mandoc/man.7 - diff

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Diff for /mandoc/man.7 between version 1.11 and 1.19

version 1.11, 2009/06/10 20:18:43

version 1.19, 2009/07/14 15:56:44

Line 27 The

.Nm man

language was historically used to format

.Ux

manuals. This reference document describes the syntax and structure of

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

this language.

usage.

.Pp

.Em \&Do not

.Bf Em

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 52 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

Line 70 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

Anything following a

.Sq \e"

delimiter is considered a comment (unless the

.Sq \e

itself has been escaped) and is ignored to the end of line.

Furthermore, a macro line with only a control character

.Sq \. ,

optionally followed by whitespace, is ignored.

.\" SUB-SECTION

.Ss Special Characters

Special character sequences begin with the escape character

.Sq \e

Line 83 or a single one-character sequence.

Line 92 or a single one-character sequence.

.Pp

Characters may alternatively be escaped by a slash-asterisk,

.Sq \e* ,

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

with the same combinations as described above.

.Pp

Terms may also be text-decorated using the

.Sq \ef

escape followed by a text-decoration letter: 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 143 The

Line 176 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

Line 187 These follow the same calling conventions as the above

Line 220 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_char 7

Line 195 macros.

Line 233 macros.

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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