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Diff for /mandoc/man.7 between version 1.14 and 1.20

version 1.14, 2009/06/18 10:32:00

version 1.20, 2009/07/20 13:45:11

Line 25

.Sh DESCRIPTION

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 -emphasis

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 41 language, instead.

Line 43 language, instead.

.Nm

document follows simple rules: lines beginning with the control

character

.Sq \&.

are parsed for macros. Other lines are interpreted within the scope of

prior macros:

Line 53 Other lines are interpreted within the current state.

Line 55 Other lines are interpreted within the current state.

.Sh INPUT ENCODING

.Nm

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

space character

space character, and the tabs character. All manuals must have

.Sq \ ,

and tabs

.Sq \et .

All manuals must have

.Ux

.Sq \en

line termination.

.Pp

Blank lines are acceptable; where found, the output will assert a

vertical space.

Line 74 subsequent word isn't off-set by whitespace.

Line 71 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

Line 85 optionally followed by whitespace, is ignored.

Line 82 optionally followed by whitespace, is ignored.

.Ss Special Characters

Special character sequences begin with the escape character

.Sq \e

followed by either an open-parenthesis

.Sq \&(

for two-character sequences; an open-bracket

.Sq \&[

Line 95 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 108 and

Line 129 and

.Sq \&.\ \ \ \&PP

are equivalent.

.Pp

All

.Nm

macros follow the same structural rules:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.YO \(lBbody...\(rB

.Ed

.Pp

The

Line 120 The

Line 141 The

consists of zero or more arguments to the macro.

.Pp

.Nm

has a primitive notion of multi-line scope for the following macros:

.Sq \&.TM ,

.Sq \&.SM ,

.Sq \&.SB ,

Line 131 has a primitive notion of multi-line scope for the fol

Line 152 has a primitive notion of multi-line scope for the fol

.Sq \&.R ,

.Sq \&.B ,

.Sq \&.I ,

.Sq \&.IR

and

.Sq \&.RI .

When these macros are invoked without arguments, the subsequent line is

considered a continuation of the macro. Thus:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.RI

foo

.Ed

.Pp

is equivalent to

.Sq \&.RI foo .

If two consecutive lines exhibit the latter behaviour,

an error is raised. Thus, the following is not acceptable:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.RI

\&.I

Hello, world.

.Ed

.Pp

Line 155 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

macros and corresponding number of arguments.

.Pp

Line 199 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 206 macros.

Line 232 macros.

.Sh AUTHORS

The

.Nm

utility was written by

.An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@kth.se .

.\" SECTION

.Sh CAVEATS

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