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version 1.19, 2009/07/14 15:56:44 version 1.26, 2009/08/17 11:03:07
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 .Sh DESCRIPTION  .Sh DESCRIPTION
 The  The
 .Nm man  .Nm man
 language was historically used to format  language was historically used to format
 .Ux  .Ux
 manuals.  This reference document describes its syntax, structure, and  manuals.  This reference document describes its syntax, structure, and
 usage.  usage.
 .Pp  .Pp
 .Bf Em  .Bf -emphasis
 Do not use  Do not use
 .Nm  .Nm
 to write your manuals.  to write your manuals.
 .Ef  .Ef
 Use the  Use the
 .Xr mdoc 7  .Xr mdoc 7
Line 43  language, instead.
Line 43  language, instead.
 An  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:  prior macros:
Line 57  Other lines are interpreted within the current state.
Line 57  Other lines are interpreted within the current state.
 documents may contain only graphable 7-bit ASCII characters, the  documents may contain only graphable 7-bit ASCII characters, the
 space character, and the tabs character.  All manuals must have  space character, and the tabs character.  All manuals must have
 .Ux  .Ux
 line termination.  line termination.
 .Pp  .Pp
 Blank lines are acceptable; where found, the output will assert a  Blank lines are acceptable; where found, the output will assert a
 vertical space.  vertical space.
Line 70  documents; if encountered at the end of a word, it ens
Line 70  documents; if encountered at the end of a word, it ens
 subsequent word isn't off-set by whitespace.  subsequent word isn't off-set by whitespace.
 .\" SUB-SECTION  .\" SUB-SECTION
 .Ss Comments  .Ss Comments
 Anything following a  Text following a
 .Sq \e"  .Sq \e\*" ,
 delimiter is considered a comment (unless the  whether in a macro or free-form text line, is ignored to the end of
 .Sq \e  line.  A macro line with only a control character and comment escape,
 itself has been escaped) and is ignored to the end of line.  .Sq \&.\e" ,
 Furthermore, a macro line with only a control character  is also ignored.  Macro lines with only a control charater and
 .Sq \. ,  optionally whitespace are stripped from input.
 optionally followed by whitespace, is ignored.  
 .\" 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.
   Sequences begin with the escape character
 .Sq \e  .Sq \e
 followed by either an open-parenthesis  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 7
 Characters may alternatively be escaped by a slash-asterisk,  for a complete list.  Examples include
 .Sq \e* ,  .Sq \e(em
 with the same combinations as described above.  .Pq em-dash
 .Pp  and
 Terms may also be text-decorated using the  .Sq \ee
   .Pq back-slash .
   .\" SUB-SECTION----------------------
   .Ss Text Decoration
   Terms may be text-decorated using the
 .Sq \ef  .Sq \ef
 escape followed by a text-decoration letter: B (bold), I, (italic), or P  escape followed by an indicator: B (bold), I, (italic), or P and R
 and R (Roman, or reset).  (Roman, or reset).
 .\" SUB-SECTION  .\" SUB-SECTION----------------------
 .Ss Whitespace  .Ss Whitespace
 Unless specifically escaped, consecutive blocks of whitespace are pruned  Unless specifically escaped, consecutive blocks of whitespace are pruned
 from input.  These are later re-added, if applicable, by a front-end  from input.  These are later re-added, if applicable, by a front-end
 utility such as  utility such as
 .Xr mandoc 1 .  .Xr mandoc 1 .
 .\" SECTION  .\" SECTION
 .Sh STRUCTURE  .Sh MANUAL STRUCTURE
 Each  Each
 .Nm  .Nm
 document must contain contains at least the  document must contain contains at least the
 .Sq \&.TH  .Sq \&TH
 macro describing the document's section and title.  It may occur  macro describing the document's section and title.  It may occur
 anywhere in the document, although conventionally, it appears as the  anywhere in the document, although conventionally, it appears as the
 first macro.  first macro.
 .Pp  .Pp
 Beyond the  Beyond
 .Sq \&.TH ,  .Sq \&TH ,
 at least one macro or text node must appear in the document.  at least one macro or text node must appear in the document.  Documents
   are generally structured as follows:
   .Bd -literal -offset indent
   \&.TH FOO 1 "13 Aug 2009"
   \&.
   \&.SH NAME
   foo \e- a description goes here
   \&.
   \&.SH SYNOPSIS
   \efBfoo\efR [\efB\e-options\efR] arguments...
   \&.
   \&.SH DESCRIPTION
   The \efBfoo\efR utility does...
   \&.
   \&.\e\*q .SH RETURN VALUES
   \&.\e\*q .SH ENVIRONMENT
   \&.\e\*q .SH FILES
   \&.\e\*q .SH EXAMPLES
   \&.\e\*q .SH DIAGNOSTICS
   \&.\e\*q .SH ERRORS
   \&.\e\*q .SH SEE ALSO
   \&.\e\*q \efBbar\efR(1)
   \&.\e\*q .SH STANDARDS
   \&.\e\*q .SH HISTORY
   \&.\e\*q .SH AUTHORS
   \&.\e\*q .SH CAVEATS
   \&.\e\*q .SH BUGS
   .Ed
 .\" SECTION  .\" SECTION
 .Sh SYNTAX  .Sh MACRO SYNTAX
 Macros are one to three three characters in length and begin with a  Macros are one to three three characters in length and begin with a
 control character ,  control character ,
 .Sq \&. ,  .Sq \&. ,
Line 129  and
Line 160  and
 .Sq \&.\ \ \ \&PP  .Sq \&.\ \ \ \&PP
 are equivalent.  are equivalent.
 .Pp  .Pp
 All  The
 .Nm  .Nm
 macros follow the same structural rules:  macros are classified by scope: line scope or block scope.  Line-scoped
   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.
   .\" SUBSECTION
   .Ss Line Macros
   Line-macros are scoped to the current line, with the body consisting of
   zero or more arguments.  If a macro is next-line scoped and the line
   arguments are empty, the next line is used instead.  Thus:
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  .Bd -literal -offset indent
 \&.YO \(lBbody...\(rB  \&.RI
   foo
 .Ed  .Ed
   .\" PARAGRAPH
 .Pp  .Pp
 The  is equivalent to
 .Dq body  .Sq \&.RI foo .
 consists of zero or more arguments to the macro.  .\" PARAGRAPH
   Consecutive next-line invocations are disallowed.
   .Bd -literal -offset indent
   \&.YO \(lBbody...\(rB
   \(lBbody...\(rB
   .Ed
   .\" PARAGRAPH
 .Pp  .Pp
   .Bl -column -compact -offset indent "MacroX" "ArgumentsX" "ScopeXXXXX"
   .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Scope
   .It  \&B     Ta    n         Ta    next-line
   .It  \&BI    Ta    n         Ta    current
   .It  \&BR    Ta    n         Ta    current
   .It  \&I     Ta    n         Ta    next-line
   .It  \&IB    Ta    n         Ta    current
   .It  \&IR    Ta    n         Ta    current
   .It  \&R     Ta    n         Ta    next-line
   .It  \&RB    Ta    n         Ta    current
   .It  \&RI    Ta    n         Ta    current
   .It  \&SB    Ta    n         Ta    next-line
   .It  \&SM    Ta    n         Ta    next-line
   .It  \&TH    Ta    >1, <6    Ta    current
   .It  \&br    Ta    0         Ta    current
   .It  \&fi    Ta    0         Ta    current
   .It  \&i     Ta    n         Ta    current
   .It  \&na    Ta    0         Ta    current
   .It  \&nf    Ta    0         Ta    current
   .It  \&r     Ta    0         Ta    current
   .It  \&sp    Ta    1         Ta    current
   .El
   .\" PARAGRAPH
   .Pp
   The lower-case
   .Sq \&br ,
   .Sq \&fi ,
   .Sq \&i ,
   .Sq \&na ,
   .Sq \&nf ,
   .Sq \&r ,
   and
   .Sq \&sp
   macros aren't historically part of
 .Nm  .Nm
 has a primitive notion of multi-line scope for the following macros:  and should not be used.  They're included for compatibility.
 .Sq \&.TM ,  .\" SUBSECTION
 .Sq \&.SM ,  .Ss Block Macros
 .Sq \&.SB ,  Block macros are comprised of a head and body.  The head is scoped to
 .Sq \&.BI ,  the current line and, in one circumstance, the next line; the body is
 .Sq \&.IB ,  scoped to subsequent lines and is closed out by a subsequent block macro
 .Sq \&.BR ,  invocation.
 .Sq \&.RB ,  .Bd -literal -offset indent
 .Sq \&.R ,  \&.YO \(lBhead...\(rB
 .Sq \&.B ,  \(lBhead...\(rB
 .Sq \&.I ,  \(lBbody...\(rB
 .Sq \&.IR  .Ed
   .\" PARAGRAPH
   .Pp
   If a block macro is next-line scoped, it may only be followed by in-line
   macros (excluding
   .Sq na ,
   .Sq sp ,
   .Sq nf ,
   .Sq fi ,
 and  and
 .Sq \&.RI .  .Sq TH ) .
 When these macros are invoked without arguments, the subsequent line is  .\" PARAGRAPH
 considered a continuation of the macro.  Thus:  .Pp
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  .Bl -column "MacroX" "Arguments" "ScopeXXXX" -compact -offset indent
 \&.RI  .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Scope
 foo  .It \&HP     Ta    <2        Ta    current
   .It \&IP     Ta    <3        Ta    current
   .It \&LP     Ta    0         Ta    current
   .It \&P      Ta    0         Ta    current
   .It \&PP     Ta    0         Ta    current
   .It \&SH     Ta    >0        Ta    current
   .It \&SS     Ta    >0        Ta    current
   .It \&TP     Ta    n         Ta    next-line
   .El
   .\" SECTION
   .Sh REFERENCE
   This section is a canonical reference to all macros, arranged
   alphabetically.  For the scoping of individual macros, see
   .Sx MACRO SYNTAX .
   .\" SUBSECTION
   .Ss Terms
   In this reference, a numerical width may be either a standalone natural
   number (such as 3, 4, 10, etc.) or a natural number followed by a width
   multiplier
   .Qq n ,
   corresponding to the width of the formatted letter n, or
   .Qq m ,
   corresponding to the width of the formatted letter m.  The latter is the
   default, if unspecified.
   .\" SUBSECTION
   .Ss Macro Reference
   .Bl -tag -width Ds
   .It \&B
   Text is rendered in bold face.
   .It \&BI
   Text is rendered alternately in bold face and italic.  Thus,
   .Sq \&.BI this word and that
   causes
   .Sq this
   and
   .Sq and
   to render in bold face, while
   .Sq word
   and
   .Sq that
   render in italics.  Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
   .It \&BR
   Text is rendered alternately in bold face and roman (the default font).
   Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
   .It \&HP
   Begin a paragraph whose initial output line is left-justified, but
   subsequent output lines are indented.
   .It \&I
   Text is rendered in italics.
   .It \&IB
   Text is rendered alternately in italics and bold face.  Whitespace
   between arguments is omitted in output.
   .It \&IP
   Begin a paragraph with the following syntax:
   .Bd -literal -offset indent
   \&.IP [head [width]]
 .Ed  .Ed
 .Pp  .Pp
 is equivalent to  This follows the behaviour of the
 .Sq \&.RI foo .  .Sq \&TP
 If two consecutive lines exhibit the latter behaviour,  except for the macro syntax (all arguments on the line, instead of
 an error is raised.  Thus, the following is not acceptable:  having next-line scope).
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  .It \&IR
 \&.RI  Text is rendered alternately in italics and roman (the default font).
 \&.I  Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
 Hello, world.  .It \&LP, \&P, \&PP
   Begin an undecorated paragraph.  The scope of a paragraph is closed by a
   subsequent paragraph, sub-section, section, or end of file.
   .It \&R
   Text is rendered in roman (the default font).
   .It \&RB
   Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and bold face.
   Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
   .It \&RI
   Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and italics.
   Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
   .It \&SB
   Text is rendered in small size (one point smaller than the default font)
   bold face.
   .It \&SH
   Begin a section.  The scope of a section is only closed by another
   section or the end of file.
   .It \&SM
   Text is rendered in small size (one point smaller than the default
   font).
   .It \&SS
   Begin a sub-section.  The scope of a sub-section is closed by a
   subsequent sub-section, section, or end of file.
   .It \&TH
   Sets the title of the manual page with the following syntax:
   .Bd -literal -offset indent
   \&.TH title section date source volume
 .Ed  .Ed
 .Pp  .Pp
   At least the
   .Va title
   and
   .Va section
   arguments must be provided.  The
   .Va date
   argument should be formatted as
   .Qq %b [%d] %Y
   format, described in
   .Xr strptime 3 .
 The  The
 .Sq \&.TP  .Va source
 macro is similar, but does not need an empty argument line to trigger  string specifies the organisation providing the utility.  The
 the behaviour.  .Va volume
 .\" SECTION  replaces the default rendered volume as dictated by the manual section.
 .Sh MACROS  .It \&TP
 This section contains a complete list of all  Begin a paragraph where the head, if exceeding the indentation width, is
 .Nm  followed by a newline; if not, the body follows on the same line after a
 macros and corresponding number of arguments.  buffer to the indentation width.  Subsequent output lines are indented.
 .Pp  .Pp
 .Bl -column "MacroX" "Arguments" -compact -offset indent  The indentation width may be set as follows:
 .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments  .Bd -literal -offset indent
 .It \&.TH    Ta    >1, <6  \&.TP [width]
 .It \&.SH    Ta    >0  .Ed
 .It \&.SS    Ta    >0  
 .It \&.TP    Ta    n  
 .It \&.LP    Ta    0  
 .It \&.PP    Ta    0  
 .It \&.P     Ta    0  
 .It \&.IP    Ta    <3  
 .It \&.HP    Ta    <2  
 .It \&.SM    Ta    n  
 .It \&.SB    Ta    n  
 .It \&.BI    Ta    n  
 .It \&.IB    Ta    n  
 .It \&.BR    Ta    n  
 .It \&.RB    Ta    n  
 .It \&.R     Ta    n  
 .It \&.B     Ta    n  
 .It \&.I     Ta    n  
 .It \&.IR    Ta    n  
 .It \&.RI    Ta    n  
 .El  
 .Pp  .Pp
 Although not historically part of the  Where
 .Nm  .Va width
 system, the following macros are also supported:  must be a properly-formed numeric width.  If unspecified or improperly
 .Pp  formed, the default indentation width is used.
 .Bl -column "MacroX" "Arguments" -compact -offset indent  .It \&br
 .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments  Breaks the current line.  Consecutive invocations have no further effect.
 .It \&.br    Ta    0  .It \&fi
 .It \&.i     Ta    n  End literal mode begun by
   .Sq \&nf .
   .It \&i
   Italicise arguments.  If no arguments are specified, all subsequent text
   is italicised.
   .It \&na
   No alignment to the right margin.
   .It \&nf
   Begin literal mode: all subsequent free-form lines have their end of
   line boundaries preserved.  May be ended by
   .Sq \&fi .
   .It \&r
   Fonts and styles (bold face, italics) reset to roman (default font).
   .It \&sp
   Insert n spaces, where n is the macro's positive numeric argument.  If
   0, this is equivalent to the
   .Sq br
   macro.
 .El  .El
 .Pp  
 These follow the same calling conventions as the above  
 .Nm  
 macros.  
 .\" SECTION  .\" SECTION
 .Sh COMPATIBILITY  .Sh COMPATIBILITY
 See  This section documents compatibility with other roff implementations, at
 .Xr mdoc 7  this time limited to
 for groff compatibility notes.  .Xr groff 1 .
   .Bl -hyphen
   .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.
   .It
   The
   .Sq \&sp
   macro does not accept negative numbers.
   .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.
   .El
 .\" SECTION  .\" SECTION
 .Sh SEE ALSO  .Sh SEE ALSO
 .Xr mandoc 1 ,  .Xr mandoc 1 ,
Line 232  for groff compatibility notes.
Line 420  for groff compatibility notes.
 .Sh AUTHORS  .Sh AUTHORS
 The  The
 .Nm  .Nm
 utility was written by  reference was written by
 .An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@kth.se .  .An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@kth.se .
 .\" SECTION  .\" SECTION
 .Sh CAVEATS  .Sh CAVEATS
Legend:
Removed from v.1.19  
changed lines
  Added in v.1.26
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