=================================================================== RCS file: /cvs/mandoc/mandoc_char.7,v retrieving revision 1.49 retrieving revision 1.50 diff -u -p -r1.49 -r1.50 --- mandoc/mandoc_char.7 2011/08/30 13:14:01 1.49 +++ mandoc/mandoc_char.7 2011/11/14 15:10:27 1.50 @@ -1,6 +1,8 @@ -.\" $Id: mandoc_char.7,v 1.49 2011/08/30 13:14:01 kristaps Exp $ +.\" $Id: mandoc_char.7,v 1.50 2011/11/14 15:10:27 schwarze Exp $ .\" -.\" Copyright (c) 2009 Kristaps Dzonsons +.\" Copyright (c) 2003 Jason McIntyre +.\" Copyright (c) 2009, 2010, 2011 Kristaps Dzonsons +.\" Copyright (c) 2011 Ingo Schwarze .\" .\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any .\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above @@ -14,26 +16,168 @@ .\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF .\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE. .\" -.Dd $Mdocdate: August 30 2011 $ +.Dd $Mdocdate: November 14 2011 $ .Dt MANDOC_CHAR 7 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm mandoc_char .Nd mandoc special characters .Sh DESCRIPTION -This page documents the special characters and predefined strings accepted by +This page documents the +.Xr roff 7 +escape sequences accepted by .Xr mandoc 1 -to format +to represent special characters in .Xr mdoc 7 and .Xr man 7 documents. .Pp -Both -.Xr mdoc 7 -and -.Xr man 7 -encode special characters with +The rendering depends on the +.Xr mandoc 1 +output mode; in ASCII output, most characters are completely +unintelligible. +For that reason, using any of the special characters documented here, +except those discussed in the +.Sx DESCRIPTION , +is strongly discouraged; they are supported merely for backwards +compatibility with existing documents. +.Pp +In particular, in English manual pages, do not use special-character +escape sequences to represent national language characters in author +names; instead, provide ASCII transcriptions of the names. +.Ss Dashes and Hyphens +In typography there are different types of dashes of various width: +the hyphen (-), +the minus sign (\-), +the en-dash (\(en), +and the em-dash (\(em). +.Pp +Hyphens are used for adjectives; +to separate the two parts of a compound word; +or to separate a word across two successive lines of text. +The hyphen does not need to be escaped: +.Bd -unfilled -offset indent +blue-eyed +lorry-driver +.Ed +.Pp +The mathematical minus sign is used for negative numbers or subtraction. +It should be written as +.Sq \e- : +.Bd -unfilled -offset indent +a = 3 \e- 1; +b = \e-2; +.Ed +.Pp +The en-dash is used to separate the two elements of a range, +or can be used the same way as an em-dash. +It should be written as +.Sq \e(en : +.Bd -unfilled -offset indent +pp. 95\e(en97. +Go away \e(en or else! +.Ed +.Pp +The em-dash can be used to show an interruption +or can be used the same way as colons, semi-colons, or parentheses. +It should be written as +.Sq \e(em : +.Bd -unfilled -offset indent +Three things \e(em apples, oranges, and bananas. +This is not that \e(em rather, this is that. +.Ed +.Pp +Note: +hyphens, minus signs, and en-dashes look identical under normal ASCII output. +Other formats, such as PostScript, render them correctly, +with differing widths. +.Ss Spaces +To separate words in normal text, for indenting and alignment +in literal context, and when none of the following special cases apply, +just use the normal space character +.Pq Sq \ . +.Pp +When filling text, lines may be broken between words, i.e. at space +characters. +To prevent a line break between two particular words, +use the non-breaking space escape sequence +.Pq Sq \e~ +instead of the normal space character. +For example, the input string +.Dq number\e~1 +will be kept together as +.Dq number\~1 +on the same output line. +.Pp +On request and macro lines, the normal space character serves as an +argument delimiter. +To include whitespace into arguments, quoting is usually the best choice. +In some cases, using either the non-breaking +.Pq Sq \e~ +or the breaking +.Pq Sq \e\ \& +space escape sequence may be preferable. +To escape macro names and to protect whitespace at the end +of input lines, the zero-width space +.Pq Sq \e& +is often useful. +For example, in +.Xr mdoc 7 , +a normal space character can be displayed in single quotes in either +of the following ways: +.Pp +.Dl .Sq \(dq \(dq +.Dl .Sq \e \e& +.Ss Quotes +On request and macro lines, the double-quote character +.Pq Sq \(dq +is handled specially to allow quoting. +One way to prevent this special handling is by using the +.Sq \e(dq +escape sequence. +.Pp +Note that on text lines, literal double-quote characters can be used +verbatim. +All other quote-like characters can be used verbatim as well, +even on request and macro lines. +.Ss Periods +The period +.Pq Sq \&. +is handled specially at the beginning of an input line, +where it introduces a +.Xr roff 7 +request or a macro, and when appearing alone as a macro argument in +.Xr mdoc 7 . +In such situations, prepend a zero-width space +.Pq Sq \e&. +to make it behave like normal text. +.Pp +Do not use the +.Sq \e. +escape sequence. +It does not prevent special handling of the period. +.Ss Backslashes +To include a literal backslash +.Pq Sq \e +into the output, use the +.Pq Sq \ee +escape sequence. +.Pp +Note that doubling it +.Pq Sq \e\e +is not the right way to output a backslash. +Because +.Xr mandoc 1 +does not implement full +.Xr roff 7 +functionality, it may work with +.Xr mandoc 1 , +but it may have weird effects on complete +.Xr roff 7 +implementations. +.Sh SPECIAL CHARACTERS +Special characters are encoded as .Sq \eX .Pq for a one-character escape , .Sq \e(XX @@ -41,38 +185,12 @@ encode special characters with and .Sq \e[N] .Pq N-character . -One may generalise -.Sq \e(XX -as -.Sq \e[XX] -and -.Sq \eX -as -.Sq \e[X] . -Predefined strings are functionally similar to special characters, using -.Sq \e*X -.Pq for a one-character escape , -.Sq \e*(XX -.Pq two-character , -and -.Sq \e*[N] -.Pq N-character . -One may generalise -.Sq \e*(XX -as -.Sq \e*[XX] -and -.Sq \e*X -as -.Sq \e*[X] . +For details, see the +.Em Special Characters +subsection of the +.Xr roff 7 +manual. .Pp -Note that each output mode will have a different rendering of the -characters. -It's guaranteed that each input symbol will correspond to a -(more or less) meaningful output rendering, regardless the mode. -.Sh SPECIAL CHARACTERS -These are the preferred input symbols for producing special characters. -.Pp Spacing: .Bl -column "Input" "Description" -offset indent -compact .It Em Input Ta Em Description @@ -491,6 +609,20 @@ They are for use, as they differ across implementations. Manuals using these predefined strings are almost certainly not portable. +.Pp +Their syntax is similar to special characters, using +.Sq \e*X +.Pq for a one-character escape , +.Sq \e*(XX +.Pq two-character , +and +.Sq \e*[N] +.Pq N-character . +For details, see the +.Em Predefined Strings +subsection of the +.Xr roff 7 +manual. .Bl -column "Input" "Rendered" "Description" -offset indent .It Em Input Ta Em Rendered Ta Em Description .It \e*(Ba Ta \*(Ba Ta vertical bar @@ -588,7 +720,10 @@ from mandoc either because they are poorly documented known representation. .El .Sh SEE ALSO -.Xr mandoc 1 +.Xr mandoc 1 , +.Xr man 7 , +.Xr mdoc 7 , +.Xr roff 7 .Sh AUTHORS The .Nm