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Diff for /mandoc/mdoc.7 between version 1.139 and 1.199

version 1.139, 2010/07/19 15:43:10

version 1.199, 2011/08/16 23:44:58

Line 1

.\" $Id$

.\"

.\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any

Line 28 language is used to format

.Bx

.Ux

manuals.

In this reference document, we describe its syntax, structure, and

This reference document describes its syntax, structure, and

usage.

Our reference implementation is mandoc; the

The reference implementation is

.Xr mandoc 1 ;

the

.Sx COMPATIBILITY

section describes compatibility with other troff \-mdoc implementations.

.Pp

Line 38 An

Line 40 An

.Nm

document follows simple rules: lines beginning with the control

character

.Sq \.

.Sq \&.

are parsed for macros.

Other lines are interpreted within the scope of

Text lines, those not beginning with the control character, are

prior macros:

interpreted within the scope of prior macros:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Sh Macro lines change control state.

Other lines are interpreted within the current state.

Text lines are interpreted within the current state.

.Ed

.Sh LANGUAGE SYNTAX

.Nm

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

character, and, in certain circumstances, the tab character.

All manuals must have

.Pp

.Ux

If the first character of a text line is a space, that line is printed

line terminators.

with a leading newline.

.Ss Comments

Text following a

.Sq \e\*q ,

whether in a macro or free-form text line, is ignored to the end of

whether in a macro or text line, is ignored to the end of

line.

A macro line with only a control character and comment escape,

.Sq \&.\e\*q ,

is also ignored.

Macro lines with only a control character and optionally whitespace are

Macro lines with only a control character and optional whitespace are

stripped from input.

.Ss Reserved Characters

Within a macro line, the following characters are reserved:

.Pp

.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact

.It \&.

.Pq period

.It \&,

.Pq comma

.It \&:

.Pq colon

.It \&;

.Pq semicolon

.It \&(

.Pq left-parenthesis

.It \&)

.Pq right-parenthesis

.It \&[

.Pq left-bracket

.It \&]

.Pq right-bracket

.It \&?

.Pq question

.It \&!

.Pq exclamation

.It \&|

.Pq vertical bar

.El

.Pp

Use of reserved characters is described in

.Sx MACRO SYNTAX .

For general use in macro lines, these characters must either be escaped

with a non-breaking space

.Pq Sq \e&

or, if applicable, an appropriate escape sequence used.

.Ss Special Characters

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

Special characters may occur in both macro and text lines.

Sequences begin with the escape character

.Sq \e

followed by either an open-parenthesis

Line 107 for two-character sequences; an open-bracket

Line 75 for two-character sequences; an open-bracket

.Sq \&[

for n-character sequences (terminated at a close-bracket

.Sq \&] ) ;

or a single one-character sequence.

or a single one character sequence.

See

.Xr mandoc_char 7

for a complete list.

Line 120 and

Line 88 and

.Ss Text Decoration

Terms may be text-decorated using the

.Sq \ef

escape followed by an indicator: B (bold), I, (italic), R (Roman), or P

escape followed by an indicator: B (bold), I (italic), R (Roman), or P

(revert to previous mode):

.Pp

.D1 \efBbold\efR \efIitalic\efP

.Dl \efBbold\efR \efIitalic\efP

.Pp

A numerical representation 3, 2, or 1 (bold, italic, and Roman,

respectively) may be used instead.

A text decoration is valid within

If a macro opens a font scope after calling

the current font scope only: if a macro opens a font scope alongside

.Sq \ef ,

its own scope, such as

such as with

.Sx \&Bf

.Sx \&Bf ,

.Cm \&Sy ,

the

in-scope invocations of

.Sq \ef

are only valid within the font scope of the macro.

mode will be restored upon exiting the

.Sx \&Bf

.Sq \ef

scope.

is specified outside of any font scope, such as in unenclosed, free-form

text, it will affect the remainder of the document.

.Pp

Note this form is

.Em not

Line 147 recommended for

Line 112 recommended for

which encourages semantic annotation.

.Ss Predefined Strings

Historically,

.Xr groff 1

troff

also defined a set of package-specific

.Dq predefined strings ,

which, like

Line 172 and

Line 137 and

.Pq vertical bar .

.Ss Whitespace

Whitespace consists of the space character.

In free-form lines, whitespace is preserved within a line; un-escaped

In text lines, whitespace is preserved within a line; unescaped

trailing spaces are stripped from input (unless in a literal context).

Blank free-form lines, which may include whitespace, are only permitted

Blank text lines, which may include whitespace, are only permitted

within literal contexts.

.Pp

In general, trailing whitespace on input lines is discouraged

for reasons of clarity and 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 macro lines, whitespace delimits arguments and is discarded.

If arguments are quoted, whitespace within the quotes is retained.

.Ss Quotation

Macro arguments may be quoted with a double-quote to group

Macro arguments may be quoted with double-quotes; in this case,

space-delimited terms or to retain blocks of whitespace.

whitespace within the quotes is retained as part of the argument.

A quoted argument begins with a double-quote preceded by whitespace.

For example,

The next double-quote not pair-wise adjacent to another double-quote

terminates the literal, regardless of surrounding whitespace.

.Pp

This produces tokens

.D1 Pf \. \&Fn strlen "\(dqconst char *s\(dq"

.Sq a" ,

.Sq b c ,

.Sq de ,

and

.Sq fg" .

Note that any quoted term, be it argument or macro, is indiscriminately

considered literal text.

Thus, the following produces

.Sq \&Em a :

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Em "Em a"

.Ed

.Pp

In free-form mode, quotes are regarded as opaque text.

renders as

.Ss Dates

.Sq Fn strlen "const char *s" ,

There are several macros in

while

.Nm

that require a date argument.

The canonical form for dates is the American format:

.Pp

.D1 Cm Month Day , Year

.D1 Pf \. \&Fn strlen "const char *s"

.Pp

The

would produce

.Cm Day

.Sq Fn strlen const char *s .

value is an optionally zero-padded numeral.

The

.Cm Month

value is the full month name.

The

.Cm Year

value is the full four-digit year.

.Pp

Reduced form dates are broken-down canonical form dates:

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

.D1 Cm Month , Year

In unquoted arguments, space characters can alternatively be included

.D1 Cm Year

by preceding them with a backslash

.Pq Sq \e\~ ,

but quoting is usually better for clarity.

.Pp

Some examples of valid dates follow:

Note that any quoted text, even if it would cause a macro invocation

when unquoted, is considered literal text.

Thus, the following produces

.Sq Op "Fl a" :

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Op "Fl a"

.Ed

.Pp

.D1 "May, 2009" Pq reduced form

In text lines, quotes are regarded as opaque text.

.D1 "2009" Pq reduced form

.D1 "May 20, 2009" Pq canonical form

.Ss Scaling Widths

Many macros support scaled widths for their arguments, such as

stipulating a two-inch list indentation with the following:

Line 282 is necessarily non-portable across output media.

Line 236 is necessarily non-portable across output media.

See

.Sx COMPATIBILITY .

.Ss Sentence Spacing

When composing a manual, make sure that your sentences end at the end of

When composing a manual, make sure that sentences end at the end of

a line.

By doing so, front-ends 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 (

delimiters

.Ns Sq \&) ,

.Po

.Sq \&) ,

.Sq \&] ,

.Sq \&' ,

.Sq \&" ) .

.Sq \&"

.Pc .

.Pp

The proper spacing is also intelligently preserved if a sentence ends at

the boundary of a macro line, e.g.,

the boundary of a macro line.

For example:

.Pp

.D1 \&Xr mandoc 1 \.

.Dl \&.Xr mandoc 1 \&.

.D1 \&Fl T \&Ns \&Cm ascii \.

.Dl \&.Fl T \&Ns \&Cm ascii \&.

.Sh MANUAL STRUCTURE

A well-formed

.Nm

document consists of a document prologue followed by one or more

sections.

.Pp

The prologue, which consists of (in order) the

The prologue, which consists of the

.Sx \&Dd ,

.Sx \&Dt ,

and

.Sx \&Os

macros, is required for every document.

macros in that order, is required for every document.

.Pp

The first section (sections are denoted by

.Sx \&Sh )

Line 326 sections, although this varies between manual sections

Line 283 sections, although this varies between manual sections

.Pp

The following is a well-formed skeleton

.Nm

file:

file for a utility

.Qq progname :

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Dd $\&Mdocdate$

\&.Dt mdoc 7

\&.Dt PROGNAME section

\&.Os

\&.Sh NAME

\&.Nm foo

\&.Nm progname

\&.Nd a description goes here

\&.Nd one line about what it does

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

\&.\e\*q .Sh LIBRARY

\&.\e\*q For sections 2, 3, & 9 only.

\&.\e\*q Not used in OpenBSD.

\&.Sh SYNOPSIS

\&.Nm foo

\&.Nm progname

\&.Op Fl options

\&.Ar

\&.Sh DESCRIPTION

Line 345 The

Line 304 The

\&.Nm

utility processes files ...

\&.\e\*q .Sh IMPLEMENTATION NOTES

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

\&.\e\*q Not used in OpenBSD.

\&.\e\*q .Sh RETURN VALUES

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

\&.\e\*q For sections 2, 3, & 9 only.

\&.\e\*q .Sh ENVIRONMENT

\&.\e\*q For sections 1, 6, 7, & 8 only.

\&.\e\*q .Sh FILES

\&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1 & 8 only.

\&.\e\*q .Sh EXIT STATUS

\&.\e\*q For sections 1, 6, & 8 only.

\&.\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 For sections 1, 4, 6, 7, & 8 only.

\&.\e\*q .Sh ERRORS

\&.\e\*q For sections 2, 3, & 9 only.

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

\&.\e\*q .Xr foobar 1

\&.\e\*q .Sh STANDARDS

Line 365 utility processes files ...

Line 325 utility processes files ...

\&.\e\*q .Sh CAVEATS

\&.\e\*q .Sh BUGS

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

\&.\e\*q Not used in OpenBSD.

.Ed

.Pp

The sections in a

The sections in an

.Nm

document are conventionally ordered as they appear above.

Sections should be composed as follows:

.Bl -ohang -offset Ds

.It Em NAME

The name(s) and a short description of the documented material.

The name(s) and a one line description of the documented material.

The syntax for this as follows:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Nm name0

\&.Nm name0 ,

\&.Nm name1

\&.Nm name1 ,

\&.Nm name2

\&.Nd a short description

\&.Nd a one line description

.Ed

.Pp

Multiple

.Sq \&Nm

names should be separated by commas.

.Pp

The

.Sx \&Nm

macro(s) must precede the

Line 409 configuration.

Line 374 configuration.

For the first, utilities (sections 1, 6, and 8), this is

generally structured as follows:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Nm foo

\&.Nm bar

\&.Op Fl v

\&.Op Fl o Ar file

\&.Op Ar

\&.Nm bar

\&.Nm foo

\&.Op Fl v

\&.Op Fl o Ar file

\&.Op Ar

.Ed

.Pp

Commands should be ordered alphabetically.

.Pp

For the second, function calls (sections 2, 3, 9):

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Vt extern const char *global;

\&.In header.h

\&.Vt extern const char *global;

\&.Ft "char *"

\&.Fn foo "const char *src"

\&.Ft "char *"

\&.Fn bar "const char *src"

.Ed

.Pp

Ordering of

.Sx \&In ,

.Sx \&Vt ,

.Sx \&Fn ,

and

.Sx \&Fo

macros should follow C header-file conventions.

.Pp

And for the third, configurations (section 4):

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Cd \*qit* at isa? port 0x2e\*q

Line 451 section, particularly

Line 426 section, particularly

and

.Sx \&Ft .

All of these macros are output on their own line.

If two such dissimilar macros are pair-wise invoked (except for

If two such dissimilar macros are pairwise invoked (except for

.Sx \&Ft

before

.Sx \&Fo

Line 472 with the text immediately following the

Line 447 with the text immediately following the

.Sx \&Nm

macro, up to the next

.Sx \&Nm ,

.Sx \&Sx ,

.Sx \&Sh ,

.Sx \&Ss

macro or the end of an enclosing block, whichever comes first.

.It Em DESCRIPTION

This expands upon the brief, one-line description in

This begins with an expansion of the brief, one line description in

.Em NAME .

.Em NAME :

It usually contains a break-down of the options (if documenting a

.Bd -literal -offset indent

The

\&.Nm

utility does this, that, and the other.

.Ed

.Pp

It usually follows with a breakdown of the options (if documenting a

command), such as:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

The arguments are as follows:

Line 490 Print verbose information.

Line 471 Print verbose information.

.Ed

.Pp

Manuals not documenting a command won't include the above fragment.

.Pp

Since the

.Em DESCRIPTION

section usually contains most of the text of a manual, longer manuals

often use the

.Sx \&Ss

macro to form subsections.

In very long manuals, the

.Em DESCRIPTION

may be split into multiple sections, each started by an

.Sx \&Sh

macro followed by a non-standard section name, and each having

several subsections, like in the present

.Nm

manual.

.It Em IMPLEMENTATION NOTES

Implementation-specific notes should be kept here.

This is useful when implementing standard functions that may have side

effects or notable algorithmic implications.

.It Em RETURN VALUES

This section is the dual of

This section documents the

.Em EXIT STATUS ,

return values of functions in sections 2, 3, and 9.

which is used for commands.

It documents the return values of functions in sections 2, 3, and 9.

.Pp

See

.Sx \&Rv .

.It Em ENVIRONMENT

Documents any usages of environment variables, e.g.,

Lists the environment variables used by the utility,

.Xr environ 7 .

and explains the syntax and semantics of their values.

The

.Xr environ 7

manual provides examples of typical content and formatting.

.Pp

See

.Sx \&Ev .

.It Em FILES

Documents files used.

It's helpful to document both the file and a short description of how

It's helpful to document both the file name and a short description of how

the file is used (created, modified, etc.).

.Pp

See

.Sx \&Pa .

.It Em EXIT STATUS

Command exit status for section 1, 6, and 8 manuals.

This section documents the

This section is the dual of

command exit status for section 1, 6, and 8 utilities.

.Em RETURN VALUES ,

which is used for functions.

Historically, this information was described in

.Em DIAGNOSTICS ,

a practise that is now discouraged.

Line 529 See

Line 524 See

.It Em EXAMPLES

Example usages.

This often contains snippets of well-formed, well-tested invocations.

Make doubly sure that your examples work properly!

Make sure that examples work properly!

.It Em DIAGNOSTICS

Documents error conditions.

This is most useful in section 4 manuals.

Line 552 This section should exist for most manuals.

Line 547 This section should exist for most manuals.

Cross-references should conventionally be ordered first by section, then

alphabetically.

.Pp

References to other documentation concerning the topic of the manual page,

for example authoritative books or journal articles, may also be

provided in this section.

.Pp

See

.Sx \&Rs

and

.Sx \&Xr .

.It Em STANDARDS

References any standards implemented or used.

Line 563 section should be used instead.

Line 564 section should be used instead.

See

.Sx \&St .

.It Em HISTORY

The history of any manual without a

A brief history of the subject, including where it was first implemented,

.Em STANDARDS

and when it was ported to or reimplemented for the operating system at hand.

section should be described in this section.

.It Em AUTHORS

Credits to authors, if applicable, should appear in this section.

Credits to the person or persons who wrote the code and/or documentation.

Authors should generally be noted by both name and an e-mail address.

Authors should generally be noted by both name and email address.

.Pp

See

.Sx \&An .

.It Em CAVEATS

Explanations of common misuses and misunderstandings should be explained

Common misuses and misunderstandings should be explained

in this section.

.It Em BUGS

Extant bugs should be described in this section.

Known bugs, limitations, and work-arounds should be described

in this section.

.It Em SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS

Documents any security precautions that operators should consider.

.El

.Sh MACRO SYNTAX

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

control character ,

control character,

.Sq \&. ,

at the beginning of the line.

An arbitrary amount of whitespace may sit between the control character

Line 606 closes it out.

Line 607 closes it out.

.Pp

The

.Em Callable

column indicates that the macro may be called subsequent to the initial

column indicates that the macro may also be called by passing its name

line-macro.

as an argument to another macro.

If a macro is not callable, then its invocation after the initial line

For example,

macro is interpreted as opaque text, such that

.Sq \&.Op \&Fl O \&Ar file

produces

.Sq Op Fl O Ar file .

To prevent a macro call and render the macro name literally,

escape it by prepending a zero-width space,

.Sq \e& .

For example,

.Sq \&Op \e&Fl O

produces

.Sq Op \&Fl O .

If a macro is not callable but its name appears as an argument

to another macro, it is interpreted as opaque text.

For example,

.Sq \&.Fl \&Sh

produces

.Sq Fl \&Sh .

.Pp

The

.Em Parsable

.Em Parsed

column indicates whether the macro may be followed by further

column indicates whether the macro may call other macros by receiving

(ostensibly callable) macros.

their names as arguments.

If a macro is not parsable, subsequent macro invocations on the line

If a macro is not parsed but the name of another macro appears

will be interpreted as opaque text.

as an argument, it is interpreted as opaque text.

.Pp

The

.Em Scope

Line 628 column, if applicable, describes closure rules.

Line 641 column, if applicable, describes closure rules.

Multi-line scope closed by an explicit closing macro.

All macros contains bodies; only

.Sx \&Bf

contains a head.

and

.Pq optionally

.Sx \&Bl

contain a head.

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB

\(lBbody...\(rB

\&.Yc

.Ed

.Pp

.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "closed by XXX"

.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "closed by XXX"

.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Scope

.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Scope

.It Sx \&Bd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Ed

.It Sx \&Bf Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Ef

.It Sx \&Bk Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Ek

Line 658 All macros have bodies; some

Line 674 All macros have bodies; some

.Pc

don't have heads; only one

.Po

.Sx \&It Fl column

.Sx \&It

.Sx \&Bl Fl column

.Pc

has multiple heads.

.Bd -literal -offset indent

Line 666 has multiple heads.

Line 684 has multiple heads.

\(lBbody...\(rB

.Ed

.Pp

.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "closed by XXXXXXXXXXX"

.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "closed by XXXXXXXXXXX"

.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Scope

.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Scope

.It Sx \&It Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&It , Sx \&El

.It Sx \&Nd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Sh

.It Sx \&Nm Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Nm , Sx \&Sh , Sx \&Ss

.It Sx \&Sh Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Sh

.It Sx \&Sh Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Sh

.It Sx \&Ss Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Sh , Sx \&Ss

.It Sx \&Ss Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Sh , Sx \&Ss

.El

.Pp

Note that the

Line 702 and/or tail

Line 720 and/or tail

\(lBbody...\(rB \&Yc \(lBtail...\(rB

.Ed

.Pp

.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "closed by XXXX" -compact -offset indent

.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "closed by XXXX" -compact -offset indent

.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Scope

.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Scope

.It Sx \&Ac Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Ao

.It Sx \&Ao Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Ac

.It Sx \&Bc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Bo

Line 730 and/or tail

Line 748 and/or tail

.It Sx \&Xo Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Xc

.El

.Ss Block partial-implicit

Like block full-implicit, but with single-line scope closed by

Like block full-implicit, but with single-line scope closed by the

.Sx Reserved Characters

end of the line.

or end of line.

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBbody...\(rB \(lBres...\(rB

.Ed

.Pp

.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" -compact -offset indent

.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" -compact -offset indent

.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable

.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed

.It Sx \&Aq Ta Yes Ta Yes

.It Sx \&Bq Ta Yes Ta Yes

.It Sx \&Brq Ta Yes Ta Yes

Line 762 in a

Line 779 in a

.Em SYNOPSIS

section line, else it is

.Sx In-line .

.Ss Special block macro

The

.Sx \&Ta

macro can only be used below

.Sx \&It

.Sx \&Bl Fl column

lists.

It delimits blocks representing table cells;

these blocks have bodies, but no heads.

.Pp

.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "closed by XXXX" -compact -offset indent

.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Scope

.It Sx \&Ta Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Ta , Sx \&It

.El

.Ss In-line

Closed by

Closed by the end of the line, fixed argument lengths,

.Sx Reserved Characters ,

and/or subsequent macros.

end of line, fixed argument lengths, and/or subsequent macros.

In-line macros have only text children.

If a number (or inequality) of arguments is

.Pq n ,

then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of arguments.

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBargs...\(rB \(lbres...\(rb

\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBargs...\(rB \(lBres...\(rB

\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBargs...\(rB Yc...

\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB arg0 arg1 argN

.Ed

.Pp

.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "Arguments" -compact -offset indent

.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "Arguments" -compact -offset indent

.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Arguments

.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Arguments

.It Sx \&%A Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0

.It Sx \&%B Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0

.It Sx \&%C Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0

Line 794 then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of argument

Line 825 then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of argument

.It Sx \&%T Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0

.It Sx \&%U Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0

.It Sx \&%V Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0

.It Sx \&Ad Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n

.It Sx \&Ad Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0

.It Sx \&An Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n

.It Sx \&An Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0

.It Sx \&Ap Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 0

.It Sx \&Ar Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n

.It Sx \&At Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 1

Line 803 then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of argument

Line 834 then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of argument

.It Sx \&Bt Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0

.It Sx \&Bx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n

.It Sx \&Cd Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0

.It Sx \&Cm Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n

.It Sx \&Cm Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0

.It Sx \&Db Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1

.It Sx \&Dd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0

.It Sx \&Dd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n

.It Sx \&Dt Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n

.It Sx \&Dv Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n

.It Sx \&Dv Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0

.It Sx \&Dx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n

.It Sx \&Em Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0

.It Sx \&En Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0

.It Sx \&Er Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0

.It Sx \&Es Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0

.It Sx \&Ev Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n

.It Sx \&Ev Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0

.It Sx \&Ex Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n

.It Sx \&Fa Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n

.It Sx \&Fa Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0

.It Sx \&Fd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0

.It Sx \&Fl Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n

.It Sx \&Fn Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0

.It Sx \&Fr Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n

.It Sx \&Ft Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n

.It Sx \&Ft Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0

.It Sx \&Fx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n

.It Sx \&Hf Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n

.It Sx \&Ic Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0

.It Sx \&In Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n

.It Sx \&In Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1

.It Sx \&Lb Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1

.It Sx \&Li Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n

.It Sx \&Li Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0

.It Sx \&Lk Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n

.It Sx \&Lk Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0

.It Sx \&Lp Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0

.It Sx \&Ms Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0

.It Sx \&Mt Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0

Line 855 then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of argument

Line 886 then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of argument

.It Sx \&br Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0

.It Sx \&sp Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1

.El

.Ss Delimiters

When a macro argument consists of one single input character

considered as a delimiter, the argument gets special handling.

This does not apply when delimiters appear in arguments containing

more than one character.

Consequently, to prevent special handling and just handle it

like any other argument, a delimiter can be escaped by prepending

a zero-width space

.Pq Sq \e& .

In text lines, delimiters never need escaping, but may be used

as normal punctuation.

.Pp

For many macros, when the leading arguments are opening delimiters,

these delimiters are put before the macro scope,

and when the trailing arguments are closing delimiters,

these delimiters are put after the macro scope.

For example,

.Pp

.D1 Pf \. \&Aq "( [ word ] ) ."

.Pp

renders as:

.Pp

.D1 Aq ( [ word ] ) .

.Pp

Opening delimiters are:

.Pp

.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact

.It \&(

left parenthesis

.It \&[

left bracket

.El

.Pp

Closing delimiters are:

.Pp

.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact

.It \&.

period

.It \&,

comma

.It \&:

colon

.It \&;

semicolon

.It \&)

right parenthesis

.It \&]

right bracket

.It \&?

question mark

.It \&!

exclamation mark

.El

.Pp

Note that even a period preceded by a backslash

.Pq Sq \e.\&

gets this special handling; use

.Sq \e&.

to prevent that.

.Pp

Many in-line macros interrupt their scope when they encounter

delimiters, and resume their scope when more arguments follow that

are not delimiters.

For example,

.Pp

.D1 Pf \. \&Fl "a ( b | c \e*(Ba d ) e"

.Pp

renders as:

.Pp

.D1 Fl a ( b | c \*(Ba d ) e

.Pp

This applies to both opening and closing delimiters,

and also to the middle delimiter:

.Pp

.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact

.It \&|

vertical bar

.El

.Pp

As a special case, the predefined string \e*(Ba is handled and rendered

in the same way as a plain

.Sq \&|

character.

Using this predefined string is not recommended in new manuals.

.Sh REFERENCE

This section is a canonical reference of all macros, arranged

alphabetically.

Line 879 referring to book titles.

Line 994 referring to book titles.

Publication city or location of an

.Sx \&Rs

block.

.Pp

.Em Remarks :

this macro is not implemented in

.Xr groff 1 .

.Ss \&%D

Publication date of an

.Sx \&Rs

block.

This should follow the reduced or canonical form syntax described in

Recommended formats of arguments are

.Sx Dates .

.Ar month day , year

or just

.Ar year .

.Ss \&%I

Publisher or issuer name of an

.Sx \&Rs

Line 933 Volume number of an

Line 1046 Volume number of an

.Sx \&Rs

block.

.Ss \&Ac

Closes an

Close an

.Sx \&Ao

block.

Does not have any tail arguments.

.Ss \&Ad

Address construct: usually in the context of an computational address in

Memory address.

memory, not a physical (post) address.

Do not use this for postal addresses.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Ad [0,$]

.Dl \&.Ad [0,$]

.D1 \&.Ad 0x00000000

.Dl \&.Ad 0x00000000

.Ss \&An

Author name.

This macro may alternatively accepts the following arguments, although

Can be used both for the authors of the program, function, or driver

these may not be specified along with a parameter:

documented in the manual, or for the authors of the manual itself.

.Bl -tag -width 12n -offset indent

Requires either the name of an author or one of the following arguments:

.Pp

.Bl -tag -width "-nosplitX" -offset indent -compact

.It Fl split

Renders a line break before each author listing.

Start a new output line before each subsequent invocation of

.Sx \&An .

.It Fl nosplit

The opposite of

.Fl split .

.El

.Pp

In the AUTHORS section, the default is not to split the first author

The default is

listing, but all subsequent author listings, whether or not they're

.Fl nosplit .

interspersed by other macros or text, are split.

The effect of selecting either of the

Thus, specifying

.Fl split

will cause the first listing also to be split.

modes ends at the beginning of the

If not in the AUTHORS section, the default is not to split.

.Em AUTHORS

section.

In the

.Em AUTHORS

section, the default is

.Fl nosplit

for the first author listing and

.Fl split

for all other author listings.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.An -nosplit

.Dl \&.An -nosplit

.D1 \&.An J. D. Ullman .

.Dl \&.An Kristaps Dzonsons \&Aq kristaps@bsd.lv

.Pp

.Em Remarks :

the effects of

.Fl split

.Fl nosplit

are re-set when entering the AUTHORS section, so if one specifies

.Sx \&An Fl nosplit

in the general document body, it must be re-specified in the AUTHORS

section.

.Ss \&Ao

Begins a block enclosed by angled brackets.

Begin a block enclosed by angle brackets.

Does not have any head arguments.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Fl -key= \&Ns \&Ao \&Ar val \&Ac

.Dl \&.Fl -key= \&Ns \&Ao \&Ar val \&Ac

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Aq .

.Ss \&Ap

Inserts an apostrophe without any surrounding whitespace.

This is generally used as a grammatical device when referring to the verb

form of a function:

form of a function.

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.Pp

\&.Fn execve Ap d

Examples:

.Ed

.Dl \&.Fn execve \&Ap d

.Ss \&Aq

Encloses its arguments in angled brackets.

Encloses its arguments in angle brackets.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Fl -key= \&Ns \&Aq \&Ar val

.Dl \&.Fl -key= \&Ns \&Aq \&Ar val

.Pp

.Em Remarks :

this macro is often abused for rendering URIs, which should instead use

Line 1014 See also

Line 1127 See also

.Ss \&Ar

Command arguments.

If an argument is not provided, the string

.Dq file ...

.Dq file ...\&

is used as a default.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Fl o \&Ns \&Ar file1

.Dl ".Fl o Ar file"

.D1 \&.Ar

.Dl ".Ar"

.D1 \&.Ar arg1 , arg2 .

.Dl ".Ar arg1 , arg2 ."

.Pp

The arguments to the

.Sx \&Ar

macro are names and placeholders for command arguments;

for fixed strings to be passed verbatim as arguments, use

.Sx \&Fl

.Sx \&Cm .

.Ss \&At

Formats an AT&T version.

Accepts at most one parameter:

Accepts one optional argument:

.Bl -tag -width 12n -offset indent

.Pp

.Bl -tag -width "v[1-7] | 32vX" -offset indent -compact

.It Cm v[1-7] | 32v

A version of

.At .

.It Cm III

.At III .

.It Cm V[.[1-4]]?

A system version of

A version of

.At .

.At V .

.El

.Pp

Note that these parameters do not begin with a hyphen.

Note that these arguments do not begin with a hyphen.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.At

.Dl \&.At

.D1 \&.At V.1

.Dl \&.At III

.Dl \&.At V.1

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Bsx ,

Line 1049 See also

Line 1174 See also

and

.Sx \&Ux .

.Ss \&Bc

Closes a

Close a

.Sx \&Bo

block.

Does not have any tail arguments.

.Ss \&Bd

Begins a display block.

Begin a display block.

Its syntax is as follows:

.Bd -ragged -offset indent

.Pf \. Sx \&Bd

.Fl type

.Fl Ns Ar type

.Op Fl offset Ar width

.Op Fl compact

.Ed

.Pp

A display is collection of macros or text which may be collectively

Display blocks are used to select a different indentation and

offset or justified in a manner different from that

justification than the one used by the surrounding text.

of the enclosing context.

They may contain both macro lines and text lines.

By default, the block is preceded by a vertical space.

By default, a display block is preceded by a vertical space.

.Pp

Each display is associated with a type, which must be one of the

The

following arguments:

.Ar type

.Bl -tag -width 12n -offset indent

must be one of the following:

.It Fl ragged

.Bl -tag -width 13n -offset indent

Only left-justify the block.

.It Fl centered

.It Fl unfilled

Produce one output line from each input line, and centre-justify each line.

Do not justify the block at all.

Using this display type is not recommended; many

.Nm

implementations render it poorly.

.It Fl filled

Left- and right-justify the block.

Change the positions of line breaks to fill each line, and left- and

right-justify the resulting block.

.It Fl literal

Alias for

Produce one output line from each input line,

.Fl unfilled .

and do not justify the block at all.

.It Fl centered

Preserve white space as it appears in the input.

Centre-justify each line.

Always use a constant-width font.

Use this for displaying source code.

.It Fl ragged

Change the positions of line breaks to fill each line, and left-justify

the resulting block.

.It Fl unfilled

The same as

.Fl literal ,

but using the same font as for normal text, which is a variable width font

if supported by the output device.

.El

.Pp

The type must be provided first.

The

Secondary arguments are as follows:

.Ar type

.Bl -tag -width 12n -offset indent

must be provided first.

.It Fl offset Ar val

Additional arguments may follow:

Offset by the value of

.Bl -tag -width 13n -offset indent

.Ar val ,

.It Fl offset Ar width

which is interpreted as one of the following, specified in order:

Indent the display by the

.Ar width ,

which may be one of the following:

.Bl -item

.It

As one of the pre-defined strings

One of the pre-defined strings

.Ar indent ,

.Cm indent ,

the width of standard indentation;

the width of a standard indentation (six constant width characters);

.Ar indent-two ,

.Cm indent-two ,

twice

.Ar indent ;

.Cm indent ;

.Ar left ,

.Cm left ,

which has no effect;

.Ar right ,

.Cm right ,

which justifies to the right margin; and

which justifies to the right margin; or

.Ar center ,

.Cm center ,

which aligns around an imagined centre axis.

.It

As a precalculated width for a named macro.

A macro invocation, which selects a predefined width

associated with that macro.

The most popular is the imaginary macro

.Ar \&Ds ,

which resolves to

.Ar 6n .

.Sy 6n .

.It

As a scaling unit following the syntax described in

A width using the syntax described in

.Sx Scaling Widths .

.It

As the calculated string length of the opaque string.

An arbitrary string, which indents by the length of this string.

.El

.Pp

If not provided an argument, it will be ignored.

When the argument is missing,

.Fl offset

is ignored.

.It Fl compact

Do not assert a vertical space before the block.

Do not assert vertical space before the display.

.El

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Bd \-unfilled \-offset two-indent \-compact

\&.Bd \-literal \-offset indent \-compact

Hello world.

\&.Ed

.Ed

Line 1152 and

Line 1294 and

argument are equivalent, as are

.Fl symbolic

and

.Cm \&Sy,

.Cm \&Sy ,

and

.Fl literal

and

Line 1166 is encountered.

Line 1308 is encountered.

See also

.Sx \&Li ,

.Sx \&Ef ,

.Sx \&Em ,

and

.Sx \&Sy .

.Ss \&Bk

Begins a collection of macros or text not breaking the line.

For each macro, keep its output together on the same output line,

Its syntax is as follows:

until the end of the macro or the end of the input line is reached,

whichever comes first.

Line breaks in text lines are unaffected.

The syntax is as follows:

.Pp

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Bk Fl words

.Pp

Subsequent arguments are ignored.

The

.Fl words

argument is required.

argument is required; additional arguments are ignored.

.Pp

Each line within a keep block is kept intact, so the following example

The following example will not break within each

will not break within each

.Sx \&Op

macro line:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

Line 1193 macro line:

Line 1337 macro line:

Be careful in using over-long lines within a keep block!

Doing so will clobber the right margin.

.Ss \&Bl

Begins a list composed of one or more list entries.

Begin a list.

Its syntax is as follows:

Lists consist of items specified using the

.Sx \&It

macro, containing a head or a body or both.

The list syntax is as follows:

.Bd -ragged -offset indent

.Pf \. Sx \&Bl

.Fl type

.Fl Ns Ar type

.Op Fl width Ar val

.Op Fl offset Ar val

.Op Fl compact

.Op HEAD ...

.Ed

.Pp

A list is associated with a type, which is a required argument.

The list

Other arguments are

.Ar type

.Fl width ,

is mandatory and must be specified first.

defined per-type as accepting a literal or

The

.Fl width

and

.Fl offset

arguments accept

.Sx Scaling Widths

value;

or use the length of the given string.

.Fl offset ,

The

also accepting a literal or

.Fl offset

.Sx Scaling Widths

is a global indentation for the whole list, affecting both item heads

value setting the list's global offset; and

and bodies.

.Fl compact ,

For those list types supporting it, the

suppressing the default vertical space printed before each list entry.

.Fl width

A list entry is specified by the

argument requests an additional indentation of item bodies,

.Sx \&It

to be added to the

macro, which consists of a head and optional body (depending on the list

.Fl offset .

type).

Unless the

.Fl compact

argument is specified, list entries are separated by vertical space.

.Pp

A list must specify one of the following list types:

.Bl -tag -width 12n -offset indent

.It Fl bullet

A list offset by a bullet.

No item heads can be specified, but a bullet will be printed at the head

The head of list entries must be empty.

of each item.

List entry bodies are positioned after the bullet.

Item bodies start on the same output line as the bullet

The

and are indented according to the

.Fl width

argument varies the width of list bodies' left-margins.

argument.

.It Fl column

A columnated list.

The

.Fl width

argument has no effect.

argument has no effect; instead, each argument specifies the width

The number of columns is specified as parameters to the

of one column, using either the

.Sx \&Bl

macro.

These dictate the width of columns either as

.Sx Scaling Widths

or literal text.

syntax or the string length of the argument.

If the initial macro of a

If the first line of the body of a

.Fl column

list is not an

.Sx \&It ,

.Sx \&It

context spanning each line is implied until an

macro line,

.Sx \&It

line macro is encountered, at which point list bodies are interpreted as

contexts spanning one input line each are implied until an

.Sx \&It

macro line is encountered, at which point items start being interpreted as

described in the

.Sx \&It

documentation.

.It Fl dash

A list offset by a dash (hyphen).

The head of list entries must be empty.

.Fl bullet ,

List entry bodies are positioned past the dash.

except that dashes are used in place of bullets.

The

.Fl width

argument varies the width of list bodies' left-margins.

.It Fl diag

.Fl inset ,

but with additional formatting to the head.

except that item heads are not parsed for macro invocations.

The

Most often used in the

.Fl width

.Em DIAGNOSTICS

argument varies the width of list bodies' left-margins.

section with error constants in the item heads.

.It Fl enum

An enumerated list offset by the enumeration from 1.

A numbered list.

The head of list entries must be empty.

No item heads can be specified.

List entry bodies are positioned after the enumeration.

Formatted like

The

.Fl bullet ,

.Fl width

except that cardinal numbers are used in place of bullets,

argument varies the width of list bodies' left-margins.

starting at 1.

.It Fl hang

.Fl tag ,

but instead of list bodies positioned after the head, they trail the

except that the first lines of item bodies are not indented, but follow

head text.

the item heads like in

The

.Fl inset

.Fl width

lists.

argument varies the width of list bodies' left-margins.

.It Fl hyphen

Synonym for

.Fl dash .

.It Fl inset

List bodies follow the list head.

Item bodies follow items heads on the same line, using normal inter-word

The

spacing.

Bodies are not indented, and the

.Fl width

argument is ignored.

.It Fl item

This produces blocks of text.

No item heads can be specified, and none are printed.

The head of list entries must be empty.

Bodies are not indented, and the

The

.Fl width

argument is ignored.

.It Fl ohang

List bodies are positioned on the line following the head.

Item bodies start on the line following item heads and are not indented.

The

.Fl width

argument is ignored.

.It Fl tag

A list offset by list entry heads.

Item bodies are indented according to the

List entry bodies are positioned after the head as specified by the

.Fl width

argument.

When an item head fits inside the indentation, the item body follows

this head on the same output line.

Otherwise, the body starts on the output line following the head.

.El

.Pp

Lists may be nested within lists and displays.

Nesting of

.Fl column

and

.Fl enum

lists may not be portable.

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&El

and

.Sx \&It .

.Ss \&Bo

Begins a block enclosed by square brackets.

Begin a block enclosed by square brackets.

Does not have any head arguments.

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact

\&.Bo 1 ,

\&.Dv BUFSIZ \&Bc

.Ed

Line 1325 See also

Line 1483 See also

Encloses its arguments in square brackets.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Bq 1 , \&Dv BUFSIZ

.Dl \&.Bq 1 , \&Dv BUFSIZ

.Pp

.Em Remarks :

this macro is sometimes abused to emulate optional arguments for

Line 1338 and

Line 1496 and

See also

.Sx \&Bo .

.Ss \&Brc

Closes a

Close a

.Sx \&Bro

block.

Does not have any tail arguments.

.Ss \&Bro

Begins a block enclosed by curly braces.

Begin a block enclosed by curly braces.

Does not have any head arguments.

.Pp

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent

.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact

\&.Bro 1 , ... ,

\&.Va n \&Brc

.Ed

Line 1358 See also

Line 1516 See also

Encloses its arguments in curly braces.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Brq 1 , ... , \&Va n

.Dl \&.Brq 1 , ... , \&Va n

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Bro .

Line 1367 Format the BSD/OS version provided as an argument, or

Line 1525 Format the BSD/OS version provided as an argument, or

no argument is provided.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Bsx 1.0

.Dl \&.Bsx 1.0

.D1 \&.Bsx

.Dl \&.Bsx

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&At ,

Line 1387 Format the BSD version provided as an argument, or a d

Line 1545 Format the BSD version provided as an argument, or a d

argument is provided.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Bx 4.4

.Dl \&.Bx 4.3 Tahoe

.D1 \&.Bx

.Dl \&.Bx 4.4

.Dl \&.Bx

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&At ,

Line 1400 See also

Line 1559 See also

and

.Sx \&Ux .

.Ss \&Cd

Configuration declaration.

Kernel configuration declaration.

This denotes strings accepted by

.Xr config 8 .

It is most often used in section 4 manual pages.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Cd device le0 at scode?

.Dl \&.Cd device le0 at scode?

.Pp

.Em Remarks :

this macro is commonly abused by using quoted literals to retain

Line 1415 declarations.

Line 1575 declarations.

This practise is discouraged.

.Ss \&Cm

Command modifiers.

Useful when specifying configuration options or keys.

Typically used for fixed strings passed as arguments, unless

.Sx \&Fl

is more appropriate.

Also useful when specifying configuration options or keys.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Cm ControlPath

.Dl ".Nm mt Fl f Ar device Cm rewind"

.D1 \&.Cm ControlMaster

.Dl ".Nm ps Fl o Cm pid , Ns Cm command"

.Pp

.Dl ".Nm dd Cm if= Ns Ar file1 Cm of= Ns Ar file2"

See also

.Dl ".Cm IdentityFile Pa ~/.ssh/id_rsa"

.Sx \&Fl .

.Dl ".Cm LogLevel Dv DEBUG"

.Ss \&D1

One-line indented display.

This is formatted by the default rules and is useful for simple indented

Line 1430 statements.

Line 1593 statements.

It is followed by a newline.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.D1 \&Fl abcdefgh

.Dl \&.D1 \&Fl abcdefgh

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Bd

and

.Sx \&Dl .

.Ss \&Db

Start a debugging context.

Switch debugging mode.

This macro is parsed, but generally ignored.

Its syntax is as follows:

.Pp

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Db Cm on | off

.Pp

This macro is ignored by

.Xr mandoc 1 .

.Ss \&Dc

Closes a

Close a

.Sx \&Do

block.

Does not have any tail arguments.

Line 1454 This is the mandatory first macro of any

Line 1619 This is the mandatory first macro of any

manual.

Its syntax is as follows:

.Pp

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Dd Cm date

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Dd Ar month day , year

.Pp

The

.Cm date

.Ar month

field may be either

is the full English month name, the

.Ar $\&Mdocdate$ ,

.Ar day

which signifies the current manual revision date dictated by

is an optionally zero-padded numeral, and the

.Ar year

is the full four-digit year.

.Pp

Other arguments are not portable; the

.Xr mandoc 1

utility handles them as follows:

.Bl -dash -offset 3n -compact

.It

To have the date automatically filled in by the

.Ox

version of

.Xr cvs 1 ,

or instead a valid canonical date as specified by

the special string

.Sx Dates .

.Dq $\&Mdocdate$

If a date does not conform, the current date is used instead.

can be given as an argument.

.It

A few alternative date formats are accepted as well

and converted to the standard form.

.It

If a date string cannot be parsed, it is used verbatim.

.It

If no date string is given, the current date is used.

.El

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Dd $\&Mdocdate$

.Dl \&.Dd $\&Mdocdate$

.D1 \&.Dd $\&Mdocdate: July 21 2007$

.Dl \&.Dd $\&Mdocdate: July 21 2007$

.D1 \&.Dd July 21, 2007

.Dl \&.Dd July 21, 2007

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Dt

Line 1482 invocations.

Line 1666 invocations.

It is followed by a newline.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Dl % mandoc mdoc.7 | less

.Dl \&.Dl % mandoc mdoc.7 \e(ba less

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Bd

and

.Sx \&D1 .

.Ss \&Do

Begins a block enclosed by double quotes.

Begin a block enclosed by double quotes.

Does not have any head arguments.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.D1 \&Do April is the cruellest month \&Dc \e(em T.S. Eliot

.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact

\&.Do

April is the cruellest month

\&.Dc

\e(em T.S. Eliot

.Ed

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Dq .

Line 1522 Its syntax is as follows:

Line 1711 Its syntax is as follows:

.Bd -ragged -offset indent

.Pf \. Sx \&Dt

.Oo

.Cm title

.Ar title

.Oo

.Cm section

.Ar section

.Op Cm volume | arch

.Op Ar volume | arch

.Oc

.Ed

.Pp

Its arguments are as follows:

.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset Ds

.It Cm title

.It Ar title

The document's title (name), defaulting to

.Dq UNKNOWN

if unspecified.

It should be capitalised.

.It Cm section

.It Ar section

The manual section.

This may be one of

.Ar 1

Line 1576 or

Line 1765 or

It should correspond to the manual's filename suffix and defaults to

.Dq 1

if unspecified.

.It Cm volume

.It Ar volume

This overrides the volume inferred from

.Ar section .

This field is optional, and if specified, must be one of

Line 1605 This field is optional, and if specified, must be one

Line 1794 This field is optional, and if specified, must be one

.Ar CON

.Pq contributed manuals .

.It Cm arch

.It Ar arch

This specifies a specific relevant architecture.

.Cm volume

.Ar volume

is not provided, it may be used in its place, else it may be used

subsequent that.

It, too, is optional.

Line 1629 It must be one of

Line 1818 It must be one of

.Ar luna88k ,

.Ar mac68k ,

.Ar macppc ,

.Ar mips64 ,

.Ar mvme68k ,

.Ar mvme88k ,

.Ar mvmeppc ,

Line 1644 or

Line 1834 or

.El

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Dt FOO 1

.Dl \&.Dt FOO 1

.D1 \&.Dt FOO 4 KM

.Dl \&.Dt FOO 4 KM

.D1 \&.Dt FOO 9 i386

.Dl \&.Dt FOO 9 i386

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Dd

and

.Sx \&Os .

.Ss \&Dv

Defined variables such as preprocessor constants.

Defined variables such as preprocessor constants, constant symbols,

enumeration values, and so on.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Dv BUFSIZ

.Dl \&.Dv NULL

.D1 \&.Dv STDOUT_FILENO

.Dl \&.Dv BUFSIZ

.Dl \&.Dv STDOUT_FILENO

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Er .

.Sx \&Er

and

.Sx \&Ev

for special-purpose constants and

.Sx \&Va

for variable symbols.

.Ss \&Dx

Format the DragonFly BSD version provided as an argument, or a default

value if no argument is provided.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Dx 2.4.1

.Dl \&.Dx 2.4.1

.D1 \&.Dx

.Dl \&.Dx

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&At ,

Line 1683 Close a scope started by

Line 1880 Close a scope started by

.Sx \&Eo .

Its syntax is as follows:

.Pp

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Ec Op Cm TERM

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Ec Op Ar TERM

.Pp

The

.Cm TERM

.Ar TERM

argument is used as the enclosure tail, for example, specifying \e(rq

will emulate

.Sx \&Dc .

Line 1694 will emulate

Line 1891 will emulate

End a display context started by

.Sx \&Bd .

.Ss \&Ef

Ends a font mode context started by

End a font mode context started by

.Sx \&Bf .

.Ss \&Ek

Ends a keep context started by

End a keep context started by

.Sx \&Bk .

.Ss \&El

Ends a list context started by

End a list context started by

.Sx \&Bl .

.Pp

See also

Line 1708 See also

Line 1905 See also

and

.Sx \&It .

.Ss \&Em

Denotes text that should be emphasised.

Denotes text that should be

.Em emphasised .

Note that this is a presentation term and should not be used for

stylistically decorating technical terms.

Depending on the output device, this is usually represented

using an italic font or underlined characters.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Em Warnings!

.Dl \&.Em Warnings!

.D1 \&.Em Remarks :

.Dl \&.Em Remarks :

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Bf ,

.Sx \&Sy ,

.Sx \&Li ,

.Sx \&No ,

and

.Sx \&Li .

.Sx \&Sy .

.Ss \&En

This macro is obsolete and not implemented.

This macro is obsolete and not implemented in

.Xr mandoc 1 .

.Ss \&Eo

An arbitrary enclosure.

Its syntax is as follows:

.Pp

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Eo Op Cm TERM

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Eo Op Ar TERM

.Pp

The

.Cm TERM

.Ar TERM

argument is used as the enclosure head, for example, specifying \e(lq

will emulate

.Sx \&Do .

.Ss \&Er

Display error constants.

Error constants for definitions of the

.Va errno

libc global variable.

This is most often used in section 2 and 3 manual pages.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Er EPERM

.Dl \&.Er EPERM

.D1 \&.Er ENOENT

.Dl \&.Er ENOENT

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Dv .

.Sx \&Dv

for general constants.

.Ss \&Es

This macro is obsolete and not implemented.

.Ss \&Ev

Line 1750 Environmental variables such as those specified in

Line 1956 Environmental variables such as those specified in

.Xr environ 7 .

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Ev DISPLAY

.Dl \&.Ev DISPLAY

.D1 \&.Ev PATH

.Dl \&.Ev PATH

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Dv

for general constants.

.Ss \&Ex

Inserts text regarding a utility's exit value.

Insert a standard sentence regarding command exit values of 0 on success

This macro must consist of the

and >0 on failure.

.Fl std

This is most often used in section 1, 6, and 8 manual pages.

argument followed by an optional

Its syntax is as follows:

.Ar utility .

.Pp

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Ex Fl std Op Ar utility ...

.Pp

.Ar utility

is not provided, the document's name as stipulated in

is not specified, the document's name set by

.Sx \&Nm

is provided.

is used.

Multiple

.Ar utility

arguments are treated as separate utilities.

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Rv .

Line 1791 Furthermore, if the following macro is another

Line 2006 Furthermore, if the following macro is another

the last argument will also have a trailing comma.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Fa \(dqconst char *p\(dq

.Dl \&.Fa \(dqconst char *p\(dq

.D1 \&.Fa \(dqint a\(dq \(dqint b\(dq \(dqint c\(dq

.Dl \&.Fa \(dqint a\(dq \(dqint b\(dq \(dqint c\(dq

.D1 \&.Fa foo

.Dl \&.Fa foo

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Fo .

.Ss \&Fc

Ends a function context started by

End a function context started by

.Sx \&Fo .

.Ss \&Fd

Historically used to document include files.

Line 1811 See also

Line 2026 See also

and

.Sx \&In .

.Ss \&Fl

Command-line flag.

Command-line flag or option.

Used when listing arguments to command-line utilities.

Prints a fixed-width hyphen

.Sq \-

Line 1821 If the argument is a macro, a hyphen is prefixed to th

Line 2036 If the argument is a macro, a hyphen is prefixed to th

output.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Fl a b c

.Dl ".Fl R Op Fl H | L | P"

.D1 \&.Fl \&Pf a b

.Dl ".Op Fl 1AaCcdFfgHhikLlmnopqRrSsTtux"

.D1 \&.Fl

.Dl ".Fl type Cm d Fl name Pa CVS"

.D1 \&.Op \&Fl o \&Ns \&Ar file

.Dl ".Fl Ar signal_number"

.Dl ".Fl o Fl"

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Cm .

Line 1833 A function name.

Line 2049 A function name.

Its syntax is as follows:

.Bd -ragged -offset indent

.Pf \. Ns Sx \&Fn

.Op Cm functype

.Op Ar functype

.Cm funcname

.Ar funcname

.Op Oo Cm argtype Oc Cm argname

.Op Oo Ar argtype Oc Ar argname

.Ed

.Pp

Function arguments are surrounded in parenthesis and

are delimited by commas.

If no arguments are specified, blank parenthesis are output.

In the

.Em SYNOPSIS

section, this macro starts a new output line,

and a blank line is automatically inserted between function definitions.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Fn "int funcname" "int arg0" "int arg1"

.Dl \&.Fn \*qint funcname\*q \*qint arg0\*q \*qint arg1\*q

.D1 \&.Fn funcname "int arg0"

.Dl \&.Fn funcname \*qint arg0\*q

.D1 \&.Fn funcname arg0

.Dl \&.Fn funcname arg0

.Pp

.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact

\&.Ft functype

\&.Fn funcname

.Ed

.Pp

When referring to a function documented in another manual page, use

.Sx \&Xr

instead.

See also

.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE

.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE ,

.Sx \&Fo ,

and

.Sx \&Ft .

.Ss \&Fo

Line 1861 This is a multi-line version of

Line 2086 This is a multi-line version of

.Sx \&Fn .

Its syntax is as follows:

.Pp

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Fo Cm funcname

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Fo Ar funcname

.Pp

Invocations usually occur in the following context:

.Bd -ragged -offset indent

.Pf \. Sx \&Ft Cm functype

.Pf \. Sx \&Ft Ar functype

.br

.Pf \. Sx \&Fo Cm funcname

.Pf \. Sx \&Fo Ar funcname

.br

.Pf \. Sx \&Fa Oo Cm argtype Oc Cm argname

.Pf \. Sx \&Fa Oo Ar argtype Oc Ar argname

.br

\.\.\.

\&.\.\.

.br

.Pf \. Sx \&Fc

.Ed

Line 1879 Invocations usually occur in the following context:

Line 2104 Invocations usually occur in the following context:

.Sx \&Fo

scope is closed by

.Sx \&Fc .

.Pp

See also

.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE ,

Line 1886 See also

Line 2112 See also

.Sx \&Fc ,

and

.Sx \&Ft .

.Ss \&Fr

This macro is obsolete and not implemented in

.Xr mandoc 1 .

.Pp

It was used to show function return values.

The syntax was:

.Pp

.Dl Pf . Sx \&Fr Ar value

.Ss \&Ft

A function type.

Its syntax is as follows:

.Pp

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Ft Cm functype

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Ft Ar functype

.Pp

In the

.Em SYNOPSIS

section, a new output line is started after this macro.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Ft int

.Dl \&.Ft int

.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact

\&.Ft functype

\&.Fn funcname

Line 1905 See also

Line 2143 See also

and

.Sx \&Fo .

.Ss \&Fx

Format the FreeBSD version provided as an argument, or a default value

Format the

.Fx

version provided as an argument, or a default value

if no argument is provided.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Fx 7.1

.Dl \&.Fx 7.1

.D1 \&.Fx

.Dl \&.Fx

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&At ,

Line 1922 See also

Line 2162 See also

and

.Sx \&Ux .

.Ss \&Hf

This macro is obsolete and not implemented.

This macro is not implemented in

.Xr mandoc 1 .

.Pp

It was used to include the contents of a (header) file literally.

The syntax was:

.Pp

.Dl Pf . Sx \&Hf Ar filename

.Ss \&Ic

Designate an internal or interactive command.

This is similar to

Line 1930 This is similar to

Line 2176 This is similar to

but used for instructions rather than values.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Ic hash

.Dl \&.Ic :wq

.D1 \&.Ic alias

.Dl \&.Ic hash

.Dl \&.Ic alias

.Pp

Note that using

.Sx \&Bd No Fl literal

.Sx \&Bd Fl literal

.Sx \&D1

is preferred for displaying code; the

Line 1944 macro is used when referring to specific instructions.

Line 2191 macro is used when referring to specific instructions.

.Dq include

file.

In the

When invoked as the first macro on an input line in the

.Em SYNOPSIS

section (only if invoked as the line macro), the first argument is

section, the argument is displayed in angle brackets

preceded by

and preceded by

.Dq #include ,

the arguments is enclosed in angled braces.

and a blank line is inserted in front if there is a preceding

function declaration.

This is most often used in section 2, 3, and 9 manual pages.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.In sys/types

.Dl \&.In sys/types.h

.Pp

See also

.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE .

Line 1969 and

Line 2218 and

.Fl diag

have the following syntax:

.Pp

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&It Cm args

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&It Ar args

.Pp

Lists of type

.Fl bullet ,

Line 2006 The

Line 2255 The

list is the most complicated.

Its syntax is as follows:

.Pp

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&It Op Cm args

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&It Ar cell Op <TAB> Ar cell ...

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&It Ar cell Op Sx \&Ta Ar cell ...

.Pp

The

The arguments consist of one or more lines of text and macros

.Cm args

representing a complete table line.

are phrases, a mix of macros and text corresponding to a line column,

Cells within the line are delimited by tabs or by the special

delimited by tabs or the special

.Sx \&Ta

.Sq \&Ta

block macro.

pseudo-macro.

The tab cell delimiter may only be used within the

Lines subsequent the

.Sx \&It

are interpreted within the scope of the last phrase.

line itself; on following lines, only the

Calling the pseudo-macro

.Sx \&Ta

.Sq \&Ta

macro can be used to delimit cells, and

will open a new phrase scope (this must occur on a macro line to be

.Sx \&Ta

interpreted as a macro).

is only recognized as a macro when called by other macros,

Note that the tab phrase delimiter may only be used within the

not as the first macro on a line.

.Pp

Note that quoted strings may span tab-delimited cells on an

.Sx \&It

line itself.

line.

Subsequent this, only the

For example,

.Sq \&Ta

pseudo-macro may be used to delimit phrases.

Furthermore, note that quoted sections propagate over tab-delimited

phrases on an

.Sx \&It ,

for example,

.Pp

.D1 .It \(dqcol1 ; <TAB> col2 ;\(dq \&;

.Dl .It \(dqcol1 ; <TAB> col2 ;\(dq \&;

.Pp

will preserve the semicolon whitespace except for the last.

.Pp

Line 2042 See also

Line 2287 See also

Specify a library.

The syntax is as follows:

.Pp

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Lb Cm library

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Lb Ar library

.Pp

The

.Cm library

.Ar library

parameter may be a system library, such as

.Cm libz

Line 2059 section as described in

Line 2304 section as described in

.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE .

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Lb libz

.Dl \&.Lb libz

.D1 \&.Lb mdoc

.Dl \&.Lb mdoc

.Ss \&Li

Denotes text that should be in a literal font mode.

Denotes text that should be in a

.Li literal

font mode.

Note that this is a presentation term and should not be used for

stylistically decorating technical terms.

.Pp

On terminal output devices, this is often indistinguishable from

normal text.

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Bf ,

.Sx \&Sy ,

.Sx \&Em ,

.Sx \&No ,

and

.Sx \&Em .

.Sx \&Sy .

.Ss \&Lk

Format a hyperlink.

Its syntax is as follows:

.Pp

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Lk Cm uri Op Cm name

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Lk Ar uri Op Ar name

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Lk http://bsd.lv "The BSD.lv Project"

.Dl \&.Lk http://bsd.lv \*qThe BSD.lv Project\*q

.D1 \&.Lk http://bsd.lv

.Dl \&.Lk http://bsd.lv

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Mt .

Line 2088 Synonym for

Line 2339 Synonym for

.Sx \&Pp .

.Ss \&Ms

Display a mathematical symbol.

Its syntax is as follows:

.Pp

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Ms Ar symbol

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Ms sigma

.Dl \&.Ms sigma

.D1 \&.Ms aleph

.Dl \&.Ms aleph

.Ss \&Mt

Format a

.Dq mailto:

hyperlink.

Its syntax is as follows:

.Pp

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Mt Cm address

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Mt Ar address

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Mt discuss@manpages.bsd.lv

.Dl \&.Mt discuss@manpages.bsd.lv

.Ss \&Nd

A one-line description of the manual's content.

A one line description of the manual's content.

This may only be invoked in the

.Em SYNOPSIS

section subsequent the

Line 2111 section subsequent the

Line 2365 section subsequent the

macro.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Sx \&Nd mdoc language reference

.Dl Pf . Sx \&Nd mdoc language reference

.D1 \&.Sx \&Nd format and display UNIX manuals

.Dl Pf . Sx \&Nd format and display UNIX manuals

.Pp

The

.Sx \&Nd

Line 2164 macro rather than

Line 2418 macro rather than

.Sx \&Nm

to mark up the name of the manual page.

.Ss \&No

Normal text.

.Dq noop

Closes the scope of any preceding in-line macro.

macro used to terminate prior macro contexts.

When used after physical formatting macros like

.Sx \&Em

.Sx \&Sy ,

switches back to the standard font face and weight.

Can also be used to embed plain text strings in macro lines

using semantic annotation macros.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Sx \&Fl ab \&No cd \&Fl ef

.Dl ".Em italic , Sy bold , No and roman"

.Pp

.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact

\&.Sm off

\&.Cm :C No / Ar pattern No / Ar replacement No /

\&.Sm on

.Ed

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Em ,

.Sx \&Li ,

and

.Sx \&Sy .

.Ss \&Ns

Suppress a space.

Suppress a space between the output of the preceding macro

Following invocation, text is interpreted as free-form text until a

and the following text or macro.

macro is encountered.

Following invocation, input is interpreted as normal text

just like after an

.Sx \&No

macro.

.Pp

This has no effect when invoked at the start of a macro line.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Fl o \&Ns \&Ar output

.Dl ".Ar name Ns = Ns Ar value"

.Dl ".Cm :M Ns Ar pattern"

.Dl ".Fl o Ns Ar output"

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&No

and

.Sx \&Sm .

.Ss \&Nx

Format the NetBSD version provided as an argument, or a default value if

Format the

.Nx

version provided as an argument, or a default value if

no argument is provided.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Nx 5.01

.Dl \&.Nx 5.01

.D1 \&.Nx

.Dl \&.Nx

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&At ,

Line 2200 See also

Line 2481 See also

and

.Sx \&Ux .

.Ss \&Oc

Closes multi-line

Close multi-line

.Sx \&Oo

context.

.Ss \&Oo

Line 2214 Examples:

Line 2495 Examples:

\&.Oc

.Ed

.Ss \&Op

Command-line option.

Optional part of a command line.

Used when listing options to command-line utilities.

Prints the argument(s) in brackets.

This is most often used in the

.Em SYNOPSIS

section of section 1 and 8 manual pages.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Op \&Fl a \&Ar b

.Dl \&.Op \&Fl a \&Ar b

.D1 \&.Op \&Ar a | b

.Dl \&.Op \&Ar a | b

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Oo .

Line 2232 any

Line 2515 any

file.

Its syntax is as follows:

.Pp

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Os Op Cm system

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Os Op Ar system Op Ar version

.Pp

The optional

.Cm system

.Ar system

parameter specifies the relevant operating system or environment.

Left unspecified, it defaults to the local operating system version.

This is the suggested form.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Os

.Dl \&.Os

.D1 \&.Os KTH/CSC/TCS

.Dl \&.Os KTH/CSC/TCS

.D1 \&.Os BSD 4.3

.Dl \&.Os BSD 4.3

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Dd

and

.Sx \&Dt .

.Ss \&Ot

Unknown usage.

This macro is obsolete and not implemented in

.Xr mandoc 1 .

.Pp

.Em Remarks :

Historical

this macro has been deprecated.

.Xr mdoc 7

packages described it as

.Dq "old function type (FORTRAN)" .

.Ss \&Ox

Format the OpenBSD version provided as an argument, or a default value

Format the

.Ox

version provided as an argument, or a default value

if no argument is provided.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Ox 4.5

.Dl \&.Ox 4.5

.D1 \&.Ox

.Dl \&.Ox

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&At ,

Line 2272 See also

Line 2560 See also

and

.Sx \&Ux .

.Ss \&Pa

A file-system path.

An absolute or relative file system path, or a file or directory name.

If an argument is not provided, the character

.Sq \(ti

is used as a default.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Pa /usr/bin/mandoc

.Dl \&.Pa /usr/bin/mandoc

.D1 \&.Pa /usr/share/man/man7/mdoc.7

.Dl \&.Pa /usr/share/man/man7/mdoc.7

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Lk .

Line 2284 See also

Line 2575 See also

Close parenthesised context opened by

.Sx \&Po .

.Ss \&Pf

Removes the space

Removes the space between its argument

.Pq Dq prefix

between its arguments.

and the following macro.

Its syntax is as follows:

.Pp

.D1 Pf \. \&Pf Cm prefix suffix

.D1 .Pf Ar prefix macro arguments ...

.Pp

The

This is equivalent to:

.Cm suffix

argument may be a macro.

.Pp

.D1 .No Ar prefix No \&Ns Ar macro arguments ...

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Pf \e. \&Sx \&Pf \&Cm prefix suffix

.Dl ".Pf $ Ar variable_name"

.Dl ".Pf 0x Ar hex_digits"

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Ns

and

.Sx \&Sm .

.Ss \&Po

Multi-line version of

.Sx \&Pq .

Line 2304 Multi-line version of

Line 2601 Multi-line version of

Break a paragraph.

This will assert vertical space between prior and subsequent macros

and/or text.

.Pp

Paragraph breaks are not needed before or after

.Sx \&Sh

.Sx \&Ss

macros or before displays

.Pq Sx \&Bd

or lists

.Pq Sx \&Bl

unless the

.Fl compact

flag is given.

.Ss \&Pq

Parenthesised enclosure.

.Pp

Line 2323 Multi-line version of

Line 2632 Multi-line version of

.Sx \&Qq .

.Ss \&Qq

Encloses its arguments in

.Dq typewriter

.Qq typewriter

double-quotes.

Consider using

.Sx \&Dq .

Line 2334 See also

Line 2643 See also

and

.Sx \&Qo .

.Ss \&Re

Closes a

Close an

.Sx \&Rs

block.

Does not have any tail arguments.

.Ss \&Rs

Begins a bibliographic

Begin a bibliographic

.Pq Dq reference

block.

Does not have any head arguments.

Line 2379 block is used within a SEE ALSO section, a vertical sp

Line 2688 block is used within a SEE ALSO section, a vertical sp

before the rendered output, else the block continues on the current

line.

.Ss \&Rv

Inserts text regarding a function call's return value.

Insert a standard sentence regarding a function call's return value of 0

This macro must consist of the

on success and \-1 on error, with the

.Fl std

.Va errno

argument followed by an optional

libc global variable set on error.

.Ar function .

Its syntax is as follows:

.Pp

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Rv Fl std Op Ar function ...

.Pp

.Ar function

is not provided, the document's name as stipulated by the first

is not specified, the document's name set by

.Sx \&Nm

is provided.

is used.

Multiple

.Ar function

arguments are treated as separate functions.

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Ex .

Line 2404 custom sections be used.

Line 2719 custom sections be used.

.Pp

Section names should be unique so that they may be keyed by

.Sx \&Sx .

Although this macro is parsed, it should not consist of child node or it

may not be linked with

.Sx \&Sx .

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Pp ,

Line 2421 By default, spacing is

Line 2739 By default, spacing is

When switched

.Cm off ,

no white space is inserted between macro arguments and between the

output generated from adjacent macros, but free-form text lines

output generated from adjacent macros, but text lines

still get normal spacing between words and sentences.

.Ss \&So

Multi-line version of

.Sx \&Sq .

.Ss \&Sq

Encloses its arguments in

.Dq typewriter

.Sq typewriter

single-quotes.

.Pp

See also

Line 2437 See also

Line 2755 See also

and

.Sx \&So .

.Ss \&Ss

Begin a new sub-section.

Begin a new subsection.

Unlike with

.Sx \&Sh ,

there's no convention for sub-sections.

there is no convention for the naming of subsections.

Conventional sections, as described in

Except

.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE ,

.Em DESCRIPTION ,

rarely have sub-sections.

the conventional sections described in

.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE

rarely have subsections.

.Pp

Sub-section names should be unique so that they may be keyed by

.Sx \&Sx .

Although this macro is parsed, it should not consist of child node or it

may not be linked with

.Sx \&Sx .

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Pp ,

Line 2528 The following standards are recognised:

Line 2851 The following standards are recognised:

.St -xpg4

.It \-xpg4.2

.St -xpg4.2

.It \-xpg4.3

.St -xpg4.3

.It \-xbd5

.St -xbd5

Line 2551 The following standards are recognised:

Line 2875 The following standards are recognised:

.St -svid4

.El

.Ss \&Sx

Reference a section or sub-section.

Reference a section or subsection in the same manual page.

The referenced section or sub-section name must be identical to the

The referenced section or subsection name must be identical to the

enclosed argument, including whitespace.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE

.Dl \&.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Sh

and

.Sx \&Ss .

.Ss \&Sy

Format enclosed arguments in symbolic

.Pq Dq boldface .

Line 2565 stylistically decorating technical terms.

Line 2894 stylistically decorating technical terms.

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&Bf ,

.Sx \&Em ,

.Sx \&Li ,

and

.Sx \&Em .

.Sx \&No .

.Ss \&Ta

Table cell separator in

.Sx \&Bl Fl column

lists; can only be used below

.Sx \&It .

.Ss \&Tn

Format a tradename.

.Pp

Since this macro is often implemented to use a small caps font,

it has historically been used for acronyms (like ASCII) as well.

Such usage is not recommended because it would use the same macro

sometimes for semantical annotation, sometimes for physical formatting.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Tn IBM

.Dl \&.Tn IBM

.Ss \&Ud

Prints out

.Dq currently under development.

Line 2581 Format the UNIX name.

Line 2921 Format the UNIX name.

Accepts no argument.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Ux

.Dl \&.Ux

.Pp

See also

.Sx \&At ,

Line 2596 and

Line 2936 and

A variable name.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Va foo

.Dl \&.Va foo

.D1 \&.Va const char *bar ;

.Dl \&.Va const char *bar ;

.Ss \&Vt

A variable type.

This is also used for indicating global variables in the

Line 2605 This is also used for indicating global variables in t

Line 2945 This is also used for indicating global variables in t

section, in which case a variable name is also specified.

Note that it accepts

.Sx Block partial-implicit

syntax when invoked as the first macro in the

syntax when invoked as the first macro on an input line in the

.Em SYNOPSIS

section, else it accepts ordinary

.Sx In-line

syntax.

In the former case, this macro starts a new output line,

and a blank line is inserted in front if there is a preceding

function definition or include directive.

.Pp

Note that this should not be confused with

.Sx \&Ft ,

which is used for function return types.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Vt unsigned char

.Dl \&.Vt unsigned char

.D1 \&.Vt extern const char * const sys_signame[] \&;

.Dl \&.Vt extern const char * const sys_signame[] \&;

.Pp

See also

.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE

Line 2627 and

Line 2970 and

Close a scope opened by

.Sx \&Xo .

.Ss \&Xo

Open an extension scope.

Extend the header of an

This macro originally existed to extend the 9-argument limit of troff;

.Sx \&It

since this limit has been lifted, the macro has been deprecated.

macro or the body of a partial-implicit block macro

beyond the end of the input line.

This macro originally existed to work around the 9-argument limit

of historic

.Xr roff 7 .

.Ss \&Xr

Link to another manual

.Pq Qq cross-reference .

Its syntax is as follows:

.Pp

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Xr Cm name section

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Xr Ar name section

.Pp

The

.Cm name

.Ar name

and

.Cm section

.Ar section

are the name and section of the linked manual.

.Cm section

.Ar section

is followed by non-punctuation, an

.Sx \&Ns

is inserted into the token stream.

This behaviour is for compatibility with

.Xr groff 1 .

GNU troff.

.Pp

Examples:

.D1 \&.Xr mandoc 1

.Dl \&.Xr mandoc 1

.D1 \&.Xr mandoc 1 \&;

.Dl \&.Xr mandoc 1 \&;

.D1 \&.Xr mandoc 1 \&Ns s behaviour

.Dl \&.Xr mandoc 1 \&Ns s behaviour

.Ss \&br

Emits a line-break.

This macro should not be used; it is implemented for compatibility with

historical manuals.

.Pp

Consider using

.Sx \&Pp

in the event of natural paragraph breaks.

.Ss \&sp

Emits vertical space.

This macro should not be used; it is implemented for compatibility with

historical manuals.

Its syntax is as follows:

.Pp

.D1 Pf \. Sx \&sp Op Ar height

.Pp

The

.Ar height

argument must be formatted as described in

.Sx Scaling Widths .

If unspecified,

.Sx \&sp

asserts a single vertical space.

.Sh COMPATIBILITY

This section documents compatibility between mandoc and other other

troff implementations, at this time limited to GNU troff

.Pq Qq groff .

The term

.Qq historic groff

refers to groff versions before the

refers to groff versions before 1.17,

which featured a significant update of the

.Pa doc.tmac

file re-write

file.

.Pq somewhere between 1.15 and 1.19 .

.Pp

Heirloom troff, the other significant troff implementation accepting

\-mdoc, is similar to historic groff.

.Pp

The following problematic behaviour is found in groff:

.ds hist (Historic groff only.)

.Pp

.Bl -dash -compact

.It

The \es (font size), \em (font colour), and \eM (font filling colour)

Display macros

font decoration escapes are all discarded in mandoc.

.Po

.Sx \&Bd ,

.Sx \&Dl ,

and

.Sx \&D1

.Pc

may not be nested.

\*[hist]

.It

Old groff fails to assert a newline before

.Sx \&At

.Sx \&Bd Fl ragged compact .

with unknown arguments produces no output at all.

\*[hist]

Newer groff and mandoc print

.Qq AT&T UNIX

and the arguments.

.It

groff behaves inconsistently when encountering

.Sx \&Bl Fl column

.Pf non- Sx \&Fa

does not recognize trailing punctuation characters when they immediately

children of

precede tabulator characters, but treats them as normal text and

outputs a space before them.

.It

.Sx \&Bd Fl ragged compact

does not start a new line.

\*[hist]

.It

.Sx \&Dd

with non-standard arguments behaves very strangely.

When there are three arguments, they are printed verbatim.

Any other number of arguments is replaced by the current date,

but without any arguments the string

.Dq Epoch

is printed.

.It

.Sx \&Fl

does not print a dash for an empty argument.

\*[hist]

.It

.Sx \&Fn

does not start a new line unless invoked as the line macro in the

.Em SYNOPSIS

section.

\*[hist]

.It

.Sx \&Fo

regarding spacing between arguments.

with

In mandoc, this is not the case: each argument is consistently followed

.Pf non- Sx \&Fa

by a single space and the trailing

children causes inconsistent spacing between arguments.

.Sq \&)

In mandoc, a single space is always inserted between arguments.

suppresses prior spacing.

.It

groff behaves inconsistently when encountering

.Sx \&Ft

and

.Sx \&Fn

in the

.Em SYNOPSIS :

.Em SYNOPSIS

at times newline(s) are suppressed depending on whether a prior

causes inconsistent vertical spacing, depending on whether a prior

.Sx \&Fn

has been invoked.

In mandoc, this is not the case.

See

.Sx \&Ft

and

.Sx \&Fn

for the normalised behaviour.

for the normalised behaviour in mandoc.

.It

Historic groff does not break before an

.Sx \&Fn

when not invoked as the line macro in the

.Em SYNOPSIS

section.

.It

Historic groff formats the

.Sx \&In

badly: trailing arguments are trashed and

ignores additional arguments and is not treated specially in the

.Em SYNOPSIS

.Em SYNOPSIS .

is not specially treated.

\*[hist]

.It

groff does not accept the

.Sx \&It

.Sq \&Ta

sometimes requires a

pseudo-macro as a line macro.

.Fl nested

mandoc does.

flag.

\*[hist]

In new groff and mandoc, any list may be nested by default and

.Fl enum

lists will restart the sequence only for the sub-list.

.It

The comment syntax

.Sx \&Li

.Sq \e\."

followed by a delimiter is incorrectly used in some manuals

is no longer accepted.

instead of properly quoting that character, which sometimes works with

historic groff.

.It

In groff, the

.Sx \&Lk

only accepts a single link-name argument; the remainder is misformatted.

.It

.Sx \&Pa

macro does not format its arguments when used in the FILES section under

does not format its arguments when used in the FILES section under

certain list types.

mandoc does.

.It

Historic groff does not print a dash for empty

.Sx \&Ta

.Sx \&Fl

can only be called by other macros, but not at the beginning of a line.

arguments.

mandoc and newer groff implementations do.

.It

groff behaves irregularly when specifying

.Sx \&%C

is not implemented.

.It

Historic groff only allows up to eight or nine arguments per macro input

line, depending on the exact situation.

Providing more arguments causes garbled output.

The number of arguments on one input line is not limited with mandoc.

.It

Historic groff has many un-callable macros.

Most of these (excluding some block-level macros) are callable

in new groff and mandoc.

.It

.Sq \(ba

(vertical bar) is not fully supported as a delimiter.

\*[hist]

.It

.Sq \ef

.Pq font face

and

.Sq \ef

.Pq font family face

.Sx Text Decoration

within line-macro scopes.

escapes behave irregularly when specified within line-macro scopes.

mandoc follows a consistent system.

.It

In mandoc, negative scaling units are truncated to zero; groff would

Negative scaling units return to prior lines.

move to prior lines.

Instead, mandoc truncates them to zero.

Furthermore, the

.El

.Sq f

.Pp

scaling unit, while accepted, is rendered as the default unit.

The following features are unimplemented in mandoc:

.Pp

.Bl -dash -compact

.It

In quoted literals, groff allowed pair-wise double-quotes to produce a

.Sx \&Bd

standalone double-quote in formatted output.

.Fl file Ar file .

This idiosyncratic behaviour is not applicable in mandoc.

.It

Display offsets

.Sx \&Bd

.Fl offset Ar center

and

.Fl offset Ar right

.Fl offset Ar right .

are disregarded in mandoc.

Groff does not implement centered and flush-right rendering either,

Furthermore, troff specifies a

but produces large indentations.

.Fl file Ar file

argument that is not supported in mandoc.

Lastly, since text is not right-justified in mandoc (or even groff),

.Fl ragged

and

.Fl filled

are aliases, as are

.Fl literal

and

.Fl unfilled .

.It

Historic groff has many un-callable macros.

The

Most of these (excluding some block-level macros) are now callable.

.Sq \eh

.It

.Pq horizontal position ,

The vertical bar

.Sq \ev

.Sq \(ba

.Pq vertical position ,

made historic groff

.Sq \em

.Qq go orbital

.Pq text colour ,

but has been a proper delimiter since then.

.Sq \eM

.It

.Pq text filling colour ,

.Sx \&It Fl nested

.Sq \ez

is assumed for all lists (it wasn't in historic groff): any list may be

.Pq zero-length character ,

nested and

.Sq \ew

.Fl enum

.Pq string length ,

lists will restart the sequence only for the sub-list.

.Sq \ek

.It

.Pq horizontal position marker ,

Some manuals use

.Sq \eo

.Sx \&Li

.Pq text overstrike ,

incorrectly by following it with a reserved character and expecting the

delimiter to render.

This is not supported in mandoc.

.It

In groff, the

.Sx \&Cd ,

.Sx \&Er ,

.Sx \&Ex ,

and

.Sx \&Rv

.Sq \es

macros were stipulated only to occur in certain manual sections.

.Pq text size

mandoc does not have these restrictions.

escape sequences are all discarded in mandoc.

.It

Newer groff and mandoc print

The

.Qq AT&T UNIX

.Sq \ef

prior to unknown arguments of

scaling unit is accepted by mandoc, but rendered as the default unit.

.Sx \&At ;

.It

older groff did nothing.

In quoted literals, groff allows pairwise double-quotes to produce a

standalone double-quote in formatted output.

This is not supported by mandoc.

.El

.Sh SEE ALSO

.Xr man 1 ,

.Xr mandoc 1 ,

.Xr mandoc_char 7

.Xr eqn 7 ,

.Xr man 7 ,

.Xr mandoc_char 7 ,

.Xr roff 7 ,

.Xr tbl 7

.Sh HISTORY

The

.Nm

language first appeared as a troff macro package in

.Bx 4.4 .

It was later significantly updated by Werner Lemberg and Ruslan Ermilov

in groff-1.17.

The standalone implementation that is part of the

.Xr mandoc 1

utility written by Kristaps Dzonsons appeared in

.Ox 4.6 .

.Sh AUTHORS

The

.Nm

CVSweb