mandoc/mdoc.7 - diff

Return to mdoc.7 CVS log

Up to [cvsweb.bsd.lv] / mandoc

Diff for /mandoc/mdoc.7 between version 1.19 and 1.39

version 1.19, 2009/03/27 14:56:15

version 1.39, 2009/07/12 15:32:26

Line 1

.\" $Id$

.\"

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

.\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the

.\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above

.\" above copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all

.\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.

.\" copies.

.\"

.\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL

.\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES

.\" WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED

.\" WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF

.\" WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE

.\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR

.\" AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL

.\" ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES

.\" DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR

.\" WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN

.\" PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER

.\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF

.\" TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR

.\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

.\" PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

.\"

.Dd $Mdocdate$

.Dt mdoc 7

.Dt MDOC 7

.Os

.\" SECTION

.Sh NAME

Line 30 The

Line 28 The

language is used to format

.Bx

.Ux

manuals. In this reference document, we describe the syntax, ontology

manuals. In this reference document, we describe the syntax and

and structure of the

structure of the

.Nm

language.

language. Our reference implementation is

.Xr mandoc 1 .

The

.Sx COMPATIBILITY

section describes compatibility with

.Xr groff 1 .

.\" PARAGRAPH

.Pp

Line 43 character

Line 46 character

.Sq \.

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

prior macros:

.Bd -literal -offset XXX

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Sh Macro lines change control state.

Other lines are interpreted within the current state.

.Ed

Line 75 or

Line 78 or

.Sq \&.Bd \-unfilled

contexts.

.\" SUB-SECTION

.Ss Comments

Anything following a

.Sq \e"

delimiter is considered a comment (unless the

.Sq \e

itself has been escaped) and is ignored to the end of line.

Furthermore, a macro line with only a control character

.Sq \. ,

optionally followed by whitespace, is ignored.

.\" SUB-SECTION

.Ss Reserved Characters

Within a macro line, the following characters are reserved:

.Bl -tag -width 12n -offset XXXX -compact

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

.It \&.

.Pq period

.It \&,

Line 98 Within a macro line, the following characters are rese

Line 111 Within a macro line, the following characters are rese

.Pq question

.It \&!

.Pq exclamation

.It \&|

.Pq vertical bar

.El

.\" PARAGRAPH

.Pp

Line 121 or a single one-character sequence.

Line 136 or a single one-character sequence.

.Pp

Characters may alternatively be escaped by a slash-asterisk,

.Sq \e* ,

with the same combinations as described above. This form is deprecated.

with the same combinations as described above.

.Pp

Terms may also be text-decorated using the

.Sq \ef

escape followed by a text-decoration letter: B (bold), I, (italic), or P

and R (Roman, or reset). This form is not recommended.

.\" SUB-SECTION

.Ss Whitespace

Unless in literal mode or specifically escaped, consecutive blocks of

whitespace are pruned from input. These are later re-added, if

applicable, by a front-end utility such as

.Xr mandoc 1 .

.\" SECTION

.Sh STRUCTURE

Macros are classified in an ontology described by their scope rules.

Each

Some macros are allowed to deviate from their classifications to

.Nm

preserve backward-compatibility with old macro combinations still found

document must begin with the document prologue, containing, in order,

in the manual corpus. These are specifically noted on a per-macro

.Sq \&.Dd ,

basis.

.Sq \&.Dt ,

and

.Sq \&.Os .

Following these, the document body must begin with the NAME section

containing at least one

.Sq \&.Nm

followed by a

.Sq \&.Nd

macro.

.Pp

At least one free-form or macro line must follow this prologue.

.\"

.Ss Classification

Macros are classified by their scope rules. Some macros are allowed to

deviate from their classifications to preserve backward-compatibility

with old macro combinations still found in the manual corpus. These are

specifically noted on a per-macro basis.

.\" SUB-SECTION

.Ss Scope

.Bl -inset

Line 136 basis.

Line 178 basis.

.It Em Block

macros enclose other block macros, in-line macros or text, and

may span multiple lines.

.Bl -inset -offset XXXX

.Bl -inset -offset indent

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It Em Full-block

macros always span multiple lines. They consist of zero or

Line 171 on whether it's parsable. In this table,

Line 213 on whether it's parsable. In this table,

refers to block full-explicit and so on.

.\" PARAGRAPH

.Pp

.Bl -tag -width 12n -offset XXXX -compact

.Bl -tag -width 12n -offset indent -compact

.It BPE , BFE

corresponding explicit closure macro

.It BFI

Line 189 If a macro (block or in-line) is parsable, it may also

Line 231 If a macro (block or in-line) is parsable, it may also

one of the following scenarios (unless specifically noted otherwise):

.\" PARAGRAPH

.Pp

.Bl -dash -offset XXXX -compact

.Bl -dash -offset indent -compact

.It

a sequence of >0 space-separated

.Sx Reserved Characters ,

Line 222 closes it out (closure may be implicit at end-of-line

Line 264 closes it out (closure may be implicit at end-of-line

.\" PARAGRAPH

.Pp

Block full-explicit (may contain head, body, tail).

.Bd -literal -offset XXXX

.Bd -literal -offset indent

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

\(lBbody...\(rB

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

Line 230 Block full-explicit (may contain head, body, tail).

Line 272 Block full-explicit (may contain head, body, tail).

.\" PARAGRAPH

.Pp

Block full-implicit (may contain zero or more heads, body, no tail).

.Bd -literal -offset XXXX

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead... \(lBTa head...\(rB\(rB

\(lBbody...\(rB

\&.Yc

Line 238 Block full-implicit (may contain zero or more heads, b

Line 280 Block full-implicit (may contain zero or more heads, b

.\" PARAGRAPH

.Pp

Block partial-explicit (may contain head, multi-line body, tail).

.Bd -literal -offset XXXX

.Bd -literal -offset indent

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

\(lBbody...\(rB

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

Line 252 Block partial-implicit (no head, body, no tail). Note

Line 294 Block partial-implicit (no head, body, no tail). Note

section may be followed by zero or more

.Sx Reserved Words .

These are in the block scope, but not in the body scope.

.Bd -literal -offset XXXX

.Bd -literal -offset indent

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

.Ed

.\" PARAGRAPH

.Pp

In-lines have \(>=0 scoped arguments.

.Bd -literal -offset XXX

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Yy \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBargs...\(rB

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

.Ed

.\"

.\" SECTION

.Sh MACROS

This section contains a complete list of all

.Nm

macros, arranged ontologically. A

macros, arranged by classification. A

.Qq callable

macro is invoked subsequent to the initial macro-line macro. A

.Qq parsable

Line 286 some

Line 328 some

.Pc

don't have heads.

.Pp

.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "Closing" -compact -offset XXXX

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

.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Closing

.It \&.Sh Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta \&.Sh

.It \&.Ss Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta \&.Sh, \&.Ss

Line 298 None of these macros are callable or parsed. The last

Line 340 None of these macros are callable or parsed. The last

the explicit scope rules. All contains bodies, some may contain heads

.Pq So \&Bf Sc .

.Pp

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

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

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

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

.It \&.Ed Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta opened by \&.Bd

Line 314 the explicit scope rules. All contains bodies, some m

Line 356 the explicit scope rules. All contains bodies, some m

All of these are callable and parsed for further macros. Their scopes

close at the invocation's end-of-line.

.Pp

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

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

.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable

.It \&.Aq Ta Yes Ta Yes

.It \&.Op Ta Yes Ta Yes

Line 335 The

Line 377 The

may be broken by

.Sq \&.Oc

as in the following example:

.Bd -literal -offset XXXX

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Oo

\&.Op Fl a Oc

.Ed

Line 354 head

Line 396 head

and/or tail

.Pq So \&.Ec Sc .

.Pp

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

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

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

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

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

Line 388 arguments is

Line 430 arguments is

.Pq n ,

then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of arguments.

.Pp

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

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

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

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

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

.It \&.Os Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n

.It \&.Pp Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0

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

.It \&.An Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta n

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

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

.It \&.Cd Ta Yes Ta \&No Ta >0

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

Line 407 then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of argument

Line 449 then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of argument

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

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

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

.It \&.Ft Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta n

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

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

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

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

Line 438 then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of argument

Line 480 then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of argument

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

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

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

.It \&.Ms Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta >0

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

.It \&.No Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 0

.It \&.Ns Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 0

.It \&.Nx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n

Line 457 then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of argument

Line 499 then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of argument

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

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

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

.It \&.Lk Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta >0

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

.It \&.Mt Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta >0

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

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

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

.El

Line 472 and

Line 514 and

macros are obsolete.

.\" SECTION

.Sh COMPATIBILITY

The mdoc language was traditionally a

This section documents compatibility with other roff implementations, at

.Qq roff

this time limited to

macro package; most existing manuals were written with mdoc syntax

.Xr groff 1 .

dictated by system-dependent roff installations. This section documents

The term

compatibility with these systems.

.Qq historic groff

refers to those versions before the

.Pa doc.tmac

file re-write

.Pq somewhere between 1.15 and 1.19 .

.Pp

.Bl -dash -compact

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

.Sq \&.Fo

Some character sequences in groff are not handled depending on escape

style, e.g.,

.Sq \e(ba

and

.Sq \&.St

.Sq \e*(Ba

historically weren't always callable. Both are now correctly callable.

may not be interchanged. This is no longer the case: all character

sequences resolve to the same symbol, regardless the escape style.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.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.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

Historic groff has many un-callable macros. Most of these (excluding

some block-level macros) are now callable, conforming to the

non-historic groff version.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

The vertical bar

.Sq \(ba

made historic groff

.Qq go orbital

but is a proper delimiter in this implementation.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

.Sq \&.It \-nested

is assumed for all lists: any list may be nested and

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

nested and

.Sq \-enum

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

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

.Sq \&.It \-column

syntax where column widths may be preceeded by other arguments (instead

syntax where column widths may be preceded by other arguments (instead

of proceeded) is not supported.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

Line 503 The

Line 570 The

macro only accepts a single parameter.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

The system-name macros (

.Ns Sq \&.At ,

.Sq \&.Bsx ,

.Sq \&.Bx ,

.Sq \&.Fx ,

.Sq \&.Nx ,

.Sq \&.Ox ,

and

.Sq \&.Ux )

are callable.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

Some manuals use

.Sq \&.Li

incorrectly by following it with a reserved character and expecting the

delimiter to render. This is not supported.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

.Sq \&.Cd

If an special-character control character is escaped

is callable.

.Sq \e\e ,

it will obviously not render the subsequent sequence. Even newer

versions of groff seem to dither on this.

.El

.\" SECTION

.Sh SEE ALSO

Line 533 is callable.

Line 590 is callable.

The

.Nm

utility was written by

.An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@openbsd.org .

.An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@kth.se .

.\" SECTION

.Sh CAVEATS

There are several ambiguous parts of mdoc.

There are many ambiguous parts of mdoc.

.Pp

.Bl -dash -compact

.\" LIST-ITEM

Line 560 which ostensibly follows it, should follow the same co

Line 617 which ostensibly follows it, should follow the same co

.It

.Sq \&.Va

should formalise that only one or two arguments are acceptable: a

variable name and optional, preceeding type.

variable name and optional, preceding type.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

.Sq \&.Fd

Line 601 etc.).

Line 658 etc.).

There's no way to refer to references in

.Sq \&.Rs/.Re

blocks.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

The \-split and \-nosplit arguments to

.Sq \&.An

are inane.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

The end-of-line whitespace warnings are superfluous holdovers from

historic groff.

.El

CVSweb