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version 1.109, 2011/09/06 17:56:00 version 1.130, 2015/01/24 02:14:46
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 .\"     $Id$  .\"     $Id$
 .\"  .\"
 .\" Copyright (c) 2009, 2010 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@bsd.lv>  .\" Copyright (c) 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@bsd.lv>
   .\" Copyright (c) 2011-2015 Ingo Schwarze <schwarze@openbsd.org>
   .\" Copyright (c) 2010 Joerg Sonnenberger <joerg@netbsd.org>
 .\"  .\"
 .\" 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 above  .\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
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 .Os  .Os
 .Sh NAME  .Sh NAME
 .Nm man  .Nm man
 .Nd man language reference  .Nd legacy formatting language for manual pages
 .Sh DESCRIPTION  .Sh DESCRIPTION
 The  Traditionally, the
 .Nm man  .Nm man
 language was historically used to format  language has been used to write
 .Ux  .Ux
 manuals.  manuals for the
 This reference document describes its syntax, structure, and usage.  .Xr man 1
   utility.
   It supports limited control of presentational details like fonts,
   indentation and spacing.
   This reference document describes the structure of manual pages
   and the syntax and usage of the man language.
 .Pp  .Pp
 .Bf -emphasis  .Bf -emphasis
 Do not use  Do not use
 .Nm  .Nm
 to write your manuals.  to write your manuals:
 .Ef  .Ef
   It lacks support for semantic markup.
 Use the  Use the
 .Xr mdoc 7  .Xr mdoc 7
 language, instead.  language, instead.
 .Pp  .Pp
 A  In a
 .Nm  .Nm
 document follows simple rules: lines beginning with the control  document, lines beginning with the control character
 character  
 .Sq \&.  .Sq \&.
 are parsed for macros.  are called
 Lines not beginning with the control character are  .Dq macro lines .
 interpreted within the scope of prior macros:  The first word is the macro name.
   It usually consists of two capital letters.
   For a list of available macros, see
   .Sx MACRO OVERVIEW .
   The words following the macro name are arguments to the macro.
   .Pp
   Lines not beginning with the control character are called
   .Dq text lines .
   They provide free-form text to be printed; the formatting of the text
   depends on the respective processing context:
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  .Bd -literal -offset indent
 \&.SH Macro lines change control state.  \&.SH Macro lines change control state.
 Text lines are interpreted within the current state.  Text lines are interpreted within the current state.
 .Ed  .Ed
 .Sh LANGUAGE SYNTAX  
 .Nm  
 documents may contain only graphable 7-bit ASCII characters, the  
 space character, and the tab character.  
 The back-space character  
 .Sq \e  
 indicates the start of an escape sequence for  
 .Sx Comments ,  
 .Sx Predefined Strings ,  
 and  
 .Sx Special Characters .  
 .Ss Comments  
 Text following an escaped double-quote  
 .Sq \e\(dq ,  
 whether in a macro or text line, is ignored to the end of  
 line.  
 A macro line beginning with a control character and comment escape  
 .Sq \&.\e\(dq  
 is also ignored.  
 Furthermore,  
 macro lines with only a control character and optional trailing  
 whitespace are  
 stripped from input.  
 .Pp  .Pp
 Examples:  Many aspects of the basic syntax of the
 .Bd -literal -offset indent -compact  
 \&.\e\(dq This is a comment line.  
 \&.\e\(dq The next line is ignored:  
 \&.  
 \&.Em Emphasis \e\(dq This is also a comment.  
 .Ed  
 .Ss Special Characters  
 Special characters are used to encode special glyphs and are rendered  
 differently across output media.  
 They may occur in both macro and text lines.  
 Sequences begin with the escape character  
 .Sq \e  
 followed by either an open-parenthesis  
 .Sq \&(  
 for two-character sequences; an open-bracket  
 .Sq \&[  
 for n-character sequences (terminated at a close-bracket  
 .Sq \&] ) ;  
 or a single one character sequence.  
 .Pp  
 Examples:  
 .Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact  
 .It Li \e(em  
 Two-letter em dash escape.  
 .It Li \ee  
 One-letter backslash escape.  
 .El  
 .Pp  
 See  
 .Xr mandoc_char 7  
 for a complete list.  
 .Ss Text Decoration  
 Terms may be text-decorated using the  
 .Sq \ef  
 escape followed by an indicator: B (bold), I (italic), R (regular), or P  
 (revert to previous mode).  
 A numerical representation 3, 2, or 1 (bold, italic, and regular,  
 respectively) may be used instead.  
 A text decoration is only valid, if specified in free-form text, until  
 the next macro invocation; if specified within a macro, it's only valid  
 until the macro closes scope.  
 Note that macros like  
 .Sx \&BR  
 open and close a font scope with each argument.  
 .Pp  
 The  
 .Sq \ef  
 attribute is forgotten when entering or exiting a macro block.  
 .Pp  
 Examples:  
 .Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact  
 .It Li \efBbold\efR  
 Write in bold, then switch to regular font mode.  
 .It Li \efIitalic\efP  
 Write in italic, then return to previous font mode.  
 .El  
 .Ss Predefined Strings  
 Predefined strings, like  
 .Sx Special Characters ,  
 mark special output glyphs.  
 Predefined strings are escaped with the slash-asterisk,  
 .Sq \e* :  
 single-character  
 .Sq \e*X ,  
 two-character  
 .Sq \e*(XX ,  
 and N-character  
 .Sq \e*[N] .  
 .Pp  
 Examples:  
 .Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact  
 .It Li \e*(Am  
 Two-letter ampersand predefined string.  
 .It Li \e*q  
 One-letter double-quote predefined string.  
 .El  
 .Pp  
 These strings are set using  
 .Xr roff 7 ,  
 although  
 .Nm  .Nm
 consists of several pre-set escapes listed in  language are based on the
 .Xr mandoc_char 7 .  .Xr roff 7
 .Ss Whitespace  language; see the
 Whitespace consists of the space character.  .Em LANGUAGE SYNTAX
 In text lines, whitespace is preserved within a line.  
 In macro lines, whitespace delimits arguments and is discarded.  
 .Pp  
 Unescaped trailing spaces are stripped from text line input unless in a  
 literal context.  
 In general, trailing whitespace on any input line is discouraged for  
 reasons of portability.  
 In the rare case that a blank character is needed at the end of an  
 input line, it may be forced by  
 .Sq \e\ \e& .  
 .Pp  
 In general, space characters can be rendered as literal  
 characters by using non-breaking space escapes or  
 .Sx Quotation .  
 If the first character of a text line is a space, that line is printed  
 with a leading newline.  
 .Ss Quotation  
 Macro arguments may be quoted with double-quotes to so that the  
 enclosed text is one literal term.  
 Quoted text, even if whitespace or if it would cause a macro invocation  
 when unquoted, is considered literal text.  
 .Pp  
 A quoted argument begins with a double-quote preceded by whitespace.  
 The next double-quote not pairwise adjacent to another double-quote  
 terminates the literal, regardless of surrounding whitespace.  
 .Pp  
 Examples:  
 .Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact  
 .It Li .BR a \(dqb c\(dq d  
 Group arguments  
 .Qq b c  
 into one un-bolded argument.  
 If unspecified,  
 .Qq a  
 and  and
 .Qq c  .Em MACRO SYNTAX
 will be in bold,  sections in the
 .Qq b  .Xr roff 7
 and  manual for details, in particular regarding
 .Qq d  comments, escape sequences, whitespace, and quoting.
 in regular font mode.  
 Furthermore, will be preserved between  
 .Qq b  
 and  
 .Qq c .  
 .El  
 .Ss Scaling Widths  
 Many macros support scaled widths for their arguments.  
 The syntax for a scaled width is  
 .Sq Li [+-]?[0-9]*.[0-9]*[:unit:] ,  
 where a decimal must be preceded or proceeded by at least one digit.  
 Negative numbers, while accepted, are truncated to zero.  
 .Pp  
 The following scaling units are accepted:  
 .Pp  
 .Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact  
 .It c  
 centimetre  
 .It i  
 inch  
 .It P  
 pica (~1/6 inch)  
 .It p  
 point (~1/72 inch)  
 .It f  
 synonym for  
 .Sq u  
 .It v  
 default vertical span  
 .It m  
 width of rendered  
 .Sq m  
 .Pq em  
 character  
 .It n  
 width of rendered  
 .Sq n  
 .Pq en  
 character  
 .It u  
 default horizontal span  
 .It M  
 mini-em (~1/100 em)  
 .El  
 .Pp  
 Using anything other than  
 .Sq m ,  
 .Sq n ,  
 .Sq u ,  
 or  
 .Sq v  
 is necessarily non-portable across output media.  
 See  
 .Sx COMPATIBILITY .  
 .Pp  
 If a scaling unit is not provided, the numerical value is interpreted  
 under the default rules of  
 .Sq v  
 for vertical spaces and  
 .Sq u  
 for horizontal ones.  
 .Pp  
 Examples:  
 .Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact  
 .It \&.HP 2i  
 two-inch tagged list indentation  
 .Pq see Sx \&HP  
 .It \&.sp 2v  
 two vertical spaces  
 .Pq see Sx \&sp  
 .El  
 .Ss Sentence Spacing  
 Sentences should terminate at the end of an input line.  
 By doing this, a formatter will be able to apply the proper amount of  
 spacing after the end of sentence (unescaped) period, exclamation mark,  
 or question mark followed by zero or more non-sentence closing  
 delimiters  
 .Po  
 .Sq \&) ,  
 .Sq \&] ,  
 .Sq \&' ,  
 .Sq \&"  
 .Pc .  
 .Pp  
 Examples:  
 .Bd -literal -offset indent -compact  
 Do not end sentences mid-line like this.  Instead,  
 end a sentence like this.  
 A new sentence gets a new line.  
 .Ed  
 .Sh MANUAL STRUCTURE  .Sh MANUAL STRUCTURE
 Each  Each
 .Nm  .Nm
Line 300  appears as the first macro.
Line 89  appears as the first macro.
 .Pp  .Pp
 Beyond  Beyond
 .Sx \&TH ,  .Sx \&TH ,
 at least one macro or text node must appear in the document.  at least one macro or text line must appear in the document.
 .Pp  .Pp
 The following is a well-formed skeleton  The following is a well-formed skeleton
 .Nm  .Nm
Line 309  file for a utility
Line 98  file for a utility
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  .Bd -literal -offset indent
 \&.TH PROGNAME 1 2009-10-10  \&.TH PROGNAME 1 2009-10-10
 \&.SH NAME  \&.SH NAME
 \efBprogname\efR \e(en a description goes here  \efBprogname\efR \e(en one line about what it does
 \&.\e\(dq .SH LIBRARY  \&.\e\(dq .SH LIBRARY
 \&.\e\(dq For sections 2 & 3 only.  \&.\e\(dq For sections 2, 3, and 9 only.
 \&.\e\(dq Not used in OpenBSD.  \&.\e\(dq Not used in OpenBSD.
 \&.SH SYNOPSIS  \&.SH SYNOPSIS
 \efBprogname\efR [\efB\e-options\efR] arguments...  \efBprogname\efR [\efB\e-options\efR] \efIfile ...\efR
 \&.SH DESCRIPTION  \&.SH DESCRIPTION
 The \efBfoo\efR utility processes files...  The \efBfoo\efR utility processes files ...
   \&.\e\(dq .Sh CONTEXT
   \&.\e\(dq For section 9 functions only.
 \&.\e\(dq .SH IMPLEMENTATION NOTES  \&.\e\(dq .SH IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
 \&.\e\(dq Not used in OpenBSD.  \&.\e\(dq Not used in OpenBSD.
 \&.\e\(dq .SH RETURN VALUES  \&.\e\(dq .SH RETURN VALUES
 \&.\e\(dq For sections 2, 3, & 9 only.  \&.\e\(dq For sections 2, 3, and 9 function return values only.
 \&.\e\(dq .SH ENVIRONMENT  \&.\e\(dq .SH ENVIRONMENT
 \&.\e\(dq For sections 1, 6, 7, & 8 only.  \&.\e\(dq For sections 1, 6, 7, and 8 only.
 \&.\e\(dq .SH FILES  \&.\e\(dq .SH FILES
 \&.\e\(dq .SH EXIT STATUS  \&.\e\(dq .SH EXIT STATUS
 \&.\e\(dq For sections 1, 6, & 8 only.  \&.\e\(dq For sections 1, 6, and 8 only.
 \&.\e\(dq .SH EXAMPLES  \&.\e\(dq .SH EXAMPLES
 \&.\e\(dq .SH DIAGNOSTICS  \&.\e\(dq .SH DIAGNOSTICS
 \&.\e\(dq For sections 1, 4, 6, 7, & 8 only.  \&.\e\(dq For sections 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 printf/stderr messages only.
 \&.\e\(dq .SH ERRORS  \&.\e\(dq .SH ERRORS
 \&.\e\(dq For sections 2, 3, & 9 only.  \&.\e\(dq For sections 2, 3, 4, and 9 errno settings only.
 \&.\e\(dq .SH SEE ALSO  \&.\e\(dq .SH SEE ALSO
 \&.\e\(dq .BR foo ( 1 )  \&.\e\(dq .BR foobar ( 1 )
 \&.\e\(dq .SH STANDARDS  \&.\e\(dq .SH STANDARDS
 \&.\e\(dq .SH HISTORY  \&.\e\(dq .SH HISTORY
 \&.\e\(dq .SH AUTHORS  \&.\e\(dq .SH AUTHORS
Line 382  This expands upon the brief, one-line description in
Line 173  This expands upon the brief, one-line description in
 .Em NAME .  .Em NAME .
 It usually contains a break-down of the options (if documenting a  It usually contains a break-down of the options (if documenting a
 command).  command).
   .It Em CONTEXT
   This section lists the contexts in which functions can be called in section 9.
   The contexts are autoconf, process, or interrupt.
 .It Em IMPLEMENTATION NOTES  .It Em IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
 Implementation-specific notes should be kept here.  Implementation-specific notes should be kept here.
 This is useful when implementing standard functions that may have side  This is useful when implementing standard functions that may have side
Line 408  well-tested invocations.
Line 202  well-tested invocations.
 Make sure that examples work properly!  Make sure that examples work properly!
 .It Em DIAGNOSTICS  .It Em DIAGNOSTICS
 Documents error conditions.  Documents error conditions.
 This is most useful in section 4 manuals.  In section 4 and 9 manuals, these are usually messages
   printed by the kernel to the console and to the kernel log.
   In section 1, 6, 7, and 8, these are usually messages
   printed by userland programs to the standard error output.
   .Pp
 Historically, this section was used in place of  Historically, this section was used in place of
 .Em EXIT STATUS  .Em EXIT STATUS
 for manuals in sections 1, 6, and 8; however, this practise is  for manuals in sections 1, 6, and 8; however, this practise is
 discouraged.  discouraged.
 .It Em ERRORS  .It Em ERRORS
 Documents error handling in sections 2, 3, and 9.  Documents
   .Xr errno 2
   settings in sections 2, 3, 4, and 9.
 .It Em SEE ALSO  .It Em SEE ALSO
 References other manuals with related topics.  References other manuals with related topics.
 This section should exist for most manuals.  This section should exist for most manuals.
Line 445  in this section.
Line 245  in this section.
 .It Em SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS  .It Em SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
 Documents any security precautions that operators should consider.  Documents any security precautions that operators should consider.
 .El  .El
 .Sh MACRO SYNTAX  .Sh MACRO OVERVIEW
 Macros are one to three characters in length and begin with a  This overview is sorted such that macros of similar purpose are listed
 control character,  together, to help find the best macro for any given purpose.
 .Sq \&. ,  Deprecated macros are not included in the overview, but can be found
 at the beginning of the line.  in the alphabetical reference below.
 The  .Ss Page header and footer meta-data
 .Sq \(aq  .Bl -column "PP, LP, P" description
 macro control character is also accepted.  .It Sx TH Ta set the title: Ar title section date Op Ar source Op Ar volume
 An arbitrary amount of whitespace (spaces or tabs) may sit between the  .It Sx AT Ta display AT&T UNIX version in the page footer (<= 1 argument)
 control character and the macro name.  .It Sx UC Ta display BSD version in the page footer (<= 1 argument)
 Thus, the following are equivalent:  
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  
 \&.PP  
 \&.\ \ \ PP  
 .Ed  
 .Pp  
 To include space characters in macro arguments, arguments may be quoted;  
 see the  
 .Sq MACRO SYNTAX  
 section in the  
 .Xr roff 7  
 manual for details.  
 .Pp  
 The  
 .Nm  
 macros are classified by scope: line scope or block scope.  
 Line macros are only scoped to the current line (and, in some  
 situations, the subsequent line).  
 Block macros are scoped to the current line and subsequent lines until  
 closed by another block macro.  
 .Ss Line Macros  
 Line macros are generally scoped to the current line, with the body  
 consisting of zero or more arguments.  
 If a macro is scoped to the next line and the line arguments are empty,  
 the next line, which must be text, is used instead.  
 Thus:  
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  
 \&.I  
 foo  
 .Ed  
 .Pp  
 is equivalent to  
 .Sq \&.I foo .  
 If next-line macros are invoked consecutively, only the last is used.  
 If a next-line macro is followed by a non-next-line macro, an error is  
 raised, except for  
 .Sx \&br ,  
 .Sx \&sp ,  
 and  
 .Sx \&na .  
 .Pp  
 The syntax is as follows:  
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  
 \&.YO \(lBbody...\(rB  
 \(lBbody...\(rB  
 .Ed  
 .Bl -column "MacroX" "ArgumentsX" "ScopeXXXXX" "CompatX" -offset indent  
 .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Scope     Ta Em Notes  
 .It Sx \&AT  Ta    <=1       Ta    current   Ta    \&  
 .It Sx \&B   Ta    n         Ta    next-line Ta    \&  
 .It Sx \&BI  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&  
 .It Sx \&BR  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&  
 .It Sx \&DT  Ta    0         Ta    current   Ta    \&  
 .It Sx \&I   Ta    n         Ta    next-line Ta    \&  
 .It Sx \&IB  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&  
 .It Sx \&IR  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&  
 .It Sx \&R   Ta    n         Ta    next-line Ta    \&  
 .It Sx \&RB  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&  
 .It Sx \&RI  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&  
 .It Sx \&SB  Ta    n         Ta    next-line Ta    \&  
 .It Sx \&SM  Ta    n         Ta    next-line Ta    \&  
 .It Sx \&TH  Ta    >1, <6    Ta    current   Ta    \&  
 .It Sx \&UC  Ta    <=1       Ta    current   Ta    \&  
 .It Sx \&br  Ta    0         Ta    current   Ta    compat  
 .It Sx \&fi  Ta    0         Ta    current   Ta    compat  
 .It Sx \&ft  Ta    1         Ta    current   Ta    compat  
 .It Sx \&in  Ta    1         Ta    current   Ta    compat  
 .It Sx \&na  Ta    0         Ta    current   Ta    compat  
 .It Sx \&nf  Ta    0         Ta    current   Ta    compat  
 .It Sx \&sp  Ta    1         Ta    current   Ta    compat  
 .El  .El
 .Pp  .Ss Sections and paragraphs
 Macros marked as  .Bl -column "PP, LP, P" description
 .Qq compat  .It Sx SH Ta section header (one line)
 are included for compatibility with the significant corpus of existing  .It Sx SS Ta subsection header (one line)
 manuals that mix dialects of roff.  .It Sx PP , LP , P Ta start an undecorated paragraph (no arguments)
 These macros should not be used for portable  .It Sx RS , RE Ta reset the left margin: Op Ar width
 .Nm  .It Sx IP Ta indented paragraph: Op Ar head Op Ar width
 manuals.  .It Sx TP Ta tagged paragraph: Op Ar width
 .Ss Block Macros  .It Sx HP Ta hanged paragraph: Op Ar width
 Block macros comprise a head and body.  .It Sx PD Ta set vertical paragraph distance: Op Ar height
 As with in-line macros, the head is scoped to the current line and, in  .It Sx \&br Ta force output line break in text mode (no arguments)
 one circumstance, the next line (the next-line stipulations as in  .It Sx \&sp Ta force vertical space: Op Ar height
 .Sx Line Macros  .It Sx fi , nf Ta fill mode and no-fill mode (no arguments)
 apply here as well).  .It Sx in Ta additional indent: Op Ar width
 .Pp  
 The syntax is as follows:  
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  
 \&.YO \(lBhead...\(rB  
 \(lBhead...\(rB  
 \(lBbody...\(rB  
 .Ed  
 .Pp  
 The closure of body scope may be to the section, where a macro is closed  
 by  
 .Sx \&SH ;  
 sub-section, closed by a section or  
 .Sx \&SS ;  
 part, closed by a section, sub-section, or  
 .Sx \&RE ;  
 or paragraph, closed by a section, sub-section, part,  
 .Sx \&HP ,  
 .Sx \&IP ,  
 .Sx \&LP ,  
 .Sx \&P ,  
 .Sx \&PP ,  
 or  
 .Sx \&TP .  
 No closure refers to an explicit block closing macro.  
 .Pp  
 As a rule, block macros may not be nested; thus, calling a block macro  
 while another block macro scope is open, and the open scope is not  
 implicitly closed, is syntactically incorrect.  
 .Bl -column "MacroX" "ArgumentsX" "Head ScopeX" "sub-sectionX" "compatX" -offset indent  
 .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Head Scope Ta Em Body Scope  Ta Em Notes  
 .It Sx \&HP  Ta    <2        Ta    current    Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&  
 .It Sx \&IP  Ta    <3        Ta    current    Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&  
 .It Sx \&LP  Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&  
 .It Sx \&P   Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&  
 .It Sx \&PP  Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&  
 .It Sx \&RE  Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    none        Ta    compat  
 .It Sx \&RS  Ta    1         Ta    current    Ta    part        Ta    compat  
 .It Sx \&SH  Ta    >0        Ta    next-line  Ta    section     Ta    \&  
 .It Sx \&SS  Ta    >0        Ta    next-line  Ta    sub-section Ta    \&  
 .It Sx \&TP  Ta    n         Ta    next-line  Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&  
 .El  .El
 .Pp  .Ss Physical markup
 Macros marked  .Bl -column "PP, LP, P" description
 .Qq compat  .It Sx B Ta boldface font
 are as mentioned in  .It Sx I Ta italic font
 .Sx Line Macros .  .It Sx R Ta roman (default) font
 .Pp  .It Sx SB Ta small boldface font
 If a block macro is next-line scoped, it may only be followed by in-line  .It Sx SM Ta small roman font
 macros for decorating text.  .It Sx BI Ta alternate between boldface and italic fonts
 .Sh REFERENCE  .It Sx BR Ta alternate between boldface and roman fonts
   .It Sx IB Ta alternate between italic and boldface fonts
   .It Sx IR Ta alternate between italic and roman fonts
   .It Sx RB Ta alternate between roman and boldface fonts
   .It Sx RI Ta alternate between roman and italic fonts
   .El
   .Sh MACRO REFERENCE
 This section is a canonical reference to all macros, arranged  This section is a canonical reference to all macros, arranged
 alphabetically.  alphabetically.
 For the scoping of individual macros, see  For the scoping of individual macros, see
 .Sx MACRO SYNTAX .  .Sx MACRO SYNTAX .
 .Ss \&AT  .Ss \&AT
 Sets the volume for the footer for compatibility with man pages from  Sets the volume for the footer for compatibility with man pages from
 .Tn AT&T UNIX  .At
 releases.  releases.
 The optional arguments specify which release it is from.  The optional arguments specify which release it is from.
 .Ss \&B  .Ss \&B
Line 656  and
Line 352  and
 .Ss \&DT  .Ss \&DT
 Has no effect.  Has no effect.
 Included for compatibility.  Included for compatibility.
   .Ss \&EE
   This is a non-standard GNU extension, included only for compatibility.
   In
   .Xr mandoc 1 ,
   it does the same as
   .Sx \&fi .
   .Ss \&EX
   This is a non-standard GNU extension, included only for compatibility.
   In
   .Xr mandoc 1 ,
   it does the same as
   .Sx \&nf .
 .Ss \&HP  .Ss \&HP
 Begin a paragraph whose initial output line is left-justified, but  Begin a paragraph whose initial output line is left-justified, but
 subsequent output lines are indented, with the following syntax:  subsequent output lines are indented, with the following syntax:
 .Bd -filled -offset indent  .Bd -filled -offset indent
 .Pf \. Sx \&HP  .Pf \. Sx \&HP
 .Op Cm width  .Op Ar width
 .Ed  .Ed
 .Pp  .Pp
 The  The
 .Cm width  .Ar width
 argument must conform to  argument is a
 .Sx Scaling Widths .  .Xr roff 7
   scaling width.
 If specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if unspecified, the  If specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if unspecified, the
 saved or default width is used.  saved or default width is used.
 .Pp  .Pp
Line 704  and
Line 413  and
 Begin an indented paragraph with the following syntax:  Begin an indented paragraph with the following syntax:
 .Bd -filled -offset indent  .Bd -filled -offset indent
 .Pf \. Sx \&IP  .Pf \. Sx \&IP
 .Op Cm head Op Cm width  .Op Ar head Op Ar width
 .Ed  .Ed
 .Pp  .Pp
 The  The
 .Cm width  .Ar width
 argument defines the width of the left margin and is defined by  argument is a
 .Sx Scaling Widths .  .Xr roff 7
   scaling width defining the left margin.
 It's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if unspecified, the saved or  It's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if unspecified, the saved or
 default width is used.  default width is used.
 .Pp  .Pp
 The  The
 .Cm head  .Ar head
 argument is used as a leading term, flushed to the left margin.  argument is used as a leading term, flushed to the left margin.
 This is useful for bulleted paragraphs and so on.  This is useful for bulleted paragraphs and so on.
 .Pp  .Pp
Line 754  See also
Line 464  See also
 .Sx \&PP ,  .Sx \&PP ,
 and  and
 .Sx \&TP .  .Sx \&TP .
   .Ss \&OP
   Optional command-line argument.
   This is a non-standard GNU extension, included only for compatibility.
   It has the following syntax:
   .Bd -filled -offset indent
   .Pf \. Sx \&OP
   .Ar key Op Ar value
   .Ed
   .Pp
   The
   .Ar key
   is usually a command-line flag and
   .Ar value
   its argument.
 .Ss \&P  .Ss \&P
 Synonym for  Synonym for
 .Sx \&LP .  .Sx \&LP .
Line 765  See also
Line 489  See also
 .Sx \&PP ,  .Sx \&PP ,
 and  and
 .Sx \&TP .  .Sx \&TP .
   .Ss \&PD
   Specify the vertical space to be inserted before each new paragraph.
   .br
   The syntax is as follows:
   .Bd -filled -offset indent
   .Pf \. Sx \&PD
   .Op Ar height
   .Ed
   .Pp
   The
   .Ar height
   argument is a
   .Xr roff 7
   scaling width.
   It defaults to
   .Cm 1v .
   If the unit is omitted,
   .Cm v
   is assumed.
   .Pp
   This macro affects the spacing before any subsequent instances of
   .Sx \&HP ,
   .Sx \&IP ,
   .Sx \&LP ,
   .Sx \&P ,
   .Sx \&PP ,
   .Sx \&SH ,
   .Sx \&SS ,
   and
   .Sx \&TP .
 .Ss \&PP  .Ss \&PP
 Synonym for  Synonym for
 .Sx \&LP .  .Sx \&LP .
Line 801  and
Line 555  and
 .Ss \&RE  .Ss \&RE
 Explicitly close out the scope of a prior  Explicitly close out the scope of a prior
 .Sx \&RS .  .Sx \&RS .
 The default left margin is restored to the state of the original  The default left margin is restored to the state before that
 .Sx \&RS  .Sx \&RS
 invocation.  invocation.
   .Pp
   The syntax is as follows:
   .Bd -filled -offset indent
   .Pf \. Sx \&RE
   .Op Ar level
   .Ed
   .Pp
   Without an argument, the most recent
   .Sx \&RS
   block is closed out.
   If
   .Ar level
   is 1, all open
   .Sx \&RS
   blocks are closed out.
   Otherwise,
   .Ar level No \(mi 1
   nested
   .Sx \&RS
   blocks remain open.
 .Ss \&RI  .Ss \&RI
 Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and italics.  Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and italics.
 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.  Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
Line 824  Temporarily reset the default left margin.
Line 598  Temporarily reset the default left margin.
 This has the following syntax:  This has the following syntax:
 .Bd -filled -offset indent  .Bd -filled -offset indent
 .Pf \. Sx \&RS  .Pf \. Sx \&RS
 .Op Cm width  .Op Ar width
 .Ed  .Ed
 .Pp  .Pp
 The  The
 .Cm width  .Ar width
 argument must conform to  argument is a
 .Sx Scaling Widths .  .Xr roff 7
   scaling width.
 If not specified, the saved or default width is used.  If not specified, the saved or default width is used.
 .Pp  .Pp
 See also  See also
Line 852  The scope of a sub-section is closed by a subsequent s
Line 627  The scope of a sub-section is closed by a subsequent s
 section, or end of file.  section, or end of file.
 The paragraph left-margin width is reset to the default.  The paragraph left-margin width is reset to the default.
 .Ss \&TH  .Ss \&TH
 Sets the title of the manual page with the following syntax:  Sets the title of the manual page for use in the page header
   and footer with the following syntax:
 .Bd -filled -offset indent  .Bd -filled -offset indent
 .Pf \. Sx \&TH  .Pf \. Sx \&TH
 .Ar title section date  .Ar title section date
Line 874  is empty or not specified, the current date is used.
Line 650  is empty or not specified, the current date is used.
 The optional  The optional
 .Ar source  .Ar source
 string specifies the organisation providing the utility.  string specifies the organisation providing the utility.
   When unspecified,
   .Xr mandoc 1
   uses its
   .Fl Ios
   argument.
 The  The
 .Ar volume  .Ar volume
 string replaces the default rendered volume, which is dictated by the  string replaces the default rendered volume, which is dictated by the
Line 890  Subsequent output lines are indented.
Line 671  Subsequent output lines are indented.
 The syntax is as follows:  The syntax is as follows:
 .Bd -filled -offset indent  .Bd -filled -offset indent
 .Pf \. Sx \&TP  .Pf \. Sx \&TP
 .Op Cm width  .Op Ar width
 .Ed  .Ed
 .Pp  .Pp
 The  The
 .Cm width  .Ar width
 argument must conform to  argument is a
 .Sx Scaling Widths .  .Xr roff 7
   scaling width.
 If specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if  If specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if
 unspecified, the saved or default width is used.  unspecified, the saved or default width is used.
 .Pp  .Pp
Line 909  and
Line 691  and
 .Sx \&PP .  .Sx \&PP .
 .Ss \&UC  .Ss \&UC
 Sets the volume for the footer for compatibility with man pages from  Sets the volume for the footer for compatibility with man pages from
 BSD releases.  .Bx
   releases.
 The optional first argument specifies which release it is from.  The optional first argument specifies which release it is from.
   .Ss \&UE
   End a uniform resource identifier block.
   This is a non-standard GNU extension, included only for compatibility.
   See
   .Sx \&UE .
   .Ss \&UR
   Begin a uniform resource identifier block.
   This is a non-standard GNU extension, included only for compatibility.
   It has the following syntax:
   .Bd -literal -offset indent
   .Pf \. Sx \&UR Ar uri
   link description to be shown
   .Pf \. Sx UE
   .Ed
 .Ss \&br  .Ss \&br
 Breaks the current line.  Breaks the current line.
 Consecutive invocations have no further effect.  Consecutive invocations have no further effect.
Line 920  See also
Line 717  See also
 .Ss \&fi  .Ss \&fi
 End literal mode begun by  End literal mode begun by
 .Sx \&nf .  .Sx \&nf .
 .Ss \&ft  
 Change the current font mode.  
 See  
 .Sx Text Decoration  
 for a listing of available font modes.  
 .Ss \&in  .Ss \&in
 Indent relative to the current indentation:  Indent relative to the current indentation:
 .Pp  .Pp
 .D1 Pf \. Sx \&in Op Cm width  .D1 Pf \. Sx \&in Op Ar width
 .Pp  .Pp
 If  If
 .Cm width  .Ar width
 is signed, the new offset is relative.  is signed, the new offset is relative.
 Otherwise, it is absolute.  Otherwise, it is absolute.
 This value is reset upon the next paragraph, section, or sub-section.  This value is reset upon the next paragraph, section, or sub-section.
Line 950  or
Line 742  or
 Insert vertical spaces into output with the following syntax:  Insert vertical spaces into output with the following syntax:
 .Bd -filled -offset indent  .Bd -filled -offset indent
 .Pf \. Sx \&sp  .Pf \. Sx \&sp
 .Op Cm height  .Op Ar height
 .Ed  .Ed
 .Pp  .Pp
 Insert  The
 .Cm height  .Ar height
 spaces, which must conform to  argument is a scaling width as described in
 .Sx Scaling Widths .  .Xr roff 7 .
 If 0, this is equivalent to the  If 0, this is equivalent to the
 .Sx \&br  .Sx \&br
 macro.  macro.
Line 964  Defaults to 1, if unspecified.
Line 756  Defaults to 1, if unspecified.
 .Pp  .Pp
 See also  See also
 .Sx \&br .  .Sx \&br .
   .Sh MACRO SYNTAX
   The
   .Nm
   macros are classified by scope: line scope or block scope.
   Line macros are only scoped to the current line (and, in some
   situations, the subsequent line).
   Block macros are scoped to the current line and subsequent lines until
   closed by another block macro.
   .Ss Line Macros
   Line macros are generally scoped to the current line, with the body
   consisting of zero or more arguments.
   If a macro is scoped to the next line and the line arguments are empty,
   the next line, which must be text, is used instead.
   Thus:
   .Bd -literal -offset indent
   \&.I
   foo
   .Ed
   .Pp
   is equivalent to
   .Sq \&.I foo .
   If next-line macros are invoked consecutively, only the last is used.
   If a next-line macro is followed by a non-next-line macro, an error is
   raised, except for
   .Sx \&br ,
   .Sx \&sp ,
   and
   .Sx \&na .
   .Pp
   The syntax is as follows:
   .Bd -literal -offset indent
   \&.YO \(lBbody...\(rB
   \(lBbody...\(rB
   .Ed
   .Bl -column "MacroX" "ArgumentsX" "ScopeXXXXX" "CompatX" -offset indent
   .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Scope     Ta Em Notes
   .It Sx \&AT  Ta    <=1       Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&B   Ta    n         Ta    next-line Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&BI  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&BR  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&DT  Ta    0         Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&EE  Ta    0         Ta    current   Ta    compat
   .It Sx \&EX  Ta    0         Ta    current   Ta    compat
   .It Sx \&I   Ta    n         Ta    next-line Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&IB  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&IR  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&OP  Ta    0, 1      Ta    current   Ta    compat
   .It Sx \&PD  Ta    1         Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&R   Ta    n         Ta    next-line Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&RB  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&RI  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&SB  Ta    n         Ta    next-line Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&SM  Ta    n         Ta    next-line Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&TH  Ta    >1, <6    Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&UC  Ta    <=1       Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&br  Ta    0         Ta    current   Ta    compat
   .It Sx \&fi  Ta    0         Ta    current   Ta    compat
   .It Sx \&in  Ta    1         Ta    current   Ta    compat
   .It Sx \&na  Ta    0         Ta    current   Ta    compat
   .It Sx \&nf  Ta    0         Ta    current   Ta    compat
   .It Sx \&sp  Ta    1         Ta    current   Ta    compat
   .El
   .Pp
   Macros marked as
   .Qq compat
   are included for compatibility with the significant corpus of existing
   manuals that mix dialects of roff.
   These macros should not be used for portable
   .Nm
   manuals.
   .Ss Block Macros
   Block macros comprise a head and body.
   As with in-line macros, the head is scoped to the current line and, in
   one circumstance, the next line (the next-line stipulations as in
   .Sx Line Macros
   apply here as well).
   .Pp
   The syntax is as follows:
   .Bd -literal -offset indent
   \&.YO \(lBhead...\(rB
   \(lBhead...\(rB
   \(lBbody...\(rB
   .Ed
   .Pp
   The closure of body scope may be to the section, where a macro is closed
   by
   .Sx \&SH ;
   sub-section, closed by a section or
   .Sx \&SS ;
   part, closed by a section, sub-section, or
   .Sx \&RE ;
   or paragraph, closed by a section, sub-section, part,
   .Sx \&HP ,
   .Sx \&IP ,
   .Sx \&LP ,
   .Sx \&P ,
   .Sx \&PP ,
   or
   .Sx \&TP .
   No closure refers to an explicit block closing macro.
   .Pp
   As a rule, block macros may not be nested; thus, calling a block macro
   while another block macro scope is open, and the open scope is not
   implicitly closed, is syntactically incorrect.
   .Bl -column "MacroX" "ArgumentsX" "Head ScopeX" "sub-sectionX" "compatX" -offset indent
   .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Head Scope Ta Em Body Scope  Ta Em Notes
   .It Sx \&HP  Ta    <2        Ta    current    Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&IP  Ta    <3        Ta    current    Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&LP  Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&P   Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&PP  Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&RE  Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    none        Ta    compat
   .It Sx \&RS  Ta    1         Ta    current    Ta    part        Ta    compat
   .It Sx \&SH  Ta    >0        Ta    next-line  Ta    section     Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&SS  Ta    >0        Ta    next-line  Ta    sub-section Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&TP  Ta    n         Ta    next-line  Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&UE  Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    none        Ta    compat
   .It Sx \&UR  Ta    1         Ta    current    Ta    part        Ta    compat
   .El
   .Pp
   Macros marked
   .Qq compat
   are as mentioned in
   .Sx Line Macros .
   .Pp
   If a block macro is next-line scoped, it may only be followed by in-line
   macros for decorating text.
   .Ss Font handling
   In
   .Nm
   documents, both
   .Sx Physical markup
   macros and
   .Xr roff 7
   .Ql \ef
   font escape sequences can be used to choose fonts.
   In text lines, the effect of manual font selection by escape sequences
   only lasts until the next macro invocation; in macro lines, it only lasts
   until the end of the macro scope.
   Note that macros like
   .Sx \&BR
   open and close a font scope for each argument.
 .Sh COMPATIBILITY  .Sh COMPATIBILITY
 This section documents areas of questionable portability between  This section mentions some areas of questionable portability between
 implementations of the  implementations of the
 .Nm  .Nm
 language.  language.
   More incompatibilities exist.
 .Pp  .Pp
 .Bl -dash -compact  .Bl -dash -compact
 .It  .It
Line 980  to close out a literal context opened with
Line 915  to close out a literal context opened with
 .Sx \&nf .  .Sx \&nf .
 This behaviour may not be portable.  This behaviour may not be portable.
 .It  .It
 In quoted literals, GNU troff allowed pair-wise double-quotes to produce  
 a standalone double-quote in formatted output.  
 It is not known whether this behaviour is exhibited by other formatters.  
 .It  
 troff suppresses a newline before  troff suppresses a newline before
 .Sq \(aq  .Sq \(aq
 macro output; in mandoc, it is an alias for the standard  macro output; in mandoc, it is an alias for the standard
 .Sq \&.  .Sq \&.
 control character.  control character.
 .It  .It
   In page header lines, GNU troff versions up to and including 1.21
   only print
   .Ar volume
   names explicitly specified in the
   .Sx \&TH
   macro; mandoc and newer groff print the default volume name
   corresponding to the
   .Ar section
   number when no
   .Ar volume
   is given, like in
   .Xr mdoc 7 .
   .El
   .Pp
 The  The
 .Sq \eh  .Sx EE ,
 .Pq horizontal position ,  .Sx EX ,
 .Sq \ev  .Sx OP ,
 .Pq vertical position ,  .Sx UE ,
 .Sq \em  
 .Pq text colour ,  
 .Sq \eM  
 .Pq text filling colour ,  
 .Sq \ez  
 .Pq zero-length character ,  
 .Sq \ew  
 .Pq string length ,  
 .Sq \ek  
 .Pq horizontal position marker ,  
 .Sq \eo  
 .Pq text overstrike ,  
 and  and
 .Sq \es  .Sx UR
 .Pq text size  macros are part of the GNU extended
 escape sequences are all discarded in mandoc.  .Nm
 .It  macro set, and may not be portable to non-GNU troff implementations.
 The  
 .Sq \ef  
 scaling unit is accepted by mandoc, but rendered as the default unit.  
 .It  
 The  
 .Sx \&sp  
 macro does not accept negative values in mandoc.  
 In GNU troff, this would result in strange behaviour.  
 .El  
 .Sh SEE ALSO  .Sh SEE ALSO
 .Xr man 1 ,  .Xr man 1 ,
 .Xr mandoc 1 ,  .Xr mandoc 1 ,
Line 1036  language first appeared as a macro package for the rof
Line 960  language first appeared as a macro package for the rof
 system in  system in
 .At v7 .  .At v7 .
 It was later rewritten by James Clark as a macro package for groff.  It was later rewritten by James Clark as a macro package for groff.
   Eric S. Raymond wrote the extended
   .Nm
   macros for groff in 2007.
 The stand-alone implementation that is part of the  The stand-alone implementation that is part of the
 .Xr mandoc 1  .Xr mandoc 1
 utility written by Kristaps Dzonsons appeared in  utility written by Kristaps Dzonsons appeared in
Line 1044  utility written by Kristaps Dzonsons appeared in
Line 971  utility written by Kristaps Dzonsons appeared in
 This  This
 .Nm  .Nm
 reference was written by  reference was written by
 .An Kristaps Dzonsons ,  .An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq Mt kristaps@bsd.lv .
 .Mt kristaps@bsd.lv .  
 .Sh CAVEATS  .Sh CAVEATS
 Do not use this language.  Do not use this language.
 Use  Use
Legend:
Removed from v.1.109  
changed lines
  Added in v.1.130
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