mandoc/man.7 - diff

Return to man.7 CVS log

Up to [cvsweb.bsd.lv] / mandoc

Diff for /mandoc/man.7 between version 1.25 and 1.35

version 1.25, 2009/08/13 12:54:52

version 1.35, 2009/08/21 12:12:12

Line 17

.Dd $Mdocdate$

.Dt MAN 7

.Os

.\" SECTION

.Sh NAME

.Nm man

.Nd man language reference

.\" SECTION

.Sh DESCRIPTION

The

.Nm man

Line 29 language was historically used to format

Line 31 language was historically used to format

.Ux

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

usage.

.Pp

.Bf -emphasis

Do not use

Line 38 to write your manuals.

Line 41 to write your manuals.

Use the

.Xr mdoc 7

language, instead.

.\" PARAGRAPH

.Pp

.Nm

Line 51 prior macros:

Line 54 prior macros:

\&.SH Macro lines change control state.

Other lines are interpreted within the current state.

.Ed

.\" SECTION

.Sh INPUT ENCODING

.Nm

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

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

.Ux

line termination.

.Pp

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

vertical space.

.Pp

The

.Sq \ec

Line 68 escape is common in historical

Line 74 escape is common in historical

.Nm

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

Text following a

.Sq \e\*" ,

Line 77 line. A macro line with only a control character and

Line 84 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.

.\" SUB-SECTION

.Ss Special Characters

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

Sequences begin with the escape character

Line 96 for a complete list. Examples include

Line 104 for a complete list. Examples include

and

.Sq \ee

.Pq back-slash .

.\" SUB-SECTION----------------------

.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

(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 MANUAL STRUCTURE

Each

.Nm

document must contain contains at least the

.Sq \&TH

.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

.Sq \&TH ,

.Sq TH ,

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

\efBfoo\efR \e(en a description goes here

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

\&.\e\*q .SH LIBRARY

\&.

\&.SH SYNOPSIS

\efBfoo\efR [\efB\e-options\efR] arguments...

\&.

\&.SH DESCRIPTION

The \efBfoo\efR utility does...

The \efBfoo\efR 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 .SH EXAMPLES

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

\&.\e\*q .SH DIAGNOSTICS

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

\&.\e\*q .SH ERRORS

\&.\e\*q .SH SEE ALSO

\&.\e\*q \efBbar\efR(1)

Line 147 The \efBfoo\efR utility does...

Line 168 The \efBfoo\efR utility does...

\&.\e\*q .SH AUTHORS

\&.\e\*q .SH CAVEATS

\&.\e\*q .SH BUGS

\&.\e\*q .SH SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS

.Ed

.\" SECTION

.Sh MACRO SYNTAX

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

control character ,

.Sq \&. ,

at the beginning of the line. An arbitrary amount of whitespace may

sit between the control character and the macro name. Thus,

.Sq \&.PP

.Sq .PP

and

.Sq \&.\ \ \ \&PP

.Sq \&.\ \ \ PP

are equivalent.

.Pp

The

.Nm

macros are classified by scope: line scope or block scope. Line-scoped

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.

.\" SUBSECTION

.Ss Line Macros

Line-macros are scoped to the current line, with the body consisting of

Line macros are generally scoped to the current line, with the body

zero or more arguments. If a macro is next-line scoped and the line

consisting of zero or more arguments. If a macro is scoped to the next

arguments are empty, the next line is used instead. Thus:

line and the line arguments are empty, the next line is used instead,

else the general syntax is used. Thus:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.RI

\&.I

foo

.Ed

.\" PARAGRAPH

.Pp

is equivalent to

.Sq \&.RI foo .

.Sq \&.I foo .

.\" PARAGRAPH

If next-line macros are invoked consecutively, only the last is used.

Consecutive next-line invocations are disallowed.

If a next-line macro is proceded by a block macro, it is ignored.

.Bd -literal -offset indent

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

\(lBbody...\(rB

.Ed

.\" PARAGRAPH

.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 B Ta n Ta next-line

.It \&BI Ta n Ta current

.It BI Ta n Ta current

.It \&BR Ta n Ta current

.It BR Ta n Ta current

.It \&I Ta n Ta next-line

.It DT Ta 0 Ta current

.It \&IB Ta n Ta current

.It I Ta n Ta next-line

.It \&IR Ta n Ta current

.It IB Ta n Ta current

.It \&R Ta n Ta next-line

.It IR Ta n Ta current

.It \&RB Ta n Ta current

.It R Ta n Ta next-line

.It \&RI Ta n Ta current

.It RB Ta n Ta current

.It \&SB Ta n Ta next-line

.It RI Ta n Ta current

.It \&SM Ta n Ta next-line

.It SB Ta n Ta next-line

.It \&TH Ta >1, <6 Ta current

.It SM Ta n Ta next-line

.It \&br Ta 0 Ta current

.It TH Ta >1, <6 Ta current

.It \&fi Ta 0 Ta current

.It br Ta 0 Ta current

.It \&i Ta n Ta current

.It fi Ta 0 Ta current

.It \&na Ta 0 Ta current

.It i Ta n Ta current

.It \&nf Ta 0 Ta current

.It na Ta 0 Ta current

.It \&r Ta 0 Ta current

.It nf Ta 0 Ta current

.It \&sp Ta 1 Ta current

.It r Ta 0 Ta current

.It sp Ta 1 Ta current

.El

.\" PARAGRAPH

.Pp

The lower-case

The

.Sq \&br ,

.Sq RS ,

.Sq \&fi ,

.Sq RE ,

.Sq \&i ,

.Sq br ,

.Sq \&na ,

.Sq fi ,

.Sq \&nf ,

.Sq i ,

.Sq \&r ,

.Sq na ,

.Sq nf ,

.Sq r ,

and

.Sq \&sp

.Sq sp

macros aren't historically part of

.Nm

and should not be used. They're included for compatibility.

.\" SUBSECTION

.Ss Block Macros

Block macros are comprised of a head and body. The head is scoped to

Block macros are comprised of a head and body. Like for in-line macros,

the current line and, in one circumstance, the next line; the body is

the head is scoped to the current line and, in one circumstance, the

scoped to subsequent lines and is closed out by a subsequent block macro

next line; the body is scoped to subsequent lines and is closed out by a

invocation.

subsequent block macro invocation.

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.YO \(lBhead...\(rB

\(lBhead...\(rB

\(lBbody...\(rB

.Ed

.\" PARAGRAPH

.Pp

The closure of body scope may be to the section, where a macro is closed

.Sq SH ;

sub-section, closed by a section or

.Sq SS ;

part, closed by a section, sub-section, or

.Sq RE ;

or paragraph, closed by a section, sub-section, part,

.Sq HP ,

.Sq IP ,

.Sq LP ,

.Sq P ,

.Sq PP ,

.Sq TP .

No closure refers to an explicit block closing macro.

.Pp

.Bl -column "MacroX" "ArgumentsX" "Head ScopeX" "sub-sectionX" -compact -offset indent

.It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Head Scope Ta Em Body Scope

.It HP Ta <2 Ta current Ta paragraph

.It IP Ta <3 Ta current Ta paragraph

.It LP Ta 0 Ta current Ta paragraph

.It P Ta 0 Ta current Ta paragraph

.It PP Ta 0 Ta current Ta paragraph

.It RE Ta 0 Ta current Ta none

.It RS Ta 1 Ta current Ta part

.It SH Ta >0 Ta next-line Ta section

.It SS Ta >0 Ta next-line Ta sub-section

.It TP Ta n Ta next-line Ta paragraph

.El

.Pp

If a block macro is next-line scoped, it may only be followed by in-line

macros (excluding

.Sq DT ,

.Sq TH ,

.Sq br ,

.Sq na ,

.Sq sp ,

.Sq nf ,

.Sq fi ,

and

.Sq TH ) .

.Sq fi ) .

.\" PARAGRAPH

.Pp

.Bl -column "MacroX" "Arguments" "ScopeXXXX" -compact -offset indent

.It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Scope

.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 .

.Ss Definitions

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. Thus,

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.HP 12n

.Ed

.Pp

indicates an offset of 12

.Qq n

.Ns -sized

letters.

.Ss Macro Reference

.Bl -tag -width Ds

.It \&B

.It B

Text is rendered in bold face.

.It \&BI

.It BI

Text is rendered alternately in bold face and italic. Thus,

.Sq \&.BI this word and that

.Sq .BI this word and that

causes

.Sq this

and

Line 277 to render in bold face, while

Line 353 to render in bold face, while

and

.Sq that

render in italics. Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.

.It \&BR

.It BR

Text is rendered alternately in bold face and roman (the default font).

Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.

.It \&HP

.It DT

Re-set the tab spacing to 0.5 inches.

.It HP

Begin a paragraph whose initial output line is left-justified, but

subsequent output lines are indented.

subsequent output lines are indented, with the following syntax:

.It \&I

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.HP [width]

.Ed

.Pp

.Va width

is specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if

unspecified, the saved or default width is used.

.It I

Text is rendered in italics.

.It \&IB

.It IB

Text is rendered alternately in italics and bold face. Whitespace

between arguments is omitted in output.

.It \&IP

.It IP

Begin a paragraph with the following syntax:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.IP [head [width]]

.Ed

.Pp

This follows the behaviour of the

.Sq \&TP

.Sq TP

macro except that

except for the macro syntax (all arguments on the line, instead of

.Va width ,

having next-line scope). If

which is only considered as such if properly-formed (e.g., 24n, 4,

.Va width

etc.), is used as the indentation offset instead of the default

is specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if

indentation value.

unspecified, the saved or default width is used.

.It \&IR

.It IR

Text is rendered alternately in italics and roman (the default font).

Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.

.It \&LP, \&P, \&PP

.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.

subsequent paragraph, sub-section, section, or end of file. The saved

.It \&R

paragraph left-margin width is re-set to the default.

.It R

Text is rendered in roman (the default font).

.It \&RB

.It RB

Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and bold face.

Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.

.It \&RI

.It RE

Explicitly close out the scope of a prior

.Sq RS .

.It RI

Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and italics.

Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.

.It \&SB

.It RS

Begin a part setting the left margin. The left margin controls the

offset, following an initial indentation, to un-indented text such as

that of

.Sq PP .

The width may be specified as following:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.RS [width]

.Ed

.Pp

.Va width

is not specified, the saved or default width is used.

.It SB

Text is rendered in small size (one point smaller than the default font)

bold face.

.It \&SH

.It SH

Begin a section. The scope of a section is only closed by another

section or the end of file.

section or the end of file. The paragraph left-margin width is re-set

.It \&SM

to the default.

.It SM

Text is rendered in small size (one point smaller than the default

font).

.It \&SS

.It SS

Begin a sub-section. The scope of a sub-section is closed by a

subsequent sub-section, section, or end of file.

subsequent sub-section, section, or end of file. The paragraph

.It \&TH

left-margin width is re-set to the default.

.It TH

Sets the title of the manual page with the following syntax:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.TH title section date source volume

\&.TH title section [date [source [volume]]]

.Ed

.Pp

At least the

.Va title

Line 348 The

Line 457 The

string specifies the organisation providing the utility. The

.Va volume

replaces the default rendered volume as dictated by the manual section.

.It \&TP

.It TP

Begin a paragraph where the head, if exceeding the indentation width, is

followed by a newline; if not, the body follows on the same line after a

buffer to the indentation width. Subsequent output lines are indented.

.It \&br

.Pp

The indentation width may be set as follows:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.TP [width]

.Ed

.Pp

Where

.Va width

must be a properly-formed numeric width. If

.Va width

is specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if

unspecified, the saved or default width is used.

.It br

Breaks the current line. Consecutive invocations have no further effect.

.It \&fi

.It fi

End literal mode begun by

.Sq \&nf .

.Sq nf .

.It \&i

.It i

Italicise arguments. If no arguments are specified, all subsequent text

is italicised.

.It \&na

.It na

No alignment to the right margin.

Don't alignment the right margin.

.It \&nf

.It nf

Begin literal mode: all subsequent free-form lines have their end of

line boundaries preserved. May be ended by

.Sq \&fi .

.Sq fi .

.It \&r

.It r

Fonts and styles (bold face, italics) reset to roman (default font).

.It \&sp

.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

.\" SECTION

.Sh COMPATIBILITY

This section documents compatibility with other roff implementations, at

this time limited to

Line 386 standalone double-quote in formatted output. This idi

Line 510 standalone double-quote in formatted output. This idi

behaviour is no longer applicable.

.It

The

.Sq \&sp

.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

.Sh SEE ALSO

.Xr mandoc 1 ,

.Xr mandoc_char 7

.\" SECTION

.Sh AUTHORS

The

.Nm

reference was written by

.An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@kth.se .

.\" SECTION

.Sh CAVEATS

Do not use this language. Use

.Xr mdoc 7 ,

instead.

CVSweb