Rs

block. This macro may also be used in a non-bibliographic context when

referring to book titles.

.Ss \&%C

Publication city or location of an

.Sx \&Rs

Line 706 block.

Line 817 block.

.Em Remarks :

this macro is not implemented in

.Xr groff 1 .

.Ss \&%D

Publication date of an

.Sx \&Rs

block. This should follow the reduced syntax for

block. This should follow the reduced or canonical form syntax

described in

.Sx Dates .

Canonical or non-canonical form is not necessary since publications are

often referenced only by year, or month and year.

.Ss \&%I

Publisher or issuer name of an

.Sx \&Rs

block.

.Ss \&%J

Journal name of an

.Sx \&Rs

block.

.Ss \&%N

Issue number (usually for journals) of an

.Sx \&Rs

block.

.Ss \&%O

Optional information of an

.Sx \&Rs

block.

.Ss \&%P

Book or journal page number of an

.Sx \&Rs

block.

.Ss \&%Q

Institutional author (school, government, etc.) of an

.Sx \&Rs

block. Multiple institutional authors should each be accorded their own

.Sx \&%Q

line.

.Ss \&%R

Technical report name of an

.Sx \&Rs

block.

.Ss \&%T

Article title of an

.Sx \&Rs

block. This macro may also be used in a non-bibliographical context

when referring to article titles.

.Ss \&%U

URI of reference document.

.Ss \&%V

Volume number of an

.Sx \&Rs

block.

.Ss \&Ac

Closes an

.Sx \&Ao

block. Does not have any tail arguments.

.Ss \&Ad

Address construct: usually in the context of an computational address in

memory, not a physical (post) address.

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.D1 \&.Ad [0,$]

\&.Ad [0,$]

.D1 \&.Ad 0x00000000

\&.Ad 0x00000000

.Ed

.Ss \&An

Author name. This macro may alternatively accepts the following

arguments, although these may not be specified along with a parameter:

Line 800 will cause the first listing also to be split. If not

Line 894 will cause the first listing also to be split. If not

section, the default is not to split.

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.D1 \&.An -nosplit

\&.An -nosplit

.D1 \&.An J. D. Ullman .

\&.An J. E. Hopcraft ,

\&.An J. D. Ullman .

.Ed

.Pp

.Em Remarks :

the effects of

Line 815 are re-set when entering the AUTHORS section, so if on

Line 906 are re-set when entering the AUTHORS section, so if on

.Sx \&An Fl nosplit

in the general document body, it must be re-specified in the AUTHORS

section.

.Ss \&Ao

Begins a block enclosed by angled brackets. Does not have any head

arguments.

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.D1 \&.Fl -key= \&Ns \&Ao \&Ar val \&Ac

\&.Fl -key= Ns Ao Ar val Ac

.Ed

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Aq .

.Ss \&Ap

Inserts an apostrophe without any surrounding white-space. This is

generally used as a grammatic device when referring to the verb form of

Line 835 a function:

Line 922 a function:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Fn execve Ap d

.Ed

.Ss \&Aq

Encloses its arguments in angled brackets.

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.D1 \&.Fl -key= \&Ns \&Aq \&Ar val

\&.Fl -key= Ns Aq Ar val

.Ed

.Pp

.Em Remarks :

this macro is often abused for rendering URIs, which should instead use

Line 856 statements, which should use

Line 940 statements, which should use

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Ao .

.Ss \&Ar

Command arguments. If an argument is not provided, the string

.Dq file ...

is used as a default.

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.D1 \&.Fl o \&Ns \&Ar file1

\&.Fl o Ns Ar file1

.D1 \&.Ar

\&.Ar

.D1 \&.Ar arg1 , arg2 .

\&.Ar arg1 , arg2 .

.Ed

.Ss \&At

Formats an AT&T version. Accepts at most one parameter:

.Bl -tag -width 12n -offset indent

Line 883 A system version of

Line 963 A system version of

Note that these parameters do not begin with a hyphen.

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.D1 \&.At

\&.At

.D1 \&.At V.1

\&.At V.1

.Ed

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Bsx ,

Line 897 See also

Line 975 See also

.Sx \&Ox ,

and

.Sx \&Ux .

.Ss \&Bc

Closes a

.Sx \&Bo

block. Does not have any tail arguments.

.Ss \&Bd

Begins a display block. A display is collection of macros or text which

may be collectively offset or justified in a manner different from that

Line 981 See also

Line 1057 See also

.Sx \&D1

and

.Sx \&Dl .

.Ss \&Bf

.Ss \&Bk

.Ss \&Bl

.\" Begins a list composed of one or more list entries. A list entry is

.\" specified by the

.\" .Sx \&It

.\" macro, which consists of a head and optional body. By default, a list

.\" is preceded by a blank line. A list must specify one of the following

.\" list types:

.\" .Bl -tag -width 12n

.\" .It Fl bullet

.\" A list offset by a bullet. The head of list entries must be empty.

.\" List entry bodies are justified after the bullet.

.\" .It Fl column

.\" A columnated list. The number of columns is specified as arguments to

.\" the

.\" .Sx \&Bl

.\" macro (the deprecated form of following the invocation of

.\" .Fl column

.\" is also accepted). Arguments dictate the width of columns specified in

.\" list entries. List entry bodies must be left empty. Columns specified

.\" in the list entry head are justified to their position in the sequence

.\" of columns.

.\" .It Fl dash

.\" A list offset by a dash (hyphen). The head of list entries must be

.\" empty. List entry bodies are justified past the dash.

.\" .It Fl diag

.\" Like

.\" .Fl inset

.\" lists, but with additional formatting to the head.

.\" .It Fl enum

.\" A list offset by a number indicating list entry position. The head of

.\" list entries must be empty. List entry bodies are justified past the

.\" enumeration.

.\" .It Fl hang

.\" Like

.\" .Fl tag ,

.\" but instead of list bodies justifying to the head on the first line,

.\" they trail the head text.

.\" .It Fl hyphen

.\" Synonym for

.\" .Fl dash .

.\" .It Fl inset

.\" Like

.\" .Fl tag ,

.\" but list entry bodies aren't justified.

.\" .It Fl item

.\" An un-justified list. This produces blocks of text.

.\" .It Fl ohang

.\" List bodies are placed on the line following the head.

.\" .It Fl tag

.\" A list offset by list entry heads. List entry bodies are justified

.\" after the head.

.\" .El

.\" .Pp

.\" More...

.\" .

.Ss \&Bo

Begins a block enclosed by square brackets. Does not have any head

arguments.

Line 993 arguments.

Line 1121 arguments.

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Bo 1 ,

\&.Dv BUFSIZ Bc

\&.Dv BUFSIZ \&Bc

.Ed

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Bq .

.Ss \&Bq

Encloses its arguments in square brackets.

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.D1 \&.Bq 1 , \&Dv BUFSIZ

\&.Bq 1 , Dv BUFSIZ

.Ed

.Pp

.Em Remarks :

this macro is sometimes abused to emulate optional arguments for

Line 1017 and

Line 1142 and

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Bo .

.Ss \&Brc

Closes a

.Sx \&Bro

block. Does not have any tail arguments.

.Ss \&Bro

Begins a block enclosed by curly braces. Does not have any head

arguments.

Line 1030 arguments.

Line 1153 arguments.

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Bro 1 , ... ,

\&.Va n Brc

\&.Va n \&Brc

.Ed

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Brq .

.Ss \&Brq

Encloses its arguments in curly braces.

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.D1 \&.Brq 1 , ... , \&Va n

\&.Brq 1 , ... , Va n

.Ed

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Bro .

.Ss \&Bsx

Format the BSD/OS version provided as an argument, or a default value if

no argument is provided.

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.D1 \&.Bsx 1.0

\&.Bsx 1.0

.D1 \&.Bsx

\&.Bsx

.Ed

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&At ,

Line 1066 See also

Line 1183 See also

.Sx \&Ox ,

and

.Sx \&Ux .

.Ss \&Bt

Prints

.Dq is currently in beta test.

.Ss \&Bx

Format the BSD version provided as an argument, or a default value if no

argument is provided.

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.D1 \&.Bx 4.4

\&.Bx 4.4

.D1 \&.Bx

\&.Bx

.Ed

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&At ,

Line 1090 See also

Line 1203 See also

.Sx \&Ox ,

and

.Sx \&Ux .

.Ss \&Cd

Configuration declaration (suggested for use only in section four

Configuration declaration. This denotes strings accepted by

manuals). This denotes strings accepted by

.Xr config 8 .

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.D1 \&.Cd device le0 at scode?

\&.Cd device le0 at scode?

.Ed

.Pp

.Em Remarks :

this macro is commonly abused by using quoted literals to retain

white-space and align consecutive

.Sx \&Cd

declarations. This practise is discouraged.

.Ss \&Cm

Command modifiers. Useful when specifying configuration options or

keys.

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.D1 \&.Cm ControlPath

\&.Cm ControlPath

.D1 \&.Cm ControlMaster

\&.Cm ControlMaster

.Ed

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Fl .

.Ss \&D1

One-line indented display. This is formatted by the default rules and

is useful for simple indented statements. It is followed by a newline.

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.D1 \&.D1 \&Fl abcdefgh

\&.D1 Fl abcdefgh

.Ed

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Bd

and

.Sx \&Dl .

.Ss \&Db

.Ss \&Dc

Closes a

.Sx \&Do

block. Does not have any tail arguments.

.Ss \&Dd

Document date. This is the mandatory first macro of any

.Nm

Line 1147 manual. Its calling syntax is as follows:

Line 1248 manual. Its calling syntax is as follows:

.Pp

.D1 \. Ns Sx \&Dd Cm date

.Pp

The

.Cm date

field may be either

.Ar $\&Mdocdate$ ,

which signifies the current manual revision date dictated by

.Xr cvs 1

.Xr cvs 1 ,

or instead a valid canonical date as specified by

.Sx Dates .

If a date does not conform, the current date is used instead.

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.D1 \&.Dd $\&Mdocdate$

\&.Dd $\&Mdocdate$

.D1 \&.Dd $\&Mdocdate: July 21 2007$

\&.Dd $\&Mdocdate: July 21 2007$

.D1 \&.Dd July 21, 2007

\&.Dd July 21, 2007

.Ed

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Dt

and

.Sx \&Os .

.Ss \&Dl

One-line intended display. This is formatted as literal text and is

useful for commands and invocations. It is followed by a newline.

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.D1 \&.Dl % mandoc mdoc.7 | less

\&.Dl % mandoc mdoc.7 | less

.Ed

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Bd

and

.Sx \&D1 .

.Ss \&Do

Begins a block enclosed by double quotes. Does not have any head

arguments.

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.D1 \&.D1 \&Do April is the cruellest month \&Dc \e(em T.S. Eliot

\&.D1 Do April is the cruellest month Dc \e(em T.S. Eliot

.Ed

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Dq .

.Ss \&Dq

Encloses its arguments in double quotes.

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact

\&.Dq April is the cruellest month

\e(em T.S. Eliot

.Ed

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Do .

.Ss \&Dt

Document title. This is the mandatory second macro of any

.Nm

Line 1301 subsequent that. It, too, is optional. It must be on

Line 1393 subsequent that. It, too, is optional. It must be on

.Ar hppa64 ,

.Ar i386 ,

.Ar landisk ,

.Ar loongson ,

.Ar luna88k ,

.Ar mac68k ,

.Ar macppc ,

Line 1319 or

Line 1412 or

.El

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.D1 \&.Dt FOO 1

\&.Dt FOO 1

.D1 \&.Dt FOO 4 KM

\&.Dt FOO 4 KM

.D1 \&.Dt FOO 9 i386

\&.Dt FOO 9 i386

.D1 \&.Dt FOO 9 KM i386

\&.Dt FOO 9 KM i386

.Ed

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Dd

and

.Sx \&Os .

.Ss \&Dv

Defined variables such as preprocessor constants.

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.D1 \&.Dv BUFSIZ

\&.Dv BUFSIZ

.D1 \&.Dv STDOUT_FILENO

\&.Dv STDOUT_FILENO

.Ed

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Er .

.Ss \&Dx

Format the DragonFlyBSD version provided as an argument, or a default

Format the DragonFly BSD version provided as an argument, or a default

value if no argument is provided.

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.D1 \&.Dx 2.4.1

\&.Dx 2.4.1

.D1 \&.Dx

\&.Dx

.Ed

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&At ,

Line 1362 See also

Line 1447 See also

.Sx \&Ox ,

and

.Sx \&Ux .

.Ss \&Ec

.Ss \&Ed

.Ss \&Ef

Line 1374 presentation term and should not be used for stylistic

Line 1458 presentation term and should not be used for stylistic

technical terms.

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.D1 \&.Em Warnings!

\&.Ed Warnings!

.D1 \&.Em Remarks :

\&.Ed Remarks :

.Ed

.Ss \&En

.Ss \&Eo

.Ss \&Er

Error constants (suggested for use only in section two manuals).

Display error constants.

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.D1 \&.Er EPERM

\&.Er EPERM

.D1 \&.Er ENOENT

\&.Er ENOENT

.Ed

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Dv .

.Ss \&Es

.Ss \&Ev

Environmental variables such as those specified in

.Xr environ 7 .

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.D1 \&.Ev DISPLAY

\&.Ev DISPLAY

.D1 \&.Ev PATH

\&.Ev PATH

.Ed

.Ss \&Ex

Inserts text regarding a utility's exit values. This macro must have

first the

Line 1420 is provided.

Line 1494 is provided.

.Ss \&Fc

.Ss \&Fd

.Ss \&Fl

Command-line flag. Used when listing arguments to command-line

utilities. Prints a fixed-width hyphen

.Sq \-

directly followed by each argument. If no arguments are provided, a hyphen is

printed followed by a space. If the argument is a macro, a hyphen is

prefixed to the subsequent macro output.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Fl a b c

.D1 \&.Fl \&Pf a b

.D1 \&.Fl

.D1 \&.Op \&Fl o \&Ns \&Ar file

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Cm .

.Ss \&Fn

.Ss \&Fo

.Ss \&Fr

Line 1429 Format the FreeBSD version provided as an argument, or

Line 1518 Format the FreeBSD version provided as an argument, or

if no argument is provided.

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.D1 \&.Fx 7.1

\&.Fx 7.1

.D1 \&.Fx

\&.Fx

.Ed

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&At ,

Line 1443 See also

Line 1530 See also

.Sx \&Ox ,

and

.Sx \&Ux .

.Ss \&Hf

.Ss \&Ic

.Ss \&In

Line 1456 Format a hyperlink. The calling syntax is as follows:

Line 1542 Format a hyperlink. The calling syntax is as follows:

.D1 \. Ns Sx \&Lk Cm uri Op Cm name

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.D1 \&.Lk http://bsd.lv "The BSD.lv Project"

\&.Lk http://bsd.lv "The BSD.lv Project"

.D1 \&.Lk http://bsd.lv

\&.Lk http://bsd.lv

.Ed

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Mt .

.Ss \&Lp

.Ss \&Ms

.Ss \&Mt

Line 1476 Format the NetBSD version provided as an argument, or

Line 1559 Format the NetBSD version provided as an argument, or

no argument is provided.

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.D1 \&.Nx 5.01

\&.Nx 5.01

.D1 \&.Nx

\&.Nx

.Ed

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&At ,

Line 1490 See also

Line 1571 See also

.Sx \&Ox ,

and

.Sx \&Ux .

.Ss \&Oc

.Ss \&Oo

.Ss \&Op

Line 1509 unspecified, it defaults to the local operating system

Line 1589 unspecified, it defaults to the local operating system

the suggested form.

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.D1 \&.Os

\&.Os

.D1 \&.Os KTH/CSC/TCS

\&.Os KTH/CSC/TCS

.D1 \&.Os BSD 4.3

\&.Os BSD 4.3

.Ed

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Dd

and

.Sx \&Dt .

.Ss \&Ot

Unknown usage.

.Pp

.Em Remarks :

this macro has been deprecated.

.Ss \&Ox

Format the OpenBSD version provided as an argument, or a default value

if no argument is provided.

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.D1 \&.Ox 4.5

\&.Ox 4.5

.D1 \&.Ox

\&.Ox

.Ed

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&At ,

Line 1545 See also

Line 1619 See also

.Sx \&Nx ,

and

.Sx \&Ux .

.Ss \&Pa

.Ss \&Pc

.Ss \&Pf

Line 1556 and

Line 1629 and

.Ss \&Ql

.Ss \&Qo

.Ss \&Qq

.Ss \&Re

Closes a

.Sx \&Rs

block. Does not have any tail arguments.

.Ss \&Rs

Begins a bibliographic

.Pq Dq reference

Line 1584 and

Line 1655 and

child macros (at least one must be specified).

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact

\&.Rs

\&.%A J. E. Hopcroft

\&.%A J. D. Ullman

Line 1600 If an

Line 1671 If an

block is used within a SEE ALSO section, a vertical space is asserted

before the rendered output, else the block continues on the current

line.

.Ss \&Rv

.Ss \&Sc

.Ss \&Sh

Line 1617 line.

Line 1687 line.

Format the UNIX name. Accepts no argument.

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.D1 \&.Ux

\&.Ux

.Ed

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&At ,

Line 1630 See also

Line 1698 See also

.Sx \&Nx ,

and

.Sx \&Ox .

.Ss \&Va

.Ss \&Vt

A variable type. This is also used for indicating global variables in the

SYNOPSIS section, in which case a variable name is also specified. Note that

it accepts

.Sx Block partial-implicit

syntax when invoked as the first macro in the SYNOPSIS section, else it

accepts ordinary

.Sx In-line

syntax.

.Pp

Note that this should not be confused with

.Sx \&Ft ,

which is used for function return types.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Vt unsigned char

.D1 \&.Vt extern const char * const sys_signame[] ;

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Ft

and

.Sx \&Va .

.Ss \&Xc

Close a scope opened by

.Sx \&Xo .

.Ss \&Xo

Open an extension scope. This macro originally existed to extend the

9-argument limit of troff; since this limit has been lifted, the macro

has been deprecated.

.Ss \&Xr

Link to another manual

.Pq Qq cross-reference .

Its calling syntax is

.Pp

.D1 \. Ns Sx \&Xr Cm name section

.Pp

The

.Cm name

and

.Cm section

are the name and section of the linked manual. If

.Cm section

is followed by non-punctuation, an

.Sx \&Ns

is inserted into the token stream. This behaviour is for compatibility

with

.Xr groff 1 .

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Xr mandoc 1

.D1 \&.Xr mandoc 1 ;

.D1 \&.Xr mandoc 1 \&Ns s behaviour

.Ss \&br

.Ss \&sp

.Sh COMPATIBILITY

This section documents compatibility with other roff implementations, at

This section documents compatibility between mandoc and other other

this time limited to

troff implementations, at this time limited to GNU troff

.Xr groff 1 .

.Pq Qq groff .

The term

.Qq historic groff

refers to those versions before the

refers to groff versions before the

.Pa doc.tmac

file re-write

.Pq somewhere between 1.15 and 1.19 .

.Pp

Heirloom troff, the other significant troff implementation accepting

\-mdoc, is similar to historic groff.

.Pp

.Bl -dash -compact

.It

Negative scaling units are now truncated to zero instead of creating

The comment syntax

interesting conditions, such as with

.Sq \e."

.Sq \&sp -1i .

is no longer accepted.

Furthermore, the

.It

In groff, the

.Sx \&Pa

macro does not format its arguments when used in the FILES section under

certain list types. mandoc does.

.It

Historic groff does not print a dash for empty

.Sx \&Fl

arguments. mandoc and newer groff implementations do.

.It

groff behaves irregularly when specifying

.Sq \ef

.Sx Text Decoration

within line-macro scopes. mandoc follows a consistent system.

.It

In mandoc, negative scaling units are truncated to zero; groff would

move to prior lines. Furthermore, the

.Sq f

scaling unit, while accepted, is rendered as the default unit.

.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.

behaviour is not applicable in mandoc.

.It

Display types

.Sx \&Bd Fl center

.Sx \&Bd

.Fl center

and

.Fl right

are aliases for

.Fl left .

.Fl left

The

in manodc. Furthermore, the

.Fl file Ar file

argument is ignored. Since text is not right-justified,

argument is ignored. Lastly, since text is not right-justified in

mandoc (or even groff),

.Fl ragged

and

.Fl filled

Line 1682 are aliases, as are

Line 1815 are aliases, as are

and

.Fl unfilled .

.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.

.It

Historic groff has many un-callable macros. Most of these (excluding

some block-level macros) are now callable, conforming to the

some block-level macros) are now callable.

non-historic groff version.

.It

The vertical bar

.Sq \(ba

made historic groff

.Qq go orbital

but is a proper delimiter in this implementation.

but has been a proper delimiter since then.

.It

.Sx \&It Fl nested

is assumed for all lists (it wasn't in historic groff): any list may be

Line 1705 lists will restart the sequence only for the sub-list.

Line 1833 lists will restart the sequence only for the sub-list.

Some manuals use

.Sx \&Li

incorrectly by following it with a reserved character and expecting the

delimiter to render. This is not supported.

delimiter to render. This is not supported in mandoc.

.It

In groff, the

.Sx \&Fo

macro only produces the first parameter. This is no longer the case.

macro only produces the first parameter. This is not the case in

mandoc.

.It

In groff, the

.Sx \&Cd ,

.Sx \&Er ,

and

.Sx \&Ex

macros were stipulated only to occur in certain manual sections. mandoc

does not have these restrictions.

.El

.Sh SEE ALSO

.Xr mandoc 1 ,

.Xr mandoc_char 7

.Sh AUTHORS

The

.Nm

reference was written by

.An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@kth.se .

.An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@bsd.lv .

.\"

.\" XXX: this really isn't the place for these caveats.

.\" .

CVSweb